Pilots: Airshow Pilot and Announcer

A childhood fan of Bud Fountain’s Gold Coast Air Shows, Stavrakakis was also inspired by watching the 1960s TV series 12 O’Clock High, which recounted the adventures of a fictitious B–17 crew during World War II. In the early 1980s, Stavrakakis bought a Citabria and taught himself aerobatics. Fascinated by airshows, he knew he needed a unique aircraft to attract airshow promoters and to build a fan base. With fewer than 400 hours, he bought a Czechoslovakian Zlin 526F and flew his first airshow in 1985.

A year later, Stavrakakis added another title to his résumé. “At a show, the announcer was not up to speed, so the other performers asked me to fill in,” Stavrakakis recalled. “I had the right voice, a knowledge of aircraft, and the crowd liked me, so all of a sudden I was an airshow announcer.”

In addition to announcing hundreds of airshows, he has manned the microphone for the Red Bull Air Race Championships for Fox Sports and co-hosted a television special on Reno air racing for NBC Sports. Stavrakakis attributes his success to being an aerobatic pilot. “I can describe the sweat in my eyes, the smoke in my lungs [from the smoke system], and the feeling of high G-loads. I know what the performers are experiencing.”

In the 1990s, Stavrakakis moved up to a Zlin 50LS, the agile aerobat that followed the Zlin 526. His trademark tumbling in this aircraft earned him the nickname “Wild Thing,” which became the moniker for his business. He imported a Romanian IAR-823 in 2000, and he’s been performing both his signature day shows and his night pyrotechnic veterans’ tribute in this aircraft ever since.

Which does Stavrakakis like best: flying or announcing? “To fly in an airshow, I spend numerous hours practicing and about 12 minutes performing. To announce, I spend a few hours prepping and 12 hours a day talking. Whether I’m in the air or on the air, I love it.”