NRV AirShow To Feature Some of World’s Best Performers

Pilot Greg Koontz flies a Super Decathlon aerobatic plane.

Southwest Virginians will be able to step into a time machine and visit the Golden Age of Aviation and more at the NRV SkyFest AirShow on September 7, 8 & 9 at the NRV Airport in  Dublin. In addition to aviators, some of the top performers in the world – from wing walkers to military special-ops parachutists will be on hand.

Jane Wicker will demonstrate the daring and breath-taking art of wing walking.  Not just wing riding, this is the real thing. With no safety line and no parachute, she will amaze the crowd by climbing, walking and hanging all over her beautiful 450 HP Stearman she affectionately calls “Aurora.”

Jane does things on the airplane that you won’t see anywhere else. She is the only female wing-walker in North America that hangs beneath the airplane from the N strut with nothing more than her legs holding her on; then she continues to hang from her legs as the airplane rolls inverted leaving her sitting upright on the bottom of the airplane – low to the ground, and without a parachute.

Pilot Greg Koontz will fly the Super Decathlon aerobatic plane, opening the show with a down low in the dirt inverted ribbon cut. It gets even better as he demonstrates the agility of his plane with a full set of outside loops, vertical rolls, tail slides, hammerheads as well as snaps & tumbles.  Koontz has been performing in airshows since 1974, when he joined Col. Moser’s Flying Circus and learned his trademark maneuvers from the best in the business. He has more than 22,000 flight hours in over 165 different aircraft types.

The “Raiders Flight Demo Team” is known for thrilling airshow fans all over the world with a unique and exciting six aircraft formation aerobatic demonstration. The Raider Pilots are Level II Qualified in both formation and solo aerobatics and display the capabilities of the Yahkovlev 52 and Nanchang CJ6 aircraft in precision formation and solo aerobatic flight.  They give a one-of-a-kind demonstration of what a team of professionals can do.

William F. Gordon III, from Copake, NY, doesn’t have much to say but what little he does say is worth listening to.  You will enjoy meeting him in the autograph booth after his performance at NRV AirShow. Bill’s aviation career is beyond extensive.  He is well-known as the lead pilot of the Iron Eagles Team with lifelong friend, Billy Segalla: the tightest 2-man formation team on the air show circuit today.

Bill is also a performer and ride jumper at the Rhinebeck Aerodrome where he flies WW I replicas such as the Sopwith and the Tri-Fokker.  Bill’s experience working in such under powered aircraft translates very well to the Stearman, and as the wing walking pilot for Jane Wicker, he says:  “I do my level best to impede power output by being a huge airbrake.”

“The Alabama Boys  and The World’s Smallest Airport” are an act that utilize a 1946 Piper J-3 Cub. The journey begins as Greg Koontz, aka farmer “Clem Cleaver,” climbs up on the announcer’s stand, demanding a flight lesson. Thangs get a little outta hand, and Clem “steals” the plane and takes off alone, with his whole crew chasin.’ Grandpa shoots a tire off a the plane trin’ to get him down, and Clem ends up landing on his pickup truck as it races down the runway.  Yep, he really does land on top of the truck.

“Super” Dave Mathieson will amaze you in his MX2, the world’s most advanced aerobatic aircraft that  is designed for plus or minus 16G’s. It has an incredible roll rate of 500 degrees per second and is powered by a 380HP motor giving the aircraft a top speed of 300 MPH. He has over 15,000 hours of flying experience.  Dave was once flying a Cessna 180 when the control stick for the aircraft disconnected from the dashboard, losing both aileron and elevator. He managed to keep the aircraft flying by using the trim wheel, his body weight and actually opening the doors to steer that aircraft back to his base – flying  the airplane like this for almost an hour before he landed it on a lake without incident. From that day on, his friends dubbed him “Super Dave.”

The U.S. Special Operations Command Parachute Demonstration Team perform precision freefall parachute demonstrations across the United States, informing the public about the unique mission of Special Operations Command, and the great work being performed by the Special Operations Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen deployed to over 70 countries around the world.

The jumpers exit the aircraft from an altitude of 12,500 feet, freefalling at speeds in excess of 120 miles per hour wearing smoke canisters on their feet.   During freefall, the members of the team maneuver their bodies like an aircraft to create formations in the sky. When the jumpers approach an altitude of 4,000 feet, they break their formation and glide in different directions, opening their parachutes approximately 2,500 feet above the ground. Once open, the members steer their parachutes and land one behind the other with precision accuracy in the landing area.

For more information go to www.nrvairshow.com or call  (540) 239-1639

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