Page 8 - World Airshow News Q3 2024

Greg Koontz: From the ACE

Life in the Air

F ifty years of flying takes which clearly un-
one down many paths.
veiled what his past
If you are an airshow
pilot, you already know experiences must
have been like.
that is not what you did for I’ve known Carl
the whole fifty years. You as a good friend for
might have started out wash- almost fifty years
ing airplanes to earn some now. I’ve watched
flying lessons. Maybe you him flight test a
made the grade to fly for the new corporate air-
military or worked your way craft design and
to the airlines. Airshow per- fly a Sia Marchetti
formers, with a few excep- SF260 in the Red
tions, have always “made it” Hawks formation
somewhere else first. Flying team. He test-flew
low level in front of an audience requires certification, which a new canard-type
requires experience, which requires a path of some sort to get home built to find
there. Even if you were simply born into a way to pay for it all, a solution to its
you had to earn it with practice and experience. It might take a tendency to enter
lot of money to pursue airshows, but it also takes a lot of effort a deep stall (that
to get there. proved to become
Everyone has a path that got them to where they are. Just the unrecoverable). He
dynamics of being an airshow performer makes the path they also hates to admit
took a great story. What type of character sets out on the twisted it, but he also flew a successful airline career. (Carl considered
road to such an unusual place? Along the way, there must be a va- it only a job, so much so, he doesn’t even count the flight time
riety of experiences to mold a person into the pilot they need to as part of his total.) When I was Chairman of the ICAS ACE
be to survive. There is surely some dare devil in their soul, but it’s Committee, I chose Carl Pascarell, a Warbird and Jet Aerobatic
not that simple. The recipe also needs a pinch of showmanship, a Competency Evaluator, to sit on the committee. I don’t think all
few ounces of precision, a cup of determination, and then bring it the committee members really had a clue who they were work-
to a boil with many hours of humbling practice and critique. All ing with.
this fired by determination to accomplish it all. Carl Pascarell has written down some of his best exploits in a
We all know the successful people around us. I admire the new book called Life in the Air, subtitled True Stories of Adven-
many that come into this business with so much accomplished. ture and Misadventure Aloft. The soft-spoken Carl has become
We all have our heroes, those we know, as soon as we meet them, the creator of a narrative beautifully written and fascinating to
who hold talent born of a tireless life in the air. I’d like to tell you read. The first chapter, where he describes in explicit detail an
about one such person. An aviator who seems to have been born extraordinary engine failure on take-off in a Navy A-7 Corsair,
flying. will grab you right from the start. Carl has put in writing things
In the 1970s, I worked in St. Augustine, Florida for Aero Sport. he has only previously shared in private. As I read chapter one,
If you have read many of my articles in this space, you know my I could hear his voice as I realized I had once heard him tell the
real flying was learned there. I ran their flight school, developed story over a few beers so very long ago.
their charter business, and most interesting to me, flew in their You should know that I didn’t tell Carl I was writing about
airshow troupe named Col. Moser’s Flying Circus. Those were him. He did not ask me to write this, and no one is compensat-
some of the best years of my life! ing me for my commentary. So, it is with that I feel okay saying
The atmosphere of the whole Aero Sport operation was very you should get on Amazon and order one of the best aviation
appealing. People came just to get in on it all. One such person books you might ever read! Life in the Air by C.S. Pascarell.
was Carl Pascarell. At the time, Carl was a Naval Aviator. We all
liked hearing stories about that when we could get Carl to tell us Greg Koontz is a full-time airshow performer and teaches basic
about it. (He was not one to open up easily.) It took a long time aerobatics at his Flight School/Bed & Breakfast called Sky Coun-
to figure out Carl was a very accomplished pilot even before the try Lodge. Greg is a former chairman of the ICAS ACE Commit-
Navy. tee, holds an unlimited aerobatic waiver, and has been designated
As we got to know Carl, his experience slowly became evident. a Master Certified Flight Instructor-Aerobatics by the National
Soon he was test flying the antique aircraft our shop was restor- Association of Flight Instructors. Please send your comments/
ing. He practiced in our aerobatic box in his little Cassutt racer, questions to Greg@GKairshows.com

www.airshowmag.com 8 Quarter 3, 2024