Hill worker to reveal second identity as civilian aerobatic pilot at air show

  • Published
  • By Lee Anne Hensley
  • Hilltop Times staff
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, UTAH --  Not only will Hill Air Force Base have military pilot representation in the air during this weekend's open house and air show via the Viper West F-16 Demonstration Team, but the base will also have civilian representation as well. Dave Erickson, a technical program manager on the Air Combat Training system, has been with the 517th Software Maintenance Squadron for the past 15 years, and this weekend he will don a new job description as an aerobatic pilot in his De Havilland Super Chipmunk.

Mr. Erickson said he is thrilled at the opportunity to perform in front of Team Hill this weekend.

"These are the folks I work with day in and day out who see the (computer program manager) side of Dave and don't get to see the flying side. It's also an honor to get to fly with all these great pilots, especially our military pilots," he said. "Our military and our leaders on base are all top-notch. I am amazed at their professionalism and skills. I've got great leaders all the way up my chain of command, from (Brig. Gen. John Cooper), Commander of the 309th Maintenance Wing, to Carl Rogers, my software maintenance squadron group director, and my squadron and flight chiefs are all good. I appreciate them allowing me to fly in the show since it doesn't allow me to do my CPM job right now, but I am serving the Air Force in another way."

Mr. Erickson takes the opportunity to tell others about the opportunities the Air Force provides to civilian engineers while he is at air shows. "I tell them that the Air Force has a lot of great engineering programs to offer. The best engineering in the world is on something that explodes or carries something that explodes. The government will hire the best engineers and contractors and materials for our war-fighters."

Influencing others, especially his children, via his career choices is why he chose to become an aerobatic pilot.

"I wanted to give my kids a unique memory of their dad. I know they will remember the fishing trips and the hiking trips and that stuff, but going out to the air show and being able to say, 'My dad did that and we used to watch him at shows' will be unique," he said.

Although his six-year-old and ten-year-old are too small to enjoy flying in his Super Chipmunk, Mr. Erickson involves his children in his performances by allowing them to choose the music he will perform to. The songs he will perform to this weekend will be "World" by Five for Fighting and "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals. "I may put in a Van Halen song, but I'll have to see what the kids say," Mr. Erickson adds.

Allowing his small children to pick the songs has had its drawbacks.

"They wanted me to do a Miley Cyrus song, and even though I like them to choose the songs, it was a little too teeny-bopper for an air show," he said.

Mr. Erickson has flown aerobatics for five years and has flown his Super Chipmunk for most of that time.

"This airplane is really strong and that is the No. 1 reason why I chose it," he said. "It's 260 horsepower engine makes it powerful and it's just a dream to fly. Most of the guys who fly the aerobatic planes will pull up to nine g's and that's really hard on the pilot. I'll fly my whole show and not go over 4 g's. So I can fly for a long time because it's a gentle airplane to fly, and that's the other reason why I bought it."

Mr. Erickson says the Super Chipmunk was originally built as a war bird for the Canadian and Royal Air Forces and to keep true to that history and to the capabilities of the airplane he performs mainly war bird sequences and maneuvers.

"I do Cuban eights, hammerheads, loops, different types of rolls, a knife-edge pass and something called a 'humpee' which is where you pull upward and push over the top of the climb at 80 miles an hour," he said.

This will be Mr. Erickson's third air show performance for Hill AFB and he is looking forward to renewing friendships with the other performers at this weekend's air show.

"We have three of the best aerobatic pilots in our air show this weekend: Patty Wagstaff, Greg Poe and Sean Tucker. The Red Eagle Air Sports team is also phenomenal, and we are fortunate to have all these performers at one air show," Mr. Erickson said. "The reason we have such a great lineup of performers is due to our air boss Pepe (Lt. Col. Mark Proulx). He has a great relationship with other performers and can get them here. Usually an air show will get one performer of the caliber of these folks, but we will have three! That's amazing! It's an honor to fly in this weekend's show."