Spruce Creek Fly-in Folks in the News
Friday, August 3, 2001
Elevated adrenaline flow
Veteran pilot leads aerobatic team
By JOHN MAZUR
The Daytona Beach News-Journal Neighbors Correspondent
The most interesting acts at any air show always involve lots of engine noise and colorful smoke, pilot Gene McNeely says.
News-Journal file photo
The sun and blue sky sets off the performance of Gene McNeely, white plane, and Fred Johnson, yellow plane, in their T-6s as the Wings of Gold perform Saturday, October 28, 2000, at Municipal Airport in New Smyrna Beach.
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The Spruce Creek Fly-In resident said he and his partners in the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team provide an ample supply of these ingredients, livening up more than 26 air shows throughout the country every year.
With their World War II-era North American AT-6 military planes, McNeely and his team dive, loop and roll in close formation at more than 250 miles per hour.
The team appeared recently at the U.S. Air and Trade Show in Dayton, Ohio. The show, one of the country's largest, is often compared to the Paris Air Show in France and the Farnborough Air Show in England. At these shows, military and civilian aerospace manufacturers gather to show off and sell their latest products to the world's military, airline and civilian users.
McNeeley's team members include Alan Henley, his twin brother, Mark Henley, and Steve Gustafson, all of Alabama.
He and his wife, Iris, who have been married for 43 years, have two sons. He bought a lot in Spruce Creek in the mid'80s, built a house in 1989 and they moved here full time in 1994.
One of the most difficult problems any air show team encounters is flying cross country through all sorts of weather to arrive in time for the next performance.
"To make an air show go, you've got to have different acts," McNeely said. "You can't have all the Eagles and Extras (popular aerobatic biplanes). They all look alike after the third or fourth one. You need a team with lots of smoke, lots of noise and that's what we do. We fly close formation."
Airplanes designed for intense aerobatic demonstration generally are not well-suited for the instruments and comfort required for traveling long distances.
The AT-6, however, is such a capable performer in McNeely's skilled hands and so impressive to air show observers, that it makes all the traveling effort worthwhile.
The fun McNeely and his team have in the air comes at a price: fatigue.
"I tell you what gets me is the long ferries (flights for repositioning the plane) without an autopilot. Sometimes we have a four-hour flight after the show fighting the weather. The shows are the fun part -- getting to the show and getting home is the hard part. Fatigue factor is getting to the show. The contract says if you don't get there, you don't get paid. That's the hard part."
Although McNeely's airplane was built in 1940, its appearance is immaculate, looking better than brand new. It is powered by a 600 horsepower Pratt and Whitney radial engine.
McNeely, who grew up in Ocala, became interested in flying while serving in the Navy. Afterward, using the G.I. Bill, he took flying lessons. One of his first jobs was crop- dusting in Lubbock, Texas. The first planes he used for that were the Stearman biplane and later, the Agcat. Flying at low altitudes, making tight turns trying to avoid trees and power lines while accurately applying the chemicals to avoid waste provided excellent training for a future air show star.
McNeely later moved to Arkansas to start his own crop-dusting business. Because of the cotton and rice grown there, the delta area of Mississippi and Arkansas is the heart of the crop-dusting business. He did that for 20 years.
Since crop-dusting was a seasonal business, he started an air cargo business as well, hauling packages for major shipping companies.
McNeely has flown up to 1,500 hours per year. His total flying time is about 23,000 hours in what is considered some of the toughest flying there is.
McNeely, 61, began his air show career in 1979 while still operating the other companies to "keep busy."
The Aeroshell Aerobatic Team performs from April to November at most of the top air shows nationwide.
In addition to the show in Day ton, McNeely and his team performed in front of the Arch in St. Louis and before hundreds of thousands of people during the opening of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville. Last week AeroShell performed on all seven days of the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual air show in Oshkosh, Wis. It has become the largest air show in the world with more than 800,000 attending.
In addition to shows, he also races the AT-6 at the National Championship Air Races at Reno, Nev. He is sponsored by the Spruce Creek Air Race Team and has finished in the top five since 1986, including earning the group both the gold and silver.