Jones had his first flying lesson at just five years old, in 1965, in a Cessna, on the knee of a family friend. He became a pilot both commercially and competitively.
Commercially, Jones was formerly a captain for British Airways, flying a Boeing 747. He spends his off-season working on and racing vintage cars. His company is also rebuilding two vintage wooden racing aircraft.
Since 1994, Jones has flown competitively and as a display pilot with Paul Bonhomme in their Red Bull Matadors Team. They have taken their show around the world from the UAE to Japan. Jones flies as the wingman. Jones was a competitive Red Bull Air Race pilot from the first UK race which took place in Kemble UK in 2004. In the Red Bull Air Race series of 2007, he won in Porto, Portugal, defeating Mike Mangold.
Jones retired from Airrace as a competitor at the end of the 2008 season. He spent the next two seasons as technical commentator for TV and Internet coverage.
Red Bull Air Race took a 3-year break, returning in 2014. Jones came back as race director and head of training.
On 16th November 2021 Steve Jones became the record holder for electrically powered planes over a 3km course, with a speed of 559.9km/h (345.4mph) in the Spirit of innovation, built for Rolls Royce buy the now defunct Electroflight.
The Fédération aéronautique internationale is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintains world records for aeronautical activities, including ballooning, aeromodeling, and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), as well as flights into space.
The World Championship Air Race is a series of air races sanctioned by the World Air Sports Federation (FAI). Originally established in 2003 as the Red Bull Air Race, and created by Red Bull GmbH, the event involves competitors navigating a challenging obstacle course in the fastest time. Pilots fly individually against the clock and have to complete tight turns through a slalom course consisting of pylons, known as "air gates".
Péter Besenyei is a Hungarian aerobatics pilot and world champion air racer.
Kermit Weeks is an American aviation enthusiast, pilot, and aircraft collector. He has competed in aerobatics, designed aircraft, and promoted aviation and vintage aircraft restoration.
Michael Eugene Mangold was an American aviator whose career spanned the United States Air Force, commercial airlines, and aerobatics. Mangold competed in the Red Bull Air Race World Series from 2004 through 2009, where he repeatedly placed first and won the World Championship in the 2005 World Series, as well as the 2007 World Series. His nickname and call sign in the military was "Mongo".
Frank Versteegh is a Dutch aerobatics pilot. He is also an airshow organiser, a flight safety committee member, a FAI judge and a freestyle aerobatics competitor.
Paul Bonhomme is a British aerobatic and commercial airline pilot and was owner/race pilot of Team Bonhomme, the Red Bull Air Race World Championship Team from 2003 to 2015.
Alejandro "Álex" Maclean was a Spanish TV film producer and aerobatics pilot, who competed in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship under the number 36. Maclean was nicknamed "The Flying Matador".
Sergey Stanislavovich Rakhmanin is a Russian powered and glider aerobatic pilot and flight instructor.
Glen Dell was a South African commercial airline trainer and aerobatics pilot, who was qualified to race in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship in seasons 2008 and 2009.
FAI World Grand Prix is a Grand Prix aerobatics series led by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
Pete McLeod is a Canadian professional aerobatic pilot whose first competitive flight was in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship in 2009.
Matthias Dolderer is a German professional race pilot. He is the 2016 champion of the Red Bull Air Race.
Matt Hall is a third-generation pilot, a former Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) fighter combat instructor, international unlimited aerobatic competitor and the first Australian to be selected to compete in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, starting in 2009. He won the championship in the final season of Red Bull Air Race in 2019.
Martin Šonka is a Czech aerobatics (unlimited) and a former fighter pilot in the Czech Air Force. He has raced in Red Bull Air Race World Championship since 2010, becoming the World Champion in the 2018 Red Bull Air Race World Championship season.
Yoshihide "Yoshi" Muroya is a Japanese aerobatics pilot and race pilot of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship. He started glider flight training in 1991 because it was an inexpensive way to fly. Muroya went to the United States privately to earn his airplane license at the age of twenty.
Tamás Nádas was a Hungarian aerobatics pilot and world champion air racer. He was born on 20 March 1969 in Hungary, and died when his plane crashed at an airshow in Qatar on 7 March 2014.
Peter Podlunšek is a Slovenian aerobatics pilot.
Luca Bertossio is an Italian aerobatics pilot performing glider aerobatics as competitor for the Italian National Glider Aerobatic Team and as a professional Airshow pilot and Flight Instructor.
Dario Costa born to an Iranian mother and an Italian father, is an Italian professional Red Bull Air Race competitor, stunt pilot, aerobatic performer, flight instructor, Pilatus PC6 Porter paradropping pilot and author from Bologna, Italy and is the first ever Italian to qualify, to compete and to win in the Red Bull Air Race World Series. Dario lives in Salzburg, Austria and is also known for various world-first flying stunts and world records including the first and only ever flight through a tunnel with an airplane.
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