Rob Holland (pilot)

Last updated
Rob Holland
Born (1974-05-30) 30 May 1974 (age 50)
New England, U.S.
Nationality Flag of the United States.svg United States
EducationBachelors of Science in Aviation Flight Operations/Aviation Management
Known forRecord Breaking Competition Aerobatic Pilot, Airshow Pilot
Website Rob Holland Ultimate Airshows

Rob Holland (born 30 May 1974) is a highly accomplished aerobatic pilot from the United States. currently residing in Nashua, New Hampshire. Holland is one of the most decorated aerobatic pilots in U.S. history, with an impressive list of accomplishments that includes multiple championship titles and groundbreaking innovations in the field of aerobatics.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Biography

Holland has always been deeply passionate about aviation. He pursued his interest by enrolling at Daniel Webster College where he earned his Bachelor of Science Degrees in Aviation Flight Operations and Aviation Management. He also earned his Pilots Ratings from the same institution. Soon after obtaining his pilot's license, he began actively learning aerobatics. [1]

Throughout his career, Holland gained extensive experience in various aviation roles, such as corporate pilot, commuter pilot, banner tower, flight instructor, and ferry pilot. He even founded his own aerobatic flight school.

Holland has gained over 15000 flight hours in more than 180 different types of aircraft.

Since 2002, Holland has been an active participant in airshows. Robs unique approach to aerobatics, which includes introducing innovative maneuvers that had never been seen before, earned him a reputation as one of the most creative and skilled aerobatic pilots in the world. [2]

Holland's formation aerobatic skills have been showcased through his performances with both the Firebirds Xtreme team and The 4CE (Force) aerobatic team.

In 2012, Holland was the International Council of Air Shows prestigious Art Scholl Award for Showmanship recipient. [3]

Rob has also been an active member of the Competition Aerobatic community since 2001. He has represented the USA as a member of the US Advanced Aerobatic team and the US Unlimited Aerobatic Team.

Holland's championship titles include Six-time World 4-minute Freestyle Aerobatic Champion, twelve-time consecutive U.S. National Aerobatic Champion, and thirteen-time U.S. 4-minute Freestyle Aerobatic Champion. In addition, he has won the 2015 World Air Games Freestyle Gold Medal, and is the 2008 World Advanced Aerobatic Champion. He has also been the recipient of the Charlie Hillard Trophy five times (in 2013, 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2024). and the Eric Müller Trophy in 2019. He has also won 38 medals in international competition, including 14 gold medals. [4]

Holland is the only pilot in history to win: Six World 4-minute Freestyle titles, twelve consecutive U.S. National titles, and thirteen total U.S. 4-minute Freestyle titles. [5]

Career Highlights

Aircraft

Rob Holland has flown over 180 different type of aircraft. [17]  He has flown multiple types in his airshows and aerobatic competition career.

Pitts S-2C

In 2002, Rob Holland commenced his airshow career in a Pitts S-2C, which he also utilized for aerobatic instruction at Aerial Advantage Aviation, his flight school in Nashua, New Hampshire. He flew the aircraft in the advanced category at aerobatic competitions, winning several regional contests and qualifying for his first U.S. Aerobatic Team in 2003. Holland continued to fly the Pitts S-2C in competitions and airshows until 2005.

Ultimate 20-300S

From 2005 to 2007, Holland flew the Ultimate 20-300S, a two-seat experimental aerobatic biplane with a high-powered AEIO-540 engine, in airshows and aerobatic competitions. He flew a borrowed single-seat version of the Ultimate (10-300S) at the World Advanced Aerobatic Championships (AWAC) in 2004 and 2006, earning a Silver medal finish in the 2006 competition. [18]

MX2

In 2007, Holland acquired an MX2 (serial number 002), which he flew in aerobatic competitions and airshows until 2011. He earned a Gold medal finish in the 2008 World Advanced Aerobatic Championships and his first U.S. National Aerobatic Freestyle title in the same year. Holland also qualified for the 2011 U.S. Unlimited Aerobatic Team while flying the MX2 in the 2010 U.S. National Aerobatic Championships. [19]

MXS-RH

Currently, Holland's aerobatic aircraft of choice is the all-carbon-fiber MXS-RH, which he began flying in 2011. The MXS-RH is a one-of-a-kind, American designed, single-seat competition and airshow-ready aerobatic airplane, designed and built by MX Aircraft with modifications suggested by Holland himself. The aircraft is powered by a Lycoming AEIO-540 engine generating 380 horsepower and weighing a minimal 1200 pounds, allowing it to perform at an astonishing level, with the capability of pulling 16 positive and negative Gs and rolling at almost 500 degrees per second. Holland has won numerous World Aerobatic Freestyle Championships and eleven of his twelve U.S. Nationals Aerobatic Champion titles in the MXS, as well as eleven of his thirteen U.S. Nationals Aerobatic Freestyle Champion titles. The MXS-RH's outstanding performance has enabled Holland to execute innovative maneuvers unmatched on the airshow circuit. .

Innovative New Aerobatic Maneuvers

Rob Holland has been credited with the invention and introduction of many innovative aerobatic maneuvers [20]

Inside Tumble [21]

The Inside Tumble is an aerobatic maneuver in which the aircraft rotates around its lateral axis in a positive pitching motion while traveling along a ballistic path and yawed nearly 90 degrees to the relative wind.

Frisbee [22]

While in level horizontal flight, the aircraft is rotated in the yaw axis 360 degrees (like a frisbee) and then continues along the same level horizontal flight path.

Inverted Frisbee [23]

Similar to the Frisbee except the aircraft yaws 360 degrees in level inverted horizontal flight.

Nivek [24]

The "Nivek" is a collaborative creation involving American Aerobatic Pilot Kevin Coleman (https://www.facebook.com/TheKevinColeman/), whose name is spelled backwards in the maneuver's title. The Nivek begins with an aggressive pitch at the top of a vertical line, transitioning the aircraft to a level inverted flight. The aircraft is then pitched negatively 360 degrees in place, returning it to a level inverted attitude. After that, the aircraft performs a one and one-quarter rolling spin, finishing the maneuver inverted on a 45-degree down line.

Forward Endo [25]

The Forward Endo is a maneuver where the aircraft rapidly pitches nose downward along its lateral axis, rotating over 540 degrees around that same axis, all while giving the impression of being stationary in space. This maneuver is commonly used in figures like the "Cardiac Express" and the "Typhoon Tumble".

Rolling Spin [26]

During the Rolling Spin, the aircraft is in a fully stalled state. It is simultaneously in a fully developed spin while also rolling around its longitudinal axis.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aerobatics</span> Flying maneuvers involving attitudes not attained during normal flight

Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gliders for training, recreation, entertainment, and sport. Additionally, some helicopters, such as the MBB Bo 105, are capable of limited aerobatic manoeuvres. An example of a fully aerobatic helicopter, capable of performing loops and rolls, is the Westland Lynx.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patty Wagstaff</span> American aviator

Patty Wagstaff is an American aviator and U.S. national aerobatic champion.

Competition aerobatics is an air sport in which ground-based judges rate the skill of pilots performing aerobatic flying. It is practised in both piston-powered single-engine airplanes and also gliders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Handley</span> American airshow performer

Wayne Handley is an American airshow performer, former naval aviator, agricultural pilot, Aerobatic Competency Evaluator (ACE), and coach for upcoming and current airshow stars. Handley and his wife Karen are former residents of the Salinas Valley of California, who currently reside in Groveland, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Versteegh</span> Dutch aerobatics pilot

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Goulian</span>

Michael George "Mike" Goulian is an American aerobatic national champion aviator who raced in the Red Bull Air Race World Series under the number 99.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean D. Tucker</span> American aerobatic pilot (born 1952)

Sean Doherty Tucker is an American world champion aerobatic aviator. He was previously sponsored by the Oracle Corporation for many years, performing in air shows worldwide as "Team Oracle". Tucker has won numerous air show championship competitions throughout his career, was named one of the 25 "Living Legends of Flight" by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in 2003, and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2008. He has led several efforts to assist youth in learning to fly or becoming involved in general aviation, and currently serves as co-chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA)'s Young Eagles program, a role he has held since 2013.

Jerzy Makula is a Polish pilot who won the FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championships seven times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leo Loudenslager</span> American aviator

Leo Loudenslager was an American aviator. He is one of two aviators to have won seven national aerobatic titles and is one of only three Americans to win the World Aerobatics Championship title.

Charlie Hillard was an American aerobatics pilot, and the first American to win the world aerobatics title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Soucy</span> American aerobatics pilot

Gene Soucy is an American aerobatics pilot. The son of two pilots, he would wash airplanes at a local airport in exchange for flight time while growing up in Kentucky. He soloed in a glider at age 14, and in a regular airplane at 16.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthias Dolderer</span>

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 with his team Matt Hall Racing. He won the championship in the final season of Red Bull Air Race in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MX Aircraft MXS</span> Type of aircraft

The MXS is a single-seat aerobatic aircraft made of carbon fiber and built by MX Aircraft Company, a manufacturer located at Jandakot Airport in Perth, Western Australia. The MXS-R is a race variant flown by several pilots in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship. The planes are all-composite in construction, piston-powered, low-wing monoplanes. They are produced both in kit form for amateur construction, and completed ready to fly at the factory.

The FAI World Aerobatic Championships (WAC) is a competition in sport aviation organized by CIVA, the aerobatic commission of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the world air sports federation.

Neil Williams was a Welsh aerobatics pilot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skip Stewart</span> American aerobatic pilot

William Lewis "Skip" Stewart, better known as Skip Stewart, is an aerobatic and commercial pilot from the United States. Stewart flies in airshows in the United States and abroad, in his two highly modified Pitts muscle biplanes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luca Bertossio</span> Italian 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.

Madelyne Delcroix is a French former champion aviator and aerobatics pilot.

References

  1. ↑ "Rob Holland Ultimate Airshows | MXS-RH".
  2. ↑ Holland, Rob. "Bio". Rob Holland Ultimate Airshows. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  3. ↑ "Rob Holland Ultimate Airshows | MXS-RH".
  4. ↑ Holland, Rob. "Bio". Rob Holland Ultimate Airshows. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Holland, Rob. "Bio". Rob Holland Ultimate Airshows. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  6. ↑ "WAC 2019 - France". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  7. ↑ "Contest Results". civa-results.com. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  8. ↑ "US Nationals Category Winners | International Aerobatic Club". www.iac.org. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
  9. ↑ "Bob Schnuerle Trophy | International Aerobatic Club". www.iac.org. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  10. ↑ "Honorary Snowbirds". 10 April 2013.
  11. ↑ "Charlie Hillard Trophy | International Aerobatic Club". www.iac.org. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  12. ↑ "Contest Results". www.aerobatics.co.za. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  13. ↑ "Contest Results". civa-results.com. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  14. ↑ "International Council of Air Shows". www.airshows.aero. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  15. ↑ "Contest Results". civa-results.com. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  16. ↑ "7th Advanced World Aerobatic Championships 2006" (PDF).
  17. ↑ "Rob Holland Ultimate Airshows".
  18. ↑ "AWAC 2006 Results" (PDF).
  19. ↑ "AWAC 2008 Results".
  20. ↑ "Rob Holland Ultimate Airshows".
  21. ↑ "Insidetumble".
  22. ↑ "Frisbee".
  23. ↑ "invertedfrisbee".
  24. ↑ "Nivek".
  25. ↑ "Forwardendo".
  26. ↑ "Rollingspin".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.