Podcast episode examines the business side of professional airshow flying

A career-focused video podcast gave its third episode over to professional airshow flying, a job it calls highly visible but poorly understood.

The guest was Michael Goulian, a national aerobatic champion and Red Bull Air Race pilot. Sponsorship and partnerships, he said, are what separate a viable operation from a pastime. His own team runs much like a small racing outfit. Its season lasts from late March to mid-November and takes in roughly 15 shows a year. About eight staff handle the aircraft, logistics, social media, merchandise and sponsorship work.

Goulian put the business bluntly: his organisation is a marketing company that happens to use an aeroplane to do it.

His long-standing backers include Whelen Aerospace Technologies, AeroShell, Bose Aviation, Cirrus, Hartzell and Lycoming. Sponsorship, he argued, comes from years of demonstrated work rather than from a pitch or an online video. Aspiring performers tend to approach the problem in the wrong order, he said. Learn to fly well, build a reputation and a brand first, then seek sponsors.

For those starting out he pointed to the International Aerobatic Club, a division of the Experimental Aircraft Association that runs competitions around the country across skill categories ranging from primary to unlimited. Roughly 10 hours of aerobatic instruction is enough, he said, to establish whether the discipline suits a pilot.