Chuck Aaron Announces Retirement

Chuck Aaron announced on Instagram that he is retiring from flying the Red Bull helicopter, a Messerschmitt-Bölkow Blohm BO-105 modified to withstand the rigors of aerobatic flight. In his 10-year tenure with Red Bull, Aaron has performed about 250 airshows. His last show will be at the Red Bull Air Race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway outside Las Vegas on October 17 and 18.

Aaron told Flying he wanted to "leave while I'm on top." He is practicing his routine more than ever to make his last show as fun and safe as possible. "When that last show is done, I'm going to take a deep breath and thank God for keeping me alive for this long," Aaron said. "Then I'm going to hand the keys to my son and get on an airliner and fly back home."

While Aaron still loves flying, he will no longer fly aerobatics. What Aaron's next chapter will be remains to be seen. He said he no longer needs to work, but has a few compelling opportunities that he may pursue.

He may at some point help train a replacement for Red Bull, but at this time there is nothing in the works. Aaron said he hopes his pioneering helicopter aerobatic flying will inspire children to come up with their own ideas about how to advance helicopter flight and think way outside the box.

Tag along in our recent flight with Chuck Aaron here.

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