Behind the Yak 110

“My dad was a professional pilot. He had a passion for aviation and wanted to pass that on. Early on, I was building model aeroplanes that flew. It started with rubber band-powered ones and then moved to radio-controlled ones. When I was seven years old, I went to the Oshkosh airshow in Wisconsin and thought, “Wow! These people are flying aircraft and doing aerobatics. ” That left a very strong impression on me at a very early age, and I knew that was what I wanted to do.

“I bought a Pitts Special that had been wrecked, rebuilt it, and started flying it in 2001. In 2003, I made the aerobatic team and was off to Sweden in 2004 to fly in my first world championships. And that’s where the start of the Yak came into play. I only wanted to borrow a Yak 55 at the time because I was hoping to eventually buy a Sukhoi. I found a Yak I could use, owned by a guy called Chad Bartee, but he was in Lubbock, Texas.

“Chad was the guy that owned the blue side of what would one day become Yak 110. So I was there, flying his aeroplane every once in a while, but I lived in Arizona, so it wasn’t working out. But I saw this Yak for sale out in Georgia, and that was what would become the red side. So, I ended up buying that and flying it home. And when I did, I stopped in Lubbock, and Chad flew mine. That was the first time these two aeroplanes met – spring 2004.

“When I finally had the opportunity to move up to a Sukhoi, I didn’t want to sell the Yak 55. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one up close or listened to it. But I mean, they’re very impressive aeroplanes! It’s big, makes a lot of noise and the radial engine sounds cool. So I decided to sell a couple of partnerships in the aeroplane to keep it in the family. And I saw mine with one of my partners’ at an aerobatic contest. It was sittingon a ramp where I saw it next to another Yak 55. And from where I was standing, it looked superimposed, like one aeroplane. And I said I got an idea! And that was about 2009.

“We hired a guy to do the initial test flying. You can imagine when you’re trying to make something happen in the air show world, that’s so out of this world, people will question it. The naysayers will say, “Oh, that’s cute. You know Jeff is going to do some novelty act with this Frankenstein aeroplane. ” His biggest concern was all six landing gear cooperating on the runway, so he worried more about ground control and handling than anything.

“We waited all day long for the wind to be calm. The whole team was on the side of the runway watching this aeroplane take off. And I mean, it just was mind-blowing! All those wheels! That was my first response: look at all that landing gear hanging down from the aeroplane because it’s got four mains and two tail wheels. It just looks so unique and so cool.

“We’re going to do a tribute to Bob Hoover in the Gold Coast by feathering the two and 14 engines, feathering the props, and just flying around on the jet. I will do a loop and an eight-point roll like Bob Hoover would have done with the Commander. That’ll be the first time that’s been done. So, it will be the first time in Australia, but also the first for the Yak to do this tribute to Bob.

“To get it to the Gold Coast, we had to take it apart and put it in two shipping containers, each with a fuselage, wing and a centre section. The jet engine was in one and all of our tools and spares went in there. Those were trucked up to Philadelphia and then put on to a ship down the Atlantic to the Panama Canal. It stopped in Auckland and Sydney and landed in Brisbane before being trucked over to Archerfield, where we put it back together.

“I’m also still a member of the US aerobatic team. I will be going to Nationals flying my Extra 330 SC to try and qualify for the aerobatic team again. So, between all of that and my full-time airline gig, it keeps me very busy. Flying, flying, flying. Just ask my wife.

“She’ll complain to you about it as much as you want to hear!”