KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Performers and pilots from all over the country will be featured at the Garmin KC Air Show this weekend, including two local teams.
KC Flight Formation Team will have ten pilots in attendance.
Propelled by passion, it takes countless hours of practice to fly in formation.
“We all come together as a team. We have to have 30 practices every year that we renew our cards for our shows,” said Phillip Lamb, call sign Ripper.
Formed over a decade ago in Kansas City, the group started with flyovers at high school football games just for fun. Since then, the group has branched out to performing in airshows and even over GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium for a Chiefs game.
Bottom line: they just love flying.
“I go from 58 years old to 12 years old immediately. Just standing next to it, I’m probably about 13,” Lamb said. “It’s the challenge of it, the thrill of it, being able to get up close to another airplane."
Along with practice comes the skill, choreography and muscle memory necessary to perform formations that wow a crowd.
“Everybody in that line, that formation, is looking at the same things,” said call sign Tinker, another member of the team.
Tinker notes their planes fly between 130-170 mph and can be about five to seven feet apart.
The second local team in attendance at the air show this weekend is the Shetterly Squadron.
Comprised of a flying family, Joe Shetterly and his father Greg Shetterly perform while Joe's mother narrates the show.
The Garmin KC Air Show starts Saturday at New Century Air Center in Gardner. Aerial performances will begin around 10 a.m.
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