Compiled by Willie Bodenstein
Photos by Abri and Amelie Kriegler, Graig Ritson & Supplied
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Check out aerobatics at the IAC
Come for the air conditioning; come back and meet Sean D. Tucker!
Aviation enthusiasts and pilots are familiar with the exciting aerial performances at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. But did you know that an organization exists to encourage the fun of aerobatic flying for those who never intend to compete in aerobatics or fly in air shows? And of course you can check it out at AirVenture!
The EAA's International Aerobatic Club (IAC) is an education organization that promotes and enhances the safety and enjoyment of sport aerobatics. And it has an air-conditioned store right along the flightline at AirVenture!
The IAC has its roots in the Precision Flying Division, an EAA division originally headed by Bill Dodd. According to the IAC website, "IAC was formed in 1970 under the leadership of Bob Heuer, an airline pilot from Maple Park, Illinois, and a group of aerobatic pilots mostly from the Chicago area." At the time of its founding, the IAC literally wrote the rules for what is often referred to as "grassroots aerobatics."
Jordan Ashley, 2025 IAC AirVenture convention chair, said the organization's goal is to "promote and enhance safety and enjoyment of aerobatics. What we believe at our core is that flying aerobatics and doing it properly with correct training by properly rated and educated individuals makes pilots better. I think personally that every private pilot should go through an upset recovery course just to see what the airplane does when you get outside of that little box that every single private pilot is taught, because at some point you're going to get into that situation."
The IAC AirVenture convention chair since 2021, Jordan is serving in his final year in the role; he'll be stepping down "after 17 years of service to let somebody else take the reins."
The IAC is offering meet and greets this year, one of which features Nate Hammond with GhostWriter Airshows. Nate does the skywriting above the AirVenture grounds each year, as well as performing in the day and night air shows. The IAC along with EAA is also doing an aerobatic competition demo during the air show. This year also marks the 80th anniversary of the Pitts Special, and the IAC is celebrating that at AirVenture.
Air show legend Sean D. Tucker is doing a meet and greet at 12:45 p.m. on Friday, immediately after his presentation about why everyone should compete before they fly air shows. Seminars will take place at the Vicki Cruse Educational Pavilion at the IAC Aerobatic Centre from Tuesday, July 22, through Friday, July 25, starting each morning at 8:30 a.m., covering a wide range of aerobatic and safety-related topics.
The complete schedule is available in AirVenture Today, in the EAA Events app, and at EAA.org and IAC.org.
In addition, the IAC is joining with the cutting-edge aerobatic flying technology and analytics company ACROWRX to demonstrate live competition aerobatics at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025. It will give fans on the flightline and around the world an opportunity to interact with the performances during the afternoon air shows. Learn more via the links at IAC.org/AirVenture.
If you're interested in aerobatics or you're a pilot who has never done upset recovery training, stop by and visit the IAC, located just off Boeing Plaza at the northeast corner.
AirVenture in Pictures
Graig Ritson Photos
Amelie Kriegler Photos
Abrie Kriegler Photos
Supplied
Camp life
Spirit Engineering's Airventure Surprise
By Robbie Culver
Every year, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is full of surprises. In 2025, there was none bigger than the Spirit Engineering SE-1. Kept tightly under wraps, four SE-1s made the journey from Grand Junction, Colorado, to Oshkosh to debut the design on the world's biggest stage. The four SE-1s arrived at Oshkosh after burning a total of 88 gallons of fuel, and the aircraft have been the buzz of the convention.
Priced at $69,500 out the door, the special light-sport aircraft (S-LSA) draws attention with its design that is reminiscent of aviation's classics. Think Luscombe, Ryan ST, or Swift. Steve Wood, president of Spirit Engineering, sat down with AirVenture Today to share the story of how the aircraft came to be. Steve has an aeronautical engineering degree but said he “wanted to work on little airplanes.” He took a job with Cessna right out of college and worked in its Pawnee engineering facility for about five years.
“I left Wichita the day of the first flight of the 208 Caravan,” Steve said. “That was the last project I worked on. After I left Cessna, I campaigned an ultralight here at Oshkosh, the Sky Pup, back in the early '80s. It was never a kit; never was anything other than plans. Sold a lot of plans. It still has an unbelievable following.
“I started a consulting business after I left Cessna, working on what I would call the lunatic fringe of aviation: ultralights, racers, aerobatic stuff, bushplanes. We did all the design work of the Sherpa in Grand Junction, and then somehow, I got in the DOD business, which is probably more lucrative than the airplane business,” he said. “What I got from that was a lot of experience in manufacturing to high-quality standards and schedules. I learned process definition, process control, and how to make stuff.”
“Our intention from the beginning is we're setting ourselves up to build a lot of them, and we've set up our plant to do several airplanes a day. We just got the first S-LSA certificate on July 8. [We] took an airplane out of engineering, research, and design and presented it to ASTM compliance. The next day we did the first flight on the first three production airplanes. And three days later, they were S-LSA.
“We very specifically don't want a whole bunch of versions of this airplane,” Steve said. “The wiring harnesses for the airplane are made outside the airplane; we have three basic harnesses: an airframe harness, an instrument panel harness, and a firewall-forward harness. And those connect through the firewall at a cannon plug. It's all about controlling labor costs. That's absolutely what it is. Airplanes are too much hand built. I want people to look at that and think it looks like old-world craftsmanship, when really, it's lasers and CNC equipment used in a way to give this flowing artistic look.”
Steve said, “The only way we're going to have the engine that we need for our airplane is we're going to have to design and build it ourselves.” So they did. According to the company's website, “The Spirit V2 is a normally-aspirated, two-cylinder, four-stroke, inverted 'V,' air-cooled, direct-drive aircraft engine featuring a dry sump lubrication system, and a magnetic discharge ignition. This engine is perfectly matched to the SE-1 aircraft.”
Fuel can be 91 octane ethanol-free mogas or 100LL. The website also mentions that “Spirit Engineering validated the Spirit V2 engine during thousands of test runs in its specially-designed engine test cell. Testing exceeding ASTM standards - including running the engine at maximum power for hundreds of hours - was performed to assess power output, durability, detonation margins, and endurance.”
All those photos online that show dozens of airframes lined up in production? Those are real. The aircraft is in production, tested, and ready for sale immediately. The cockpit features an MGL gauge pack, basic VFR instrumentation, and the wings fold for easy transportation and storage. “It folds Grumman style; it goes right up against the fuselage. The stuff you need to do it is all in the airplane. If I showed you how to do it and you practiced 10 times, you'd do it in under two minutes.”
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