Author: CambridgeBayWeather
Jon Melby bought his first plane when he was only 19! And then he got his pilot’s license in only three weeks!
In his first competition with 23 competitors, he came in third. In his next two contests he won first and second place.
And when he’s not flying, he’s teaching people how to overcome their fears.
We talked with Jon Melby about that and his aerobatic flying.
Q – Jon, you say, “I need to help as many people as I can to manage fear in their lives.” Why are you on this quest to help people overcome their fears? And, aren’t some fears justified?
A – Yeah. So, in years of doing what I do, I used to fly at the airports for C.I.A. Missions. I did Special Operations Missions and I’ve been racing motocross and skiing, playing hockey in doing crazy stuff my entire life I have no minimal fear. The stuff I do have a fear about I’ve learned how to manage it. I run into people all the time as an airshow pilot who will say I’m afraid of flying. How do you even go up in the air and do tumbling like you do? Are you out of your mind? Are you insane? Well if you’re from Phoenix (Arizona) like I am and you go up north and you see people driving through snow, it’s the same thing. Are you crazy? You drive on snow and ice, only because I’m not used to it. But, once you do that you actually become an expert at it because you overcome your fear. So, my whole quest as far as your question is that it’s just difficult for me to see people not able to fulfill their dreams just because they’re afraid.
Q – You also say, “As a professional airshow pilot I have to conquer fear every time I fly.” What is it that you’re most afraid of before you step into that plane of yours? Are you afraid the plane will have a mechanical breakdown?
A – No. It’s actually like performers who get on stage either in a play or they’re singing. Everyone gets butterflies. The question is what are those butterflies for? Maybe if you’re going on an interview or you’re a salesperson and you have a new account there’s always that apprehension. So, it’s not a strong fear it’s more like a light fear. You want to make sure that you’re prepared for it. So, when I get in my airplane I’m not worried about a mechanical breakdown. I’m not worried about dying. I’m not worried about any of that. Actually the fear that I have is whether conditions or just the fact that I’m going to do a really good job as a performer. So, there’s all kinds of apprehensions that come up in life no matter what you do in life. I’m not afraid. I just recognize that there is a fear there and I’ve had to learn how to manage that fears in order to press forward. Otherwise to be honest, I wouldn’t even jumping in the airplane. I’d say forget this. I’m going to do something else.
Q – And have you ever done anything else?
A – I have a day job. I’m a Data Center Solutions Architect. What that means is I was a business major but I understand computers. I have never had computer training but for a major financial firm in the United States I’m one of their architects. I also play in a band. I play acoustic guitar and electric guitar. I play hockey once or twice a week as well. Professionally I’ve got the airshow business, data center solutions architect and what I’m putting out now is something called “Fear Boss”. I got all the domain names and everything set up and I’m going to be pushing YouTube videos which are two minute quick videos about how to manage fear in your life from fear of flying, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of death. These are just to help people, that they can watch to help overcome their fears. That’s a business venture as well.
Q – What kind of music are you playing in the band?
A – So, I play Christian rock. I play in a Christian rock band. It’s an acoustic bass and lately I’ve been doing more electric guitar.
Q – When you were 12 you met Bob Hoover, who was a legendary airshow pilot, at a local airshow. I’ve never heard of Bob Hoover. What made him so legendary?
A – When I met Bob Hoover at 12 years old, he was just some guy flying. My parent’s friends were organizing the show. They gave me exclusive access to meet him. So I didn’t really understand it until later on when I was in my high school years and going into my 20s. But, Bob Hoover was a fighter pilot in World War II one of the things that made him legendary was that he escaped froma prisoner of war camp in Germany. He and a mechanic stole a German fighter plane from the airport. They left their and landed in England. They ran out of gas and made it to England. That was kind of the story about Bob Hoover. Ultimately he became a test pilot for the initial Mercury astronauts. Those guys where his friends. Bob Hoover and Chuck Yeager worked together. Then he started flying for a company called Rockwell International flying P-51 Mustangs which was the fighter plane for World War II and also twin engine airplanes called Rockwell Figaro. He was at airshows for them. Bob Hoover would take a twin engine plane, shut one of the engines down and do a barrel roll while pouring tea to prove that he could pour tea with the perfect barrel roll with 1G on his body. He didn’t spill it anywhere. Then he shut down the other engine and take the airplane and come in and land and pull right up in front of the crowd. He was a precision airshow pilot. We in the industry revere her him as the best. I had the opportunity to meet him about four years ago (2015) I guess. Two years ago (2017) he passed away. I met him at ICA’s (International Conference of Airshows) where we sign up for our bookings at airshows. I said, Bob, I got to tell you something. You inspired me to become a pilot. You inspired me to become an airshow pilot. He said, Jon, I want you to pass it along and bring it forward to other people. Kind of cool.
Q – You liked his personality so much that you were inspired to become a pilot. Suppose his personality had not been to your liking. Suppose he was a jerk, would you have gone on to become a pilot?
A – I think before that time. I went for a flight with my dad and I flew with him in a light airplane. He was taking pilot license lessons and I’d never been in an airplane before. I was eight years old. I just saw everything from a different perspective than I had ever seen before. It was the first time I had ever been in an airplane. I’m like I love this. This is great. So, after that I was actually jumping off the roof of my house trying to fly. I’d buy model airplanes that I’d fly. I even dreamt about it. When I saw Bob Hoover, if he was a jerk it wouldn’t have mattered because I saw him fly first and how cool that was. If he ignored me and didn’t pay any attention to me and was a real jerk it wouldn’t have mattered because I would have been so enthralled with flying. But, I’ve met people and I know some people who are not pleasant with the crowd. It’s my point that when I meet people I do my very best to make eye contact. When you have thousands of people one thing I’ve realized it’s nearly impossible to please everybody. There’s just too many. I try, but I don’t ever want people to say he’s a jerk, he didn’t talk to me. It’s the most difficult part of my profession.
Q – You bought your first plane at what 19?
A – 19 years old. I bought a Cessna 150. Yes, sir.
Q – How much did you pay for that plane?
A – So, looking back at it now it’s kind of funny. It was in 1981. It was a 1976 Cessna 150. So it was five years old. I paid $7600 for it back then. Cheap!
Q – You got your pilot’s license in three weeks because you flew the plane every day?
A – Yeah. That airplane I bought it with a friend of mine. I sold my car. I had to hitchhike to the airport to fly because I couldn’t afford anything else. I didn’t have a lot of money. I’m 19 years old. I put all my money into flying. I flew two times a day for three weeks. I was in the Air Force at the time. I was stationed in Florida. The cool part about that was in between flight missions with the Air Force, I flew as a crew member. I had lots of time off. You need 42 hours for your minimum or whatever it was back then. I did it in 42 hours. That’s the cool part if you want to learn how to fly. Save up all your money and fly as much as you can. It’s kind of like towards the end like driving your car were you jump in your car, put your seatbelt on and you don’t think about it. But, if you don’t fly very often, like once a week, you spend a lot of time trying to figure out what’s going on and keep your mind back in the cockpit. It was a lot easier for me, plus being younger I was very eager to learn everything and I had time to do it.
Q – You pretty much stick to the West Coast for your shows don’t you?
A – West Coast and up through Canada and Mexico and Alaska. I’m very, very rarely have gone past the Mississippi River, mainly for time because I do have a day job. It takes a lot of time to travel and then the cost involved in airshows. My friends on the East Coast very rarely fly on the West Coast. It costs an extra 2000 or $3000 for the airshow to pay us to travel that far.
Q – If you had to do an airshow on the East Coast I take it you couldn’t truck the plane could you?
A – No.
Q – You have to fly it.
A – Just like I flew to Alaska last year for an airshow. It took 15 hours. I did it in three days. If I were to fly from Phoenix Arizona to say North Carolina, that would take two days. I’d fly probably nine hours flight time. 200 miles an hour. So, it’s not that bad.
Official Website: jonmelby.com
