Although it was a real need to get from point “a” to “b” that made him a pilot at 10 years old (he grew up in a remote and roadless part of Alaska), Ty Frisbee refuses to see airplanes as transportation. In fact, 99% of his flights take off and land at the same place.

As one of the country’s top aerobatics competitors and lead aerobatics instructor for Sunrise Aviation at John Wayne Airport – without a doubt the country’s top aerobatics school – Frisbee doesn’t have time to putter around up there in a straight line. Instead, he flies four times a day, taking on as many as 10Gs as he barrels straight up into the sky, and then perfects his loops, rolls and spins.