Flying Inverted, Loops, Rolls and Hammerhead: Aerobatic Aviation at its Finest

OSHKOSH, Wis. (WISS) – Air shows can get you close to some of the world’s best pilots – we go into the mind of one flying upside down for the World Championships.

Air shows are packed with unique planes and different flying techniques. One that seems to stand out to the crowd, causing chatter and awe, are those certain planes and their pilots that can fly upside down, straight up and loop around to nearly the ground, called aerobatics.

Born and raised in central Montana, Brittanee Lincoln is a 4th generation pilot. Her grandpa and great grandpa were both crop dusters.

“We had a small grass strip in front of our house, I was always around aviation and airplanes. I was actually only 5 days old when I was first ever in an airplane.” 

Britt got her Private Pilot License (PPL) only eight years ago in 2017, and her only goal was to fly straight and level. Then in 2019, she met someone with a two-seat aerobatic plane.

“He started speaking to me about aerobatics, competition aerobatics, I didn’t know anything about it. It was like speaking a foreign language. He said well… I am taking this plane up for a flight, want to come with? In hindsight, I think that was a hook. I think he did that on purpose, not sure he was really planning to go flying…”

“…I went, it was great, we did so many maneuvers. I felt great, felt fantastic, when we landed he said to me you need to learn to do this. A couple months later I started learning and training in aerobatics.”

Learning from the pros, it’s not easy. Her excitement and passion shines.

“It’s the hardest thing that I have ever done. But anybody can do it, it’s just like anything else. It just takes the right training. It’s not something you want to go out and try by yourself, even if you are a licensed pilot. You need proper training, professional training. Like everything else you can learn to do it. I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I compete and do airshows. I see every tiny little mistake. And there is no such thing as a perfect competition flight, but I strive for it.”

Between competition flying and air shows, it’s a completely different style. Competition is about absolute precision. 

“Perfectly vertical lines, perfect stops, no bobbles. Is it 90 degree or 180 degree? Are you rolling or inverted? It’s just like stop BAM hitting a brick wall, no funny motions in the airplane. So it really disciplines you as a pilot and teaches you to be an absolute master of the airplane.”

Air shows contrast because pilots are there to please the crowd and make it entertaining – much different from when pilots fly for judges.

“Airshows incorporate a little bit more gyroscopic maneuvers, like tumbles and flying with smoke and music. We don’t do that in competition, so it’s a little bit different. In my airshow acts I really try to pay homage to my competition background. So while I do have some of those really fun gyroscopic tumbling maneuvers, I try to keep it as crisp with precision in my other maneuvers as I possibly can, which comes from my competition background.”

In a major milestone, Britt performed for the first time in Oshkosh’s EAA’s Airventure, the world’s largest airshow!

On the competition side, she is on the U.S. Advanced Aerobatic Team. Five of them going to Hungary this fall to compete at the World Advanced Aerobatic Championships, representing the United States.

“It’s like the equivalent of the Olympics for aerobatics, it’s pretty exciting!”

It’s not her first rodeo though; Britt was the second woman ever – and the first in 30 years – to win the U.S. Advanced Aerobatic Championship.

After all of this practice and success, I had to ask if she was nervous.

“We are humans, there is always an element of nerves. That’s also part of the difficulty of the sport. It’s the precision and controlling the airplane but it’s just as much mental as it is physical. So really being able to prepare yourself before a flight to be in a good mental state and focused. Not to get that fight or flight response that we get often. People experience that when they have to speak in public or sing karaoke and you get that brain fog and you can’t really remember stuff and you get dry mouth. That’s all part of the puzzle and the game is finding a way to control yourself, your body and get your mind focused and in the right place to perform at your absolute best.” 

No idea what G forces feels like? There are two types.

Positive Gs make you feel like you are pressed into your seat and it’s a multiplier of your body weight. 

“Your blood will flow and comes out of your head and towards your legs. Breathing and straining issues to help minimize the blood flow out of your head to the feet.”

Negative Gs are the opposite, a feeling of being pushed out of your seat. Most people have no idea what this feels like – roller coasters don’t do it.

“There really isn’t much you can do for the negative. The blood then is the opposite going to your head. You can strain a little to prevent it but the best thing to do is relax. Obviously the hard part is when you go from negative and you’ve got all the blood in your head and then in a split second you go positive, you have to train for that, that’s where you can go grey out, black out, so you train for all of that.”

A frightening reality that most don’t know about from the ground.

If you are interested in aerobatics, whether you are a pilot or not, you can check out IAC and become a part of the club.

“Great organization of like minded people. You don’t have to be a pilot or an aerobatic pilot. You can check it out and be a part of a group of really fun and phenomenal people. We have close to 4,000 members and there are only a couple hundred of us that compete. So there are lots of people who are a part of the club and volunteer. Contests can’t happen without them. So they come to help out and be around cool airplanes, have fun and watch some really great flying.”

I’ve learned that these pilots also appreciate having a meteorologist around, because they have to battle changing weather. Those crosswinds and turbulence push them around more than you think. It’s not just the towering cumulonimbus clouds they fly away from.

Now you know a little more of what goes into these jaw dropping shows!

The 16th FAI World Advanced Aerobatic Championships takes place September 12 to September 20 in Sármellék, Hungary.

For Britt Lincoln, the sky is her stage and safety is always the spotlight. The aerobatic performer flew for the first time into Oshkosh for @EAA’s AirVenture to join her community of pilots and show her skills with her demo team. #OSH25 pic.twitter.com/7qgXWVj7cn

— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) July 25, 2025