Kirby Chambliss
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kirby Chambliss | |
 |
|
| Red Bull Air Race World Series Record | |
| Date of Birth | October 18, 1959 |
| Team | Red Bull |
| Year of Début | 2003 |
| Country |  United States |
| Best Position | 1st (2006) |
| 2006 Position | 1st (38 points) |
| Plane | Zivko Edge 540 |
| Website | chamblissaerobatics.com/ |
Kirby Chambliss (1959) is an American commercial pilot and a renowned world champion in aerobatics. He is the current Red Bull Air Race World Series champion.
He was born on October 18, 1959 in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. As a youngster, Chambliss wanted to be a pilot. His father taught him skydiving, and he loved the steep spiral in the sky, the pilot put the plane into when bringing the skydivers back to the ground. During his high school years, he fueled aircraft to earn extra money. By December 1979 at the age of 20, Chambliss debuted solo flying after formal flight training, and earned his private license the following March. In the beginning, he earned his life as a certified flight instructor and then as a night freight pilot.
His later job as a business jet pilot enabled him in 1985 to take aerobatic flight training and to buy his own aerobatic plane. Winning top honors in his very first contest, Chambliss worked the way up to the elite "unlimited" level. In 1997, he became member and then captain of the US Aerobatic Team. He won four U.S. national championships and a number of medals at the world championships. He holds the title 2000 Men's Freestyle World Champion.
Chambliss enjoys performing in traditional airshows throughout the year when he is not training or competing. Since 2005, he takes part at the international aerobatic competition Red Bull Air Race World Series as a member of the Red Bull Team along with his team mate Hungarian Péter Besenyei. The champion of 2004, Chambliss finished the 2006 Series as the champion again with four wins of eight rounds on his Zivko Edge 540 aircraft. To stay in shape for enormous g-forces and exact timing, he trains three times a day and four days a week in the sky.
A pilot with more than 24,000 logged hours of flying, Kirby Chambliss, his wife and fellow pilot, Kellie and their baby Karly Nicole live in a house in Flying Crown Ranch, Arizona, USA, attached to his hangar.
| Kirby Chambliss at the Red Bull Air Race World Series |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Points | Wins | Rank |
| 2003 |  DNP |
 3rd |
4 | 0 | 3rd | |||||||
| 2004 |  1st |
1st |
2nd |
17 | 2 | 1st | ||||||
| 2005 |  9th |
 4th |
4th |
 DNS |
2nd |
2nd |
2nd |
21 | 0 | 3rd | ||
| 2006 | 1st |
 3rd |
 1st |
 CAN |
 1st |
5th |
3rd |
1th |
 3rd |
38 | 4 | 1st |
| Total | 80 | 6 | 1st | |||||||||
Legend:
- CAN: Cancelled
- DNP: Did not participate
- DNS: Did not show
- NC: Not classified
[edit] See also
[edit] Reference
| Preceded by Péter Besenyei |
Red Bull Air Race World Series Champion 2004 |
Succeeded by Mike Mangold |
| Preceded by Mike Mangold |
Red Bull Air Race World Series Champion 2006 |
Succeeded by incumbent |
| Red Bull Air Race World Series Champions |
|---|
| 2003 Péter Besenyei • 2004 Kirby Chambliss • 2005 Mike Mangold • 2006 Kirby Chambliss |
2006 Numbers
01. Mike Mangold • 02. Péter Besenyei • 03. Kirby Chambliss • 04. Klaus Schrodt • 07. Nicolas Ivanoff • 10. Nigel Lamb • 19. Steve Jones • 36. Alejandro Maclean • 55. Paul Bonhomme • 69. Frank Versteegh • 99. Michael GoulianNew Pilots for 2007
Hannes Arch • Glen Dell • Sergei Rakhmanin
