TYLER, Texas — Did you know that one of North America’s premier jet demonstration pilots is based right here in East Texas – and he’s starring in a brand-new reality show?
"What I do every day for a living is fly airliners, haul people around, and don't fly those upside down. Think that probably wouldn’t go over really well. What I do on the weekends, and what I’ve done most of my adult life on the weekends is fly upside down," Randy Ball said.
Ball is one of the most accomplished and recognizable jet demonstration pilots in the country. He’s got 34 years of air show experience, he’s put on more than 1,500 performances, and now he’s the star of a reality show.
The show is being produced by Lynn Rebuck, a writer from Smithsonian Magazine, who penned an article about an aircraft that Ball and his team had restored in the past.
"She contacted us and wanted to know whether we would let her kinda follow us around and film everything and we’re like “maybe, maybe not. But yeah, c’mon,'" Ball said.
Rebuck said the show is like a combination of Top Gun and Top Gear because of the ways viewers will get an in-depth look at an air show and the preparation it takes to get there.
"It’s been a really long winter maintenance cycle, and I hope everybody gets to enjoy what that kind of looks like, and maybe has a better appreciation of what they see at an airshow, or a fly over the football stadium, that sort of thing," Ball said.
Ball's passion for aircrafts really stems from his childhood and growing up in his hometown.
"My family is a longtime Texas ranching family from West Texas, Breckenridge area. And one of the biggest restoration facilities in the United States for antique and World War II aircraft is in Breckenridge. I’d go out there as a kid, that’s the only thing I wanted to go do. Mom, dad, you can just drop me at the airport and leave me and I’m good," Ball said.
The first two episodes of “The Airshow Team” aired Thursday night.
New episodes will be coming out every Thursday night for the next 10 weeks streaming on AirShowTeam.tv.