During Frontiers in Flight, you may start to ask yourself, “how did they get up there?”

A lot of questions could be behind that thought. “What sort of crazy is needed to do something so dangerous?” “That’s my kind of crazy; what steps would I have to take so I could do something like that?” or even, “How do planes work, what is a Bernoulli and what school was he the principle for?”.

Today, we’d like to look at one example so we can answer at least one of those questions (maybe two). Scott Francis, an aerobatic pilot featured in this year’s Frontiers in Flight Air Show, is celebrating his last airshow here at McConnell Air Force Base, so we flagged him down to get us some insider information on his life, career, and what it takes to be the one up in the sky entertaining everyone down below.

Scott Francis was born in 1966 to an Air Force family. His father, Bud Francis, was a long time experimental test pilot at Beech Aircraft after his service in the Air Force. With a childhood rooted in Wichita, Kansas, Scott’s first airshow was in the 70’s, and right here at McConnell Air Force Base.

When he was a senior in High School, Scott began to study for a private pilot license, with his father as his instructor.

Higher education had one goal in mind: be a fighter pilot! Unfortunately, Scott’s uncorrected eyesight wasn’t good enough to make the cut, so he began his time at the University of Kansas on a full Navy ROTC scholarship. Though his participation in Navy ROTC only lasted a year, Scott continued to get his BS and MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

In 1991, Scott moved to the Washington DC area to begin work in the defense industry. In 1999, Scott’s father and initial inspiration to take to the skies sadly passed away from cancer.

Throughout his early career, Scott had participated at a local flying club. While the skies were all well and good, Scott got a little tired of flying straight and steady in 2003, and started taking aerobatic flying lessons. His instructor was active in the aerobatic competition circuit, and encouraged Scott to participate using the instructor’s plane on loan: a Super Decathlon!

Scott’s growth as a competitive pilot was quick! The next year, he bought his first airplane, a Pitts S-1T aerobatic biplane, and rode that plane to the top level of the competition. With a total of 11 years in competition, Scott was a force to be reckoned with, retiring only in 2014.

At the encouragement of a friend, Scott joined the Flying Circus in Bealeton, Virginia in 2005. There was no shortage of experience to be had, since these performers flew every Sunday from May to October.

2006 was a big year as well, not only because the Flying Circus was invited to perform alongside the U.S. Navy Blue Angels in Lynchburg, Virginia, but Scott got an upgraded airplane: a lovely Giles 202: more power at half the wings!

In 2011, Scott got his endgame plane, and the plane he uses today: the MXS (Shown Below).

Throughout his career as a pilot, Scott was also a full-time engineer, and piloted a King Air for a private owner. With the encouragement of yet another friend, a retired Captain from JetBlue Airlines, Scott retired from his full-time work in 2022, saying goodbye to 30 years of engineering to spend as much time in the skies as possible, transitioning to a 737 First Officer in United Airlines. Unintentionally, Scott realized he has followed in the footsteps now of his grandfather, who was a career airline pilot with over 29,000 flight hours under his belt.

Looking back, Scott’s logged over 10,000 flight hours in more than 40 types of aircraft, all while balancing a full-time career. His words to everyone reading are, “It will be a privilege and a special experience to finish up in my hometown and in the place where I was first thrilled by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and many other great performers.”