1. Arthur Everett Scholl was an American aerobatic pilot, aerial cameraman, flight instructor and educator based in Riverside, Southern California.
16 Facts About Art Scholl
1. 2.
Art Scholl died during the filming of Top Gun when his Pitts S-2 camera plane failed to recover from a spin and plunged into the Pacific Ocean.
3.
Art Scholl performed across the United States and internationally from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s.
4.
Art Scholl flew a pair of modified de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk aircraft, renamed "Super Chipmunks" and occasionally a third aircraft N1804Q, before an estimated audience of 80 million people over 20 years and appeared in more than 200 motion picture features, documentaries and television commercials.
5.
Art Scholl was an Airline Transport Pilot in multi-engine land and sea planes, with commercial privileges in airplane single engine land and airplane single engine sea, helicopters, and gliders.
6.
Art Scholl held certificates as both a flight instructor and ground instructor.
7.
Art Scholl taught aeronautics at San Bernardino Valley College for 18 years, eventually becoming head of the department.
8.
Art Scholl founded an aerobatics school and maintenance facility at Flabob Airport in Riverside, California.
9.
Art Scholl converted it to a full-service fixed-base operation when he moved it to Rialto Municipal Airport, then known as Miro Field, in Rialto, California in 1978.
10.
Art Scholl produced several highly successful air shows at Miro Field, attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators.
11.
Scholl's company, Art Scholl Aviation, relocated back to Flabob Airport shortly before the airport at Rialto closed in 2014.
12.
At the height of his popularity as an air show performer in the 1970s, Art Scholl flew two Super Chipmunks, basing one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast.
13.
Art Scholl was a member of the five-person aerobatic team representing the United States in international competition from 1963 through 1972.
14.
Art Scholl flew competition at Moscow in 1966; Magdeburg, East Germany, 1968; Hullavington, England, 1970, and Salon de Provence, France.
15.
Art Scholl died during the filming of Top Gun when his Pitts S-2 camera plane failed to recover from a spin and plunged into the Pacific Ocean.
16.
Art Scholl had entered the spin intentionally in order to capture it on film using on-board cameras.