ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The Liberal AirFair will be full of new faces for this year’s festivities, including performer Erik Edgren.
As Edgren tells it, his passion for aviation was sparked before he could even officially reach the controls.
“I'm a very lucky man, I grew up on the family farm in Iowa, and my dad was a pilot when I was growing up. He started teaching me to fly at a young age, and when I was 6 years old, he had a traveling airplane and would sit me on his lap and slow down the plane because the controls are very stiff at speed and had me fly,” Edgren said. “Then, when I was 8 years old, my dad bought a Taylor craft, which is an unmodified version of what I fly at air shows, and he built a special set of controls so I could reach everything and sit at his eye level, though I didn't fly solo yet. And I'm currently 56 years old, so I've been flying for more than four decades. I didn't actually get my pilot's license until I was about to turn 20 – basically, I'd wanted to be a commercial pilot and fly for airlines and all of that. There was a point in time when if you had glasses, you couldn't get a job like that, and I'd gotten glasses when I was 14, and since I was flying planes on the farm with my dad, I didn't really see a point in getting my license, but that eventually changed, and I did ultimately get my license.”
And in all that time, Edgren said his passion has only grown.
“There's a quote attributed to Da Vinci that says 'For once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will long to return,' and that's how I feel about it,” Edgren said. “Also, I really like being around old aircraft, and being an air show pilot, some of my heroes growing up were the guys I watched at shows, and it was something I knew I wanted to do. I flew my first season of air shows back in 1999 and had purchased that airplane ... I was a young farmer and it was like purchasing a tractor – it had to go, and I had to make money. I had serious issues with that plane and couldn't afford to fix it for a long time. I purchased the plane I fly now after working long and hard to be able to afford it. I wanted something, as a man of more modest means, that I would be able to afford to fly and maintain.”
The Liberal AirFair coordinators got in touch with Edgren earlier this year about participating in the show, and Edgren said he was happy to do so.
“I do know for the 16 shows I got signed for this year, I contacted more than 100 shows, and the AirFair was one of them. However, I do know the coordinator, Blake Prosser – he's also from Iowa, and we shared a mentor and good friend,” Edgren said. “He'd called me up asking me about some different performers, and that segued into my talking to the airport manager, and that's how I got hired for the AirFair. I make my living flying air shows, so I have to consider whether or not I could fly at a particular show or another safely – i.e., will the weather conditions be favorable, is the elevation too high, etc. Then, since I do this for a living, I contact as many shows as possible and talk to them about performing.”
This will be Edgren’s first Liberal AirFair performance, and he said he is very excited.
“I'm really excited because I actually use the Liberal Municipal Airport as a fuel stop on my way to other stops, and it's a great facility. The staff there are among the friendliest people I've ever come across, and they're amazing to work with, so I'm excited to be in Liberal for a slightly extended period of time for the show,” Edgren said. “It's also ideally situated for an air show, so I think it's just going to be an overall great time. And, as far as I know, I'm the only one of the day's performers who will offer four distinct acts in the same airplay – I do a comedy act, an aerobatics act, a night act, and a deadstick act, all of which I love doing. One of my favorite acts is my deadstick act, which is where I climb up to 6,000 feet, make a circle with the engine on, fire my wingtips, shut off the engine, and then do aerobatics all the way to the ground. I'm one of the very few performers who does that, and it's definitely a finesse act. I often tell people it's not a glider act, it's falling with style. Doing that also allows me to be somewhat arty with my flying in terms of wanting evoke a certain mood – the music I do that routine to is Disturbed's version of the song 'Sound of Silence.' It's definitely a crowd favorite, and I've gotten more applause/response for that act than anything else I've done.”
Overall, Edgren said, he is ready to make his way to Southwest Kansas in October.
“It's going to be a great show featuring a great lineup for great people. The night show is also going to be really special, and those are fast becoming quite the experience,” Edgren said. “I'm also always up for the opportunity to spread the word about going to air shows, because they're just fantastic family entertainment and you won't see anything else like it. There's also the STEM/educational spin as well as a historical spin where everyone can learn about the different types of aircraft and how they work. It's just a great opportunity for everyone in the family.”
