Before she was even born, Australian Emma McDonald was destined for flight. Virtually her entire family spends their days in the air, many of them working professionally as agricultural pilots. But for Emma, the sky awakened something more exciting in her spirit – a call to perform death-defying tricks and stunts in a sport known as aerobatic flying.
The Early Years
Emma’s family is absolutely full of pilots, including her parents, grandparents, cousins, uncles, and siblings. Her grandfather was the first in the air, but her grandmother wasn’t far behind, becoming one of the first female pilots in Australia. Piloting skills were passed down to each member of each generation, and so when Emma was born, it was already a lock that she too would one day take the control stick and zip off into the sky.
She saw her first airshow at the Old Station airfield in Raglan, Australia. Much different from agricultural flights done to accomplish functional tasks, the airshow revealed the more exhilarating side of flight – rolls, stalls, inversions, and more. One day, she saw the legendary Australian pilot Matt Hall turning the sky into his personal canvas, and she was hooked. She knew that when she grew up, she’d do the same.
From the Ground Up
At age 17, Emma did not go right into the family business, but she still started out close to big machines. Her first job was working as a diesel fitter (Aussie for mechanic), learning how a wide variety of engines work. Things got off to a rocky start. She was told on her first day that she did not belong in the male-dominated field and would never be good enough. Right then, Emma resolved to show the diesel crews what she was made of. She always loved to compete, including racing motorbikes, and she threw herself wholeheartedly into her work, becoming the best diesel mechanic she could be. The proof of her skills came when she was named Apprentice of the Year in Rockhampton, and then took second runner-up for the Asia-Pacific region.
Clearly, Emma was more than good enough, and she would soon find out just how far her passion could take her.
Taking to the Skies
Following her career as a mechanic, Emma was ready for takeoff. She worked seven years for the Matt Hall Racing team and ultimately rose to Head of Aviation. During this time, the team won the Red Bull Air Race world championship. Emma was flying with some of the best in the world.
She now flies for Team Beyond Gravity.
Emma was the first female pilot to participate in Air Race X, an extreme aerial motorsport. Pilots fly race-dedicated, high-performance aircraft through pylon gates and compete with other racers for both time and precision. It looks a lot like drone racing, except there are people and full-sized aircraft zipping around a massive course. Emma placed 5th in her debut season against a number of seasoned Red Bull Air Race vets, proving her elite skills.
In addition to aerobatics, Emma also flies corporate charters, joy flights, and even life-saving missions transporting the ill or critically injured.
Living Dangerously
The life of a pilot can be a dangerous one, and safety is of utmost importance for anyone who takes to the sky. Unfortunately, both Emma’s father and brother have crashed seriously while flying (agricultural flights), and her uncle tragically passed away in one such crash. Fortunately, a bird strike appears to be the worst accident Emma has faced so far. Fans can pray that it stays that way.
An Important Ritual to Prepare
Part of preparing to safely fly a stunt flight is to meditate and visualize the entire plan. Emma says this is critical to a successful flight. To begin, she mentally envisions the flight while on the ground, hands on imaginary controls. She experiences all the movements from beginning to end until she’s ready to get into the cockpit. In the air, she’ll be at 8Gs or more, so precise planning is key.
High-Flying Highlights
Emma’s favorite move is the spin, which is a disaster in a normal flight. To pull off an aerobatic spin, a pilot has to fight their instincts and maintain the spin. Emma loves to see how many she can do at a time. There are tons of moves to execute in aerobatic flying, of course. A few of these include:
- Loop – the pilot pulls the plane’s nose up, flying in a big vertical circle, and ends up going the same direction it started.
- Aileron roll – imagine a plane rotating like a chicken on a rotisserie. That’s an aileron roll.
- Barrel roll – the airplane rolls while gently looping, moving in a corkscrew shape through the air.
- Hammerhead (stall turn) – the airplane climbs straight up, slows almost to a stop, pivots the nose toward the ground, and comes straight back down.
- Immelmann turn – the pilot performs a half-loop up followed by a roll, then flies the plane in the opposite direction.
- Vertical eight – this maneuver requires two vertical loops flown back-to-back in opposite directions.
- Knife-edge flight – Flying sideways with one wing pointed at the ground.
These are just a few of the exciting moves you can see at an air show.
A Second Love: Pole Fitness
Emma McDonald is not a woman who is content to just sit around and rest on her laurels. In the past, she has stayed in incredible shape thanks to pole fitness, which she did competitively. She was also the founder of Beyond Gravity Pole Fitness Academy. She was a contestant on Australia’s Got Talent with her pole fitness group, and performed high-level routines that put her impressive strength and flexibility on display.
Join Emma in the Air on the Team Ignition Show
Emma caught up with Selema Masekela in Australia for The Team Ignition Show, bringing him into the sky to experience some face-melting 8G maneuvers. After defying gravity in breathtaking maneuvers, the two settled in for an intimate conversation, where she opened up about the relentless physical and mental stamina required to soar as a professional aerobatic pilot.
