Sky King

KIRBY CHAMBLISS DOES MOST OF HIS FLYING WITH HIS FEET on the ground.

Back when the native Texan was a world-champion pilot in the Red Bull Air Race, before the series abruptly folded after the 2019 season, Chambliss believed that each race was won or lost long before takeoff. Now that he’s back to aerobatics full-time, back to swooping and diving and pushing planes to their limits above grandstands full of awestruck air-show goers, Chambliss, 61, still believes it’s all in his head.

“I try to visualize every aspect, every sequence, every fraction of a second,” he says. “I want to visualize from the ground what it’s going to look like for those people in