In the Loop - Meet A Member - Rory Moore

ZK: What led you to join the IAC and when?

 

RM: Growing up on a cotton ranch in southern Arizona, watching crop dusters and ranchers use dirt roads as runways drew my early interest in aviation. In the late ‘70s, I purchased a Cessna 172, V35B Bonanza, and then my first aerobatic plane, a Pitts S-2A once owned by movie star Gene Hackman. After that, I joined IAC Chapter 69 in Phoenix, AZ.

 

ZK:: What was your progression into competition aerobatics, and why?

 

RM: The Hilton Master of Aerobatics was held near Phoenix. in the early ‘80s, and I bought a Pitts S-1T serial No. 2 following the competition. I then moved from Sportsman to Intermediate and competed in the S1-T at the US Nationals held in Mesa, AZ. After one year in Intermediate and another in Advance, I was asked to fly Unlimited in an Arizona contest, as only one pilot was in the category.

 

I have competed in Unlimited since 1984 or 1985, as best as I can recall. In 1986, I commissioned my dear friend Dan Rihn - creator of the One Design - to design a new Unlimited biplane, later named the Goshawk. In 1988, I placed seventh in a field of 24 Unlimited at the US Nationals. The Goshawk was a light plane with a 360 HP Lycoming custom-built motor from Firewall Forward, a leading high-performance engine builder at the time. Its massive roll rate, rudder, and elevator area enabled double hammerhead pivots, and fly out of flat spin features made the aircraft awesome.

(Goshawk pictured to the right in forefront.)

 

Unlike the career of the late IAC director and competitor Klein Gilhousen (Co-Founder Qualcomm), my business journey was somewhat similar and high risk. In 1990, I co-founded Peregrine Semiconductor, a new communications chip company (NASDAQ IPO:2012). Then, in the late ‘90s, I started a Bluetooth venture called Silicon Wave (acquired by Qualcomm), which also reduced my aerobatic flight time. Eventually, I returned to more consistent IAC competition with various aircraft that included Pitts S2-C, MXS, Extra 330 LX, and an Extra 330 SC.

 

ZK: You flew a well-choreographed Four-Minute Free to Walk of Life - Dire Straits at The Southern California Classic 2021 in Borrego Springs. What was your inspiration?

 

RM: The Dire Straits music and lyrics to Walk of Life describe how I view aerobatic flying. The theme is about a musician and the joy his music provides him. The musician calls his music the Walk of Life. Flight, for me, is my Walk of Life. It’s personal and my private space to escape all other thoughts. Steve McQueen’s Walk of Life was auto racing, his special place away from Hollywood. “Racing is Life, Everything before or after and just waiting.”

 

Flying is about personal accomplishment and confidence. My best flights are often alone when it’s just me and my plane.

 

ZK: What have been some rewarding aspects of competition throughout the years?

 

RM: It’s the bond I have with competition pilots that spans more than 40 years. Many no longer compete or even fly, and some have passed on. But, in aviation, we are there for each other. The history we have does not fade. I remember like it was yesterday the first time I met crop dusters Sean Tucker and Wayne Handley at an IAC contest. Or the time I met Patty Wagstaff at her first competition in a Pitts S1-S. And I vividly remember being positioned behind the judging line at the ’88 WAC in Canada and watching in awe as Henry Haigh took the Aresti Cup with his homebuilt Lazer monoplane.

 

ZK: What would you like your contribution to be?

 

RM: To remind pilots that there are no age limits in aerobatics.

 

Chapter: 36

IAC #9078

Occupation: Technology Entrepreneur and Investor