By Barbara A. Schmitz
Aerobatic pilot Tom Larkin of Mini Jet Airshows had just taken off to do his routine in his mini jet on Father’s Day weekend when his engine quit at 200 feet. Surrounded by trees, he saw a small pond and decided to land there, knowing he wouldn’t make it back to the airfield.
“By the time I got to shore, I knew my love of 10 years was gone,” he recalled. Still wearing his wet flight suit, one of his first calls was to John Monnett, creator of the SubSonex mini jet. “I asked if he still had an airplane for sale and said I needed it since mine was at the bottom of a lake.”
Thankfully, John did. Tom’s original mini jet was serial No. 3; his new one is No. 2, and their engines are only one serial number apart, too. “It’s very much the same jet,” he said.
Only two-and-a-half weeks later, Tom was back to flying air shows. AirVenture is his second show back.
“If you’re going to have an accident at an air show, this was the best outcome you could have,” Tom said. “No one saw it, and no one was hurt. I had just taken off and never came back.”
In the off-season, Tom plans to paint this jet like his previous one, although he may keep the shark face. He’ll also add all the lights he previously had added for his night air show, so he’ll be flying with his pyrotechnics only in Saturday’s night show.
Flying a jet seems a stretch for Tom, who as a child was afraid of roller coasters. It was the peer pressure of changing high schools that finally made him go on a roller coaster. And he was surprised to find out he liked it.
“I learned that fear is normal, but if you take fear head on, it won’t define you,” Tom said. “It’s like the first time you ride a bike. It’s normal to have apprehension, but if do something over and over again, you can condition yourself to anything.”
Tom went on to become a fighter and airline pilot, and he has flown 10,000-plus hours in 55 different aircraft.
But it was always his dream to do air shows in a mini jet. The passion began when he was young and saw the BD-5J Coors Light Silver Bullet at an air show.
“I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen,” he said, acknowledging he was a latecomer to the air show business at 54. He’s been doing his day show for nine years and is in his second year of night shows.
His day show is high-energy and aggressive, emulating what you would normally see with an F-16 but with restrictions since it is only a 500-pound jet. His night show is more of an aerial ballet with lights and pyrotechnics, Tom said.
He and his wife, Laura, have done 1,245 air shows together. “We still love the people and the atmosphere,” he said. “It’s our way of traveling around the country and making friends and memories.” The two will be married 37 years in September.
He started flying air shows the same year Julie Clark was retiring, so he asked her what advice she’d give a rookie. “She said, ‘I’ll tell you the same thing that Bob Hoover told me when he retired: Create a show that is somewhat boring to you but entertaining to the crowd and never change it,’” Tom said. “It was Bob’s philosophy that the crowd won’t remember what you did in your act the previous year, and you’ll be safe if something happens because you’ve done it 1,000 times.”
He said it’s an honor to perform at AirVenture. In 1984, a month before he entered the Air Force, he came to Oshkosh with his dad. “So I’ve always loved Oshkosh. All my idols and the performers I watched growing up inspired me, and now I get to hang out and fly with them.”
His advice to youths is simple. “You only have one life to live. There is no guarantee on the number of years you will have. So find things that inspire you and do them.”