There are few pilots on this planet who like to cheat gravity more than JOE SHETTERLY… This guy flat out loves to fly! And since his first lesson as a toddler, perched on thick pillows in a snug cockpit next to his father, Greg … well, he’s been finding creative ways to break contact with terra firma literally all – his – life.
With limited opportunities to fly full-scale airplanes as a young boy, Joe built and flew gas-powered control-line models – something generations of Shetterly boys had enjoyed before him. Soon he was winning radio-controlled aircraft competitions, performing many of the maneuvers that you can see him perform at air shows across North America today. Only now, you might say, he’s got more skin in the game.
Not surprisingly, Joe soloed an airplane at his first legal opportunity: his 16th Birthday. Meeting the FAA minimum age requirement, he earned his private pilot’s license at just 17, while still a teenager, Joe began competing in aerobatics!
While earning an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Kansas, Joe worked as a full-time flight instructor to help pay his way through school.
After graduating, his passion for flying led him to the Air Force where he continues to serve. He was selected to fly his dream machine: the venerable A-10 Thunderbolt II (the Warthog!). While stationed in Tucson, AZ, Joe’s fighter pilot buddies gave him the call-sign “Rifle.”
In 2009, Rifle earned a Master of Aeronautical Science degree from Embry Riddle, and was selected as the Air Force’s A-10 Demonstration Pilot flying hundreds of aerobatic demonstrations and USAF Heritage Flight Formations in the U.S. and abroad during the 2010 and 2011 airshow seasons. He has been performing aerobatic demonstrations across North America in the RV-8 since 2011 and began displaying the P-51 Mustang known as “Gunfighter” for the Commemorative Air Force in 2018.
Rifle recently retired from the Air Force Reserve where he served as an A-10 instructor pilot. He currently flies the Boeing 767-400 for a major U.S. carrier and holds an Air Transport Pilot Certificate with commercial privileges in gliders, single-engine land and seaplanes, and multi-engine airplanes and has logged thousands of hours in 147+ different makes and models to date.
Joe hopes that his air show performances might spark an interest in aviation.
Learn to fly! … Pursue your dreams! … Take the shot!
