Nathan Hammond
Writing in the sky
By Michelle Walker
Visitors to EAA AirVenture delight in seeing an iconic smiley face written across the sky. This is the work of Nathan Hammond, owner and pilot of GhostWriter Airshows, who flies his de Havilland Super Chipmunk across the country to skywrite and perform in day and night airshows.
His daytime low-level aerobatic airshow performances feature loops, rolls, and a whole lot of smoke. The night airshow features aerobatics with about 200 pounds of pyro on the wing tips to light up the night sky.
How did you get started in aviation? I got my start in aviation at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Rhinebeck, New York. I was born and raised up there, and my father was the chief mechanic and chief pilot with Cole Palen, so Old Rhinebeck was my playground. They say it takes a village to raise a child and that was my village. By the age of 10 I could tell you everything about all the airplanes up there. That’s where I realized that being an entertainer, being an airshow performer, was something I really wanted to do with my life.
Biggest challenges? For me, surprisingly, it’s getting my CFI. I’ve wanted to become a CFI and I’ll pick up the books, I’ll start studying, I’ll start doing the lesson plans, and just for whatever reason I’ve yet to be able to do it. I was able to get an A&P knocked out really fast, use it every day. But the CFI has haunted me, I just can’t find the answer to that one.
Favorite aircraft? The de Havilland Super Chipmunk. It is my one airplane without a doubt. I can loop it, I can roll it, I can take it into 1,000-foot grass strip all day long. It’s the perfect, perfect airplane.
Favorite aviation activity? Without a doubt my favorite kind of flying is the airshow environment. Just being there on stage showing what the airplane can do because the airplane is the star. That’s what people see and that’s what we want to present in a good, entertaining way is showing what this airplane can do. And then when we leave the box, we hope everybody’s smiling and happy and then we throw some fireworks on it, and it makes it even better.
What does your future hold? I think in the future, I know in my retirement, I want to be a crop duster. At least to do it for a couple of seasons, it seems like a natural progression for an airshow pilot, low-level down there. I think that would be fun. Being a banner pilot along the beach when I’m 70 years old sounds like a ball. Aviation is just everywhere so the opportunities are abundant right now. But I sure love my weekends though; flying airshows is a whole lot of fun.
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