Robin Reid

With just shy of 40,000 hours logged flight time, Reid is as affable as much as he is an experienced aviator. “Well, I thought I just swept hangar floors and wiped oil, but yeah, I’m the chief pilot,” said Reid. When he’s not instructing young glider pilots through his Experimental Aircraft Association chapter or evaluating prospective certificate holders as a designated pilot examiner, you might catch him test flying some unusual and unique aircraft for WAAAM. “When we test fly airplanes, a lot of them are really rare, and some of them are one-of-a-kinds or sole survivors, so we’re very careful with them.” AOPA caught up with Reid at AirVenture 2024 to check out two gorgeous WAAAM biplanes on display—a 1933 Stearman Model 70 (the prototype of the Model 75/PT–17) and a 1940 St. Louis YPT–15 “Streetcar”—and learn more about Reid’s career.

How did you get started in aviation?

I soloed on my sixteenth birthday, typical private at 17, commercial at 18, CFI at 19. I was with the airlines at 26, but also at the same time I was instructing at my mom’s flight school because she was a one-person show and needed the help. I’ve been very lucky. Her school was mostly all taildraggers, so I’ve amassed quite a bit of tailwheel time and got to fly some really cool tailwheel airplanes.

Did you have an aviation mentor?

My mentor was my mother, and she was very adamant about learning basics—sight, sound, feel. You know, stick and rudder skills. And one of the things I do now is I mentor young pilots, but also through our EAA chapter, we teach kids in gliders. We try to teach them almost for free. When the kids learn in gliders, they learn stick and rudder skills. I’m also a DPE, and one of the things I see is lack of stick and rudder skills.

What’s one of your biggest challenges?

I’m real busy! Actually, I have people that wish I wasn’t at Oshkosh—they wish I was at home doing checkrides, and I’m pretty much booked through November when I get home.

What do you look for in pilots who fly WAAAM’s vintage aircraft? 

One of the things with these aircraft, when I have pilots flying for me, it’s not just flying, but you need to understand the mechanics. That way when we have issues you can make educated decisions. 

Favorite airplane?

My typical answer is the one I’m flying at the time. I’ve had some wonderful people trust me with some great airplanes. I was very fortunate to fly the de Havilland Comet [DH.88]. The de Havilland company built a race airplane for the London to Melbourne Air Race, 1934. A gentleman in Southern California by the name of Tom Wathen had [a replica] built, and Bill Turner built the airplane for him—and I was very fortunate that Bill trusted me to fly all his race planes, the first one being the Howard Pete. And I flew the Miss Los Angeles, the Miles & Atwood, and when he needed another pilot on the Comet, which is a twin-engine taildragger, I was chosen. Probably my absolute favorite airplane is a [1930] Kreider-Reisner KR–21, we call it a baby Taperwing Waco. This airplane my dad bought in 1949, but he lost it through some financial issues. I tracked it down and bought it back.