Chris Schaich Race # 17

Aircraft:
Harmon Rocket II

Biography

Chris Schaich, of Phoenix, Arizona is flying Sport 17, a Harmon Rocket 2 with an IO-540 engine. It is the sister ship to the Rocket 3 he flew previously in the Sport Class, both built by Jim Thompson. Chris is an airline Captain on the B-737 and has over 23 years of flying experience, totaling more than14,000 hours in over 65 aircraft types. He has 7 type ratings, including the B-17, B-25 and DC-3 and various other airline types. He is a warbird pilot and instructor with the Airbase Arizona Commemorative Air Force in Mesa, AZ.

Chris first attended the races in 1992 after seeing a flyer on the wall of his flight school in San Jose, CA. He attended the races semi regularly until 2005 when he came as a crew member on the unlimited racer Polar Bear, a P-51A owned by his friend Jerry Gabe and flown by Dave Morss. During the 2010 races his friends encouraged him to actually become a racer. He then purchased an established race plane, a Pitts S1C and completed the 2011 PRS. He has raced Biplane in 2011,12, 13 and transitioned to Sport in 2014.

Check out this cool video produced by the EAA. Take a lap on board a Pitts S1C with Chris Schaich!