I've always had a passion for flying and I started my flying career at an early age. Having attained my Commercial Pilots License at the age of 18, I then started conducting Tiger Moth joy flights. My flight time is now up over 3000hrs and which has included a wide array of aircraft. Some of the aeroplanes I've flown over the years range from small Australian designed home-built aeroplanes, to sta
te-of-the-art turbines and a wide range of vintage warbirds. For several years I was Chief Pilot of Skydive Maitland and completed over 7000 parachute drops whilst sharing my knowledge as a jump pilot examiner and flight instructor. These days I tend to spend my time with our family aeroplane, Miss Maple. A 1952 Beech 18, which we fully restored a few years ago. Miss Maple originally flew for the Canadian Air Force. I have been involved with airshows for over 15 years and in 2012 I joined the Paul Bennet Airshow team. During this time, I quickly found my skills and expertise outside of the aeroplane and found myself more on the flight line as the Display Air Boss. My experience and qualifications for being the Air Boss has grown from there. Over the years I have been responsible for numerous airshows throughout Australia, with many on the East Coast. These range from the bi-annual Hunter Valley Airshow, the Central Coast Airshow at Warnervale NSW, Warbirds over Scone and the Airlie Beach Airshow to name but a few. Since 2017, I have been the Air Boss, also known as the Ringmaster for the largest annually held Airshow in Australia - Wings Over Illawarra. This Airshow is now known as Airshows Downunder - Shellharbour and from 2024 it will be held every 2 years, alternating with the Australian International Airshow in Avalon. This airshow on the South Coast of NSW attracts over 30,000 people over the course of the weekend and showcases the best displays from all around Australia. In 2023, I joined the Code Four Team from the US and Air Bossed the inaugural Pacific Airshow on the Gold Coast. I teamed up with US counterparts Wayne Boggs and Ray Shaw. Both Wayne and Ray hold a vast amount of experience on the US airshow circuit and this, coupled with attending the ICAS Airboss Academy, gave me the opportunity to tap into the vast wealth of knowledge accumulated from hundreds of airshows held across the US every year. After the success of the Gold Coast Pacific Airshow, I joined the US Team once again. The Dream Team worked together again in California for the Pacific Show, Huntington Beach. The event attracted up to 700,000 people in 2023. I’m now known to many as the "Aussie Airboss", otherwise known as Tibbsy or Chris Tibbetts.
