Aerobatic air-show pilot loved reaching new heights

As a 14-year-old in Colquitt, Ga., Eric Beard rode his bike to a local landing strip to fuel and clean planes in exchange for flying time.

As an adult living in Auburn, he spent countless hours performing dizzying tricks in tiny planes, becoming one of the country's most respected aerobatic air-show pilots. He worked for Boeing as a program specialist at its Boeing Field complex in Seattle, and he had side jobs delivering packages by air and appraising planes.

"I call Eric the hardest-working guy in the air-show business," said Greg Poe, a friend and fellow air-show performer who often flew in the same events.

Mr. Beard was in the cockpit again Friday evening, when the twin-engine Piper Seneca plane he was flying crashed into some woods while landing at Skagit Regional Airport, killing him.

He was finishing one leg of a trip for the Seattle-based cargo airline Airpac Airlines at the time. Federal investigators have yet to say what might have caused the accident.

In a statement, Mr. Beard's family described him as "selfless in his concern for his family. Not only us, his relatives, but his beloved air show community that so nurtured his soul."

The crash came just as the 48-year-old's flying career was reaching new heights, say friends. Last year, he flew for the first time with a major air-show sponsor — the aviation and aerospace university Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.

This year, he was set to be featured as one of eight aerobatic pilots in a series of nationally televised contests.

"He and I have had a lot of conversations recently because of the new competition, and that's exactly the way he felt: All the hard work for all the years was beginning to pay off," said Poe, a Boise-based pilot also chosen to take part in the contest.

Mr. Beard flew in as many as 30 air shows a year, traveling around the country to perform in his rare Russian-built airplane, the Yak 54. He called it "Russian Thunder."

With a powerful engine that produced a deep-throated roar, Mr. Beard could get the plane to hover in midair with its nose pointed skyward and then make the body of the plane rotate in a circle like a pirouette, said James Ahrens, who worked as Mr. Beard's announcer during air shows.

The pilot also became a premier nighttime air-show performer, attaching firework rockets to the wings and shooting them off in midair at night. Mr. Beard lit the skies over Tacoma during the city's Freedom Fair on the Fourth of July.

While that might seem risky, Mr. Beard had a reputation as a meticulous and tenacious pilot, Poe said.

Beyond the performances, Mr. Beard took to the air partly for the sense of freedom. Poe recalled flying back from an Alaska air show in one airplane while Mr. Beard flew another.

The two were flying through difficult weather, in and out of rugged valleys, relishing the sense of adventure and of being at the helm of machines that could take them almost anywhere, Poe said.

"Eric and I were going to do a lot of traveling together," he said. "That's a sadness I'm starting to realize now that I won't be off his wing following him from place to place."

Mr. Beard is survived by his wife, Diane Beard of Auburn; three daughters, Sheena Allison of Lakewood, Lacey and Tiffany Johnson of Auburn; son Trent Beard of Georgia; sisters Karen Beard Davis of Hammondville, Ala., and Victoria Brainerd of Kennesaw, Ga.; and a brother, Roy Jones Beard of Rosamond, Calif.

A memorial at the Museum of Flight in Seattle is planned, but the date wasn't known Sunday. New information will be posted on www.russianthunder.com.

Donations can be made in Mr. Beard's name to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University or to the International Council of Air Shows Foundation.

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com