A Harv's Air pilot has won first place in the primary category of the Rocky Mountain House Aerobatic Competition in Alberta.

21-year-old Jesse Mack says he was first inspired to be a pilot during the flight to Mexico for a family vacation when he was in his early teens. Mack notes he started off in air cadets with ground school and took the glider pilots scholarship and the power pilot scholarship. 

"I went to air shows when I was a kid and have always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie," notes Mack. "Before I got my license I had looked into doing the aerobatics course, so right when I finished my license I was already talking to the aerobatics instructors."

Jesse MackMack notes when he completed his power pilots scholarship with the air cadets he won a free ride in the Pitts Special airplane with Luke Penner. He says from there Penner became an aerobatics mentor for him and he was hooked on seeing what kind of turns, spins, and barrel rolls he could accomplish.

"Luke taught me how to fly the Pitts, we called them Pitts camps. So, we would bring the plane out to St. Andrews, so we had a bit more real estate on the runway, and do three flights a day for a couple days in a row. It's a lot for [Luke] to take a day off and bring the plan out to St. Andrews and to just fly with me. It wouldn't be the same as him flying with different students all day. So, we would do a flight, then take a break, then do another flight. A lot of help from Luke, he really helped me out and took a lot of his personal time to help me out, took me under his wing."

Mack says he was feeling comfortable with the Pitts Special and performing aerobatics, however, other pilot skills seemed to be lacking. He notes Penner suggested he take a break from aerobatics and focus on completing his commercial license, which would make him a more well-rounded pilot.

"How that ties into the aerobatic competition is I needed to do a long cross-country trip for my commercial license. So, I was talking to Luke and he said, you know, to build time you should fly out to one of the competitions and volunteer so you can see how it works from the ground and learn the structure of the competition."

He adds it didn't take long before he was offered a spot to compete in the competition.

"I was talking with a couple of people and they said if we can find a plane and a safety pilot for you, would you be interested in competing? So, obviously, I was like, that would be awesome."

Mack says he went up for a practice flight and was feeling comfortable with the sequence and comfortable flying the aircraft. He adds it was a Christen Eagle, which is based off he Pitts Special.

"When you're doing aerobatics for fun you can kind of wander all over the place. So, going up, flying, taking off and seeing the aerobatic box from the air for the first time, you're looking at this little postage stamp on the ground. [It's like] I'm supposed to fly in that small box? I don't know how I'm ever going to stay within the confines of that box. But having Ted, the safety pilot, he kind of coached me through the first couple rounds of the sequence and that was a big help."

There were two other pilots in Mack's category and he says it wasn't until later that evening when he found out he was the winner of the primary category for the Rocky Mountain House Aerobatic Competition.

Mack is currently attending the University of Manitoba for mechanical engineering and he adds he hopes to continue flying and competing as he becomes more advanced in aerobatics.