![]() With the goal of being an airline pilot, Tippin soloed at 16. “I had multi-engine time before I was a private pilot.” “My dad took me up in everything that had wings,” he said. ![]() Tippin spent a lot of time at Greenville Downtown Airport (GMU), and by the age of 14, he was studying for his private license. When Tippin was a teenager, his father took over the fixed base operation in Greenville. “He flew for many companies around the Greenville area while I was growing up,” Tippin recalled. “She always thought my dad was a little crazy,” he said.Īfter getting out of the service, Willis Tippin worked as a corporate pilot for companies including Liberty Life, Regal Textiles, Greenwood Mills and Stevens Beechcraft. His mother was another family member who was unenthusiastic about aviation. My dad finally made me stop, because it looked like I was going to have something that might fly.” In fact, I tried to build an airplane in the backyard. “They couldn’t give a flying flip about flying,” he said. Tippin had a brother and two sisters, but he was the only one who dreamed about flying. Then he let me put my hands on the wheel. He stacked every logbook he could find underneath my little butt and slid me up close so I could see the instrument panel. We were flying along in cruise, and he asked me if I wanted to fly. “I was 4 years old the first time I ever put my hands on the controls of an airplane. “He flew a lot of airplanes,” Tippin recalled. When his son was born, the flight instructor was training Air Force cadets in Bainbridge, Ga., in T-38s and T-37s. Willis Tippin had been a bush pilot, crop-duster and corporate pilot since serving as a Navy fighter pilot during World War II, dogfighting in the F4U Corsair. Although he was born in Pensacola, Fla., Tippin was raised in rural South Carolina on his family’s farm near the town of Traveler’s Rest. He entered the world on July 3, 1958, right in the middle of America’s baby boom and the heyday of traditional rock n’ roll. I’m the least likely guy to succeed in this business.”Īaron Tippin wasn’t quite born on the Fourth of July, but he was close. “People in the music business are usually surprised to find out I started out being a professional pilot, not a country singer. “Flying was my total goal in life,” Tippin recalled of his early career aspiration. What some fans don’t know is that Tippin is a highly experienced pilot. Since he hit the big time with his debut single, “You’ve Got to Stand for Something,” in 1991, commercial success has struck many times over for Tippin, resulting in three #1 singles, dozens of chart hits and sales of more than 6 million albums. Tippin’s been lucky that all of his subsequent energizing experiences have been the ones he’s chosen, playing to millions of fans around the world who treasure his traditional yet exhilarating combination of roots-based country, old-time rock n’ roll and heartfelt patriotism. Indirect lightning strikes twice zapped the future Nashville sensation when he was a child, working with his father and veteran pilot Willis “Tip” Tippin. They say lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice, but try telling that to pilot, patriot and electrifying country star Aaron Tippin, who has firsthand experience. Currently, the pilot also owns a Cub, a Super Decathlon and a Helio Courier. ![]() ![]() Aaron Tippin flies his Stearman in the “Ready to Rock (in a Country Kinda Way)” video. ![]()
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