John and Shane McGillis, Take to the Skies of Their Home Airport
This father and son duo are scheduled to tear up the Ellington skies together this October at the Wings Over Houston Airshow – let’s meet them …
Father and son duo, John and Shane McGillis, will take to the skies for the third time together at the Wings Over Houston Airshow. No stranger to this show, John and Shane live in Houston. In fact, they are tenants of Ellington Airport! They will be flying a pair of Extra 330 lx aircraft. Both men have thousands of hours flying many different airplanes and helicopters, and are very excited to be fulfilling a lifelong dream of performing aerobatics together. John passed his love of aviation down to Shane, who is also sharing that bond with his young son.
Check out this awesome video from John and Shane at Wings Over Houston in 2023!
About John McGillis
John McGillis grew up on a cattle ranch in Montana flying super cubs and a 185 Cessna. As a young man he worked on the ranch through high school and college flying the ranch and using the aircraft for ranch work. Living 15 miles from the east slope of the Rockies he enjoyed mountain flying. His first experience flying acro was in high school in a scout. Then in college in a decathlon. After graduating from Montana State University, he moved away and started a career in construction and flying aerobatics for a hobby. His first aerobatic airplane was a highly modified Pitts (S1T) built by Dan Clark who was a member of the United States unlimited aerobatic team. John enjoys flying aerobatics and air shows. John when not flying his Extra enjoys flying corporate jets and helicopters with his son.
About Shane McGillis
Shane McGillis grew up around aviation with his father/wingman John Mcgillis. In his younger years Shane spent his off time at the airport washing planes, cleaning the hangar, and networking with the great aviators at T41 (H&R) and Ellington Field. His charisma and love of aviation opened doors to train and fly with the best. At 17 years old Shane earned his private pilot’s license in a Piper Super cub alongside his examiner, the highly acclaimed Debby Rihn Harvey, and her H&R staff.
Since that time, Shane has accrued over 3,500 hours of flight time, with over 2,000 hours in a variety of jets. Before Shane turned 20 years old, he had already received his instrument rating which he accomplished in a Cessna 185, and Commercial multi-engine rating. It wasn’t long before Shane started flying jets and crewing a Cessna Citation Encore +, in which he received second in command privileges.
Since that time, Shane has earned his Pilot-in-command type rating in a Cessna XLS+ at Flight safety international and once again shared the cockpit as a co-captain with his father. His journey did not end there, he moved on to get a Cessna 525-s type rating allowing him to fly all the Cessna 525 jets as a single pilot.
Currently Shane is the Chief Pilot for FlightAware and co-captains the company’s aircraft with owner and founder Daniel Baker. When he is not on duty, you can find Shane and his father practicing and fine-tuning aerobatic skills. Shane is now a young father and shares that same bond with his own son.
Come out for an exciting show and support your local team!
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Photo and Information Credits:
Photos and bios provided by John McGillis
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