Biography
Although Mike was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on October 10, 1955, he was raised on "California Sunshine". He now resides in the Southern California high desert city of Victorville with his wife, Julie, and their children, Nicholas and Melissa.
Mike's total flying time exceeds 16,000 hours of which 2,500 are military fighters and 3,500 plus are aerobatics.
Mike began flying in 1977 while attending the U.S. Air Force Academy. Upon graduation, he was assigned to fly the F-4 Phantom in various missions. Those missions included nuclear weapons delivery, laser guided bombs, air-to-air combat and surface-to-air suppression, or "Wild Weasel".
A highlight of Mike's Air Force career was earning the Outstanding Graduate Award of his Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) Class at Nellis AFB in 1983. Mike now flies the Boeing 767 for American Airlines out of Los Angeles.
Mike started competing in aerobatics in 1990 flying a Super Decathlon in the Sportsman category. Since that humble beginning, he has achieved five California and two Arizona State Unlimited Championships, the 2001 National Four Minute Airshow Championship, a second place overall finish at the 2002 U.S. National Aerobatic Championships and most recently is the 2004 Red Bull Air Race U.S. and World Champion.
He is a two-time member of the U.S. Aerobatic team. Along the way, he has owned, flown and maintained the following aircraft: Citabra, Super Decathlon, Pitts S-1T, S-2B, Extra 300, Sukhoi 26 and currently his favorite, the "Dragon EDGE" Zivko EDGE 540.
Mike's hobbies include hang gliding, snow and water skiing, scuba diving and weight lifting. He is also a very accomplished skydiver with over 4,500 jumps, including one high-speed ejection from a burning F-4. In 1996, Mike participated in a world record free-fall formation of 297 skydivers over Anapa, Russia. Mike is looking forward to the upcoming Airshow season.
Back to the Red Bull Air Race ...
Mike Mangold official site ...Source: FlightGlobal.com
