Riley McDonald won two national aerobatic championships before showcasing his skills at Wings Over Shellharbour this year. Photos: Paul Bennet Airshows.
A young aerobatic pilot from the Illawarra is helping to inspire future generations of aviators and hoping his showstopping airshow performances and flying journey hook young people into exploring the industry struggling with an ageing workforce.
Riley McDonald has had his eyes looking to the skies for all of his life.
“I grew up pretty much right next to Shellharbour Airport; my parents’ house kind of backed onto it there, and just growing up watching the planes take off and land all day was something that intrigued me a lot,” Riley said.
It wasn’t long until he found a way to turn his interest into a hands-on experience.
“When I was about 11 or 12 I used to ride my bike down to where all the hangars were at the airport and I met a guy who owned a joy flight company at the time and he offered me a little job where I was washing planes in exchange for flying lessons,” Riley said.
Riley was hooked from the first time he flew, with the feeling still with him more than a decade later.
“It was incredible,” he said.
“It was everything I expected and more – I knew I’d really like it but I just absolutely loved it and ever since then it’s all I ever wanted to do.
Riley has stunned crowds with his aerobatic stunts and performances.
“It’s the freedom … when you’re up there it’s not like you’re driving on a road, you can kind of go wherever you want and do whatever you want; I find it quite relaxing too.”
The 26-year-old initially decided to pursue becoming a commercial pilot, but when he was too young to receive his licence he started to explore aerobatic skills, and he’s never looked back.
But doing flips and tricks in a plane in front of crowds of people, doesn’t come without proving yourself.
“We do the Australian Aerobatic Competitions as kind of an apprenticeship – in the competitions there’s five or six different levels and they start really basic and they get quite advanced towards the top,” Riley said.
“And in order for us to fly airshows with the Paul Bennett team, we have to have won the second highest category, so that tends to take you four or five years of flying competitions before you’re ready to fly airshows.
“It just means that when it comes time to flying airshows and doing aerobatics right down to the ground, you’ve got a fair bit of experience under your belt and you’ve developed some really good natural habits in the way of if things do go wrong you have experience behind it to be able to do the safe thing and make the right decisions.”
Riley and fellow pilot Jett have been promoting careers in aviation to the younger generation.
He claimed the National Advanced Champion title in 2024 and 2025, before flying his first airshow at this year’s Wings Over Shellharbour.
“Growing up there and doing all my flying out of there – being able to have it line up and do the first airshow at home was incredible,” Riley said.
“A lot of my mates from home, they’ve seen videos and I’ve talked about it so they knew what I do, but I don’t think they’ve ever seen exactly what we’re doing and they were all blown away when they saw it; it was really cool.”
Riley hopes that same awe which echoed throughout the thousands who attended the famous Illawarra event, translates into young people pursuing a career in aviation, with many jobs in the industry seeing employment numbers drop or an ageing workforce.
“We put on the performance and that wow factor so that all these kids, or whoever is interested in aviation, see it as like ‘that’s something I really want to do,'” he said.
“I always thought that once you get that drive in you and really want to do something, you just do what you have to do to make it work – that’s what I did and a lot of the other guys in the industry now that’s the way they were brought up through it too.”
As an aircraft mechanic and pilot, Riley’s job has opened opportunities to travel across the country, but he has high hopes that it could take him even further.
“I’d love to keep flying the airshows and potentially go international with it and go over to America and Europe and do a few airshow seasons over there,” he said.
“And just keep flying and promoting aviation to all these kids coming up and if we keep doing all of that hopefully we can get a few kids out of there that are keen and want to pursue it as a career.”
Riley is set to showcase his skills once again in the Illawarra when Wings Over Shellharbour returns next May.
