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Chuck Coleman with his Extra EA-300 airplane.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
A famed stunt pilot with local connections died Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024 while piloting an airplane during an air show. Charles Thomas “Chuck” Coleman died while flying in the Las Cruces Air and Space Expo in New Mexico.
Coleman, 61, was the son of JoAnn (Benedict) Smith of Ludington and the late Thomas Coleman of Ludington.
Coleman was a well-known and respected engineer, aerobatic, and test pilot with more than 10,000 hours of flight time. He performed at hundreds of air shows and had provided more than 3,000 rides in aerobatic aircraft. Coleman was also an aerobatic flight instructor for actors in the 2022 motion picture, “Top Gun: Maverick,” where he flew more than 100 flights preparing actors to fly in Navy F-18 Hornets.
Sunday’s accident, which occurred about 2:30 p.m. at the Las Cruces International Airport, is currently being investigated by New Mexico State Police, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the National Transportation Safety Board. Coleman was flying an Extra EA-300 plane that crashed half a mile west of the airport.
Coleman worked as a design and performance engineer for several aircraft corporations such as McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, Bede Jet Corporation and Scaled Composites.
While he grew up in the St. John’s area, he spent much of his youth as a boy on the family’s Victory Township farm, which has been in his family since 1883. Coleman still visited the family farm and Mason County frequently, according to Janet Anderson, who along with her husband, Greg Kacynski, was one of his closest friends. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1985 with bachelor’s of science degree in aerospace/mechanical engineering.
Coleman, who resided in California, also owned a hanger at the Mason County Airport and would fly here frequently.
Anderson was listed as an emergency contact for Coleman and received a call from the New Mexico State Police late Sunday evening.
“I knew something was wrong earlier in the day when I tried to track his plane online,” Anderson said. “I then tried to text him and later call him and didn’t receive a response. When I got the call from the New Mexico State Police I thought initially it was a scam. The officer then asked if I knew Chuck Coleman. I called Sheriff Kim Cole after that phone call who was able to confirm that the phone call was legitimate. My heart just sank.”
Anderson said Coleman would take time out of his schedule to help with the local aviation camp and also with the Ludington Area Schools robotics teams.
“He loved helping kids and would do anything to inspire them,” Anderson said. “He was also very humble. He was very well known in the stunt pilot community. He was a celebrity but you would never know it when he was around. For someone who flew for a living he was very grounded.”
Anderson said Coleman will be buried in Mason County but arrangements cannot be made at this time until the first phase of the investigation is completed.
Coleman is survived by his mother and his sister, Susan Kiel.
A photo of the Extra EA-300 airplane.
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