Rob Holland, famed aerobatic pilot, dies in crash before Virginia airshow

NORFOLK, Va. — Rob Holland, a famed aerobatic pilot who wowed airshow crowds and championship judges with tight spirals, meticulous loops and inventive sequences in the sky, has died in a plane crash. He was 50.

Holland died Thursday while landing his custom-built, single-seat aircraft at Joint-Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Virginia, in preparation for an upcoming airshow at the military installation.

The plane was making a normal landing and was not conducting aerobatic maneuvers, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Dan Boggs said at a Friday news conference. The crash remains under investigation.

Holland's death was confirmed by his official Facebook page, Rob Holland Aerosports, and by Jim Bourke, president of the International Aerobatic Club, for which Holland served as vice president.

Holland was probably the best-known airshow pilot and the winningest competitor in aerobatic contests, Bourke said. The airborne competitions could be compared to figure skating for the required grace, precision and discipline, but with punishing gravitational forces.

''I flew against him many times, and, like a lot of people, I couldn't beat him,'' said Bourke, who was Holland's friend, rival and teammate on the U.S. Unlimited Aerobatic Team. ''They didn't have anyone who could beat him. He was just that good.''

Holland won 12 consecutive U.S. National Aerobatic Championships, which was a record, according to his website. He also racked up five world Freestyle Aerobatic Championships and a prestigious award for showmanship from the International Council of Airshows.

Holland was known for inventing new maneuvers that no one saw before, Bourke said. One of them was his famous ''frisbee'' that rotated his 1,200-pound (540-kilogram) plane horizontally, while the ''inverted frisbee'' pulled off the same maneuver upside down.

''A lot of people expect an airplane to fly like an arrow, it's moving very fast in one direction,'' Bourke said. ''With Rob, the airplane would be pointed in some crazy direction. It wouldn't be pointed the way it's traveling. It would be flipping on an axis that would be unexpected.''

Videos from Holland's YouTube channel show his red-and-black MXS streaking through the sky with a stream of billowing white smoke. A video from Holland's cockpit presents a nausea-inducing blur of sky and farmland.

Holland was a big guy whose body could handle the gravitational forces of aerobatic flight more than most pilots, Bourke said. It allowed him to spend more time practicing.

''Rob would fly figures faster than we would because the g-forces weren't as much as a concern for him,'' Bourke said. ''And he developed an airshow style of flying that no one else has. People have copied it, but it was his.''

Holland told the Press of Atlantic City in 2016 that he wasn't a stuntman, because a stunt is trying something for the first time without knowing the results.

''I know the results of everything that is in my show,'' he told the New Jersey newspaper. ''It is very well practiced and analyzed for safety and consistency. Nothing will be added to my routine unless it has perfect results 100% of the time.''

John Cudahy, president of the International Council of Air Shows, said Holland would practice a maneuver ''hundreds and hundreds of times to make sure that it is not dangerous.''

''He started at a higher altitude and gradually brought it down as he perfected it,'' Cudahy said. ''He always was looking for something to go wrong and figure out how to keep that from happening.''

Holland inspired hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even millions, at airshows over the decades, Cudahy said. And it was about aviation as much as it was hard work.

''Every weekend, Rob went out there and demonstrated what the end of the road for a pursuit of excellence looks like,'' Cudahy said.

Information on survivors was not immediately available. Holland's website states that he's a New England native who got his pilot's license while still a teenager. He later graduated from Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire with degrees that included aviation.