Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 6, 1993 TAG: 9304060061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES BOISSEAU HOUSTON CHRONICLE
DATELINE: HOUSTON LENGTH: Medium
IN HOUSTON SKY, A DOGFIGHT IN THE DOGFIGHT BUSINESS
There's a battle for the skies over Houston.A new company, Texas Air Aces, is ready for air-to-air combat missions for paying customers at Hooks Memorial Airport.
Here's what they're selling: You strap into a T-34A military fighter-trainer, fly 5,000 feet above the earth, clutch a joystick and fire away at enemy aircraft in a dogfight.
This is no video game - we're talking the Right Stuff! Experience the joy of catching another fighter in your gunsights! See smoke billow from the fuselage when you score a hit! You're Top Gun for a day!
"It's wonderful, it's absolutely wonderful," said Don Wylie. The 53-year-old retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, with 251 missions in Vietnam, is one of three founders of Texas Air Aces.
Of course, this is a game, albeit one that costs $650 to play.
It's also the latest niche in the adult-oriented amusement business. Instead of real bullets, customers shoot infrared lasers, similar to the beam in a TV remote control. Detectors on the planes emit smoke when they sense a hit. For safety, ex-combat pilots like Wylie fly with customers in the two-seat aircraft.
But as far-out as it seems, Texas Air Aces already finds itself locked in the gunsights of a real-live competitor. Air Combat USA of Fullerton, Calif. began last fall offering air battles every six weeks or so from Houston's Ellington Field as part of a nationwide expansion.
While similar air combat operators have popped up in Atlanta and Orlando, Fla., Houston is the first to have two. It's a dogfight in the dogfight business.
"They've got their work cut out for them," chuckled Air Combat USA founder Mike Blackstone when told of the new company, which begins operations April 18. Blackstone is the 45-year-old American Airlines captain credited with originating the dogfight concept four years ago. "We're not yielding."
Both companies believe there are enough closet fighter jocks to go around.
Across the country, otherwise discerning folks are paying money to race cars at places like Malibu Grand Prix, bungee-jump from 15-story towers or play elaborate games at adult amusement complexes. There's everything from fantasy baseball camps to combat for weekend warriors itching to shoot paint pellet-loaded air guns at each other.
While the thrills differ, the operations have a lot in common, not the least of which is the customer liability release form.
"Understand that baby boomers are still kids," said Gerald Celente, founder of the Trends Research Institute, a consulting firm in Rhinebeck, N.Y.
Celente contends that a weak economy spawns an increase in such commercial fantasy enterprises. He predicts computer-based virtual reality theme parks, which he said already exist in Singapore.
The Houston flying combat bunch got its start in October when Wylie and his son-in-law, Bryan Ballinger, a former ground maintenance employee for Continental Airlines, approached Ken Roberts with their concept.
Roberts, 39, a former electronic engineer at Compaq Computer Corp., says he's a frustrated fighter pilot.
Since retiring in 1991 with a lucrative severance package, Roberts has spent his time piloting his Beechcraft and playing golf, waiting for another business opportunity.
After initial incredulity, Roberts jumped at the chance. Heck, he'd be able to hang around airplanes all day.
Despite all the money invested, the months of preparation and the hard work, the essence of the firm isn't serious. These guys just want to have fun.