It’s possible that Kyle
Franklin should have been born with wings.
Despite nature’s oversight, Franklin was wing walking on his
father’s airplane as it taxied when he was a toddler. As a kid
he literally grew up in an airplane hangar, so perhaps it shouldn’t
be surprising that he learned to fly at the ripe old age of eight.
He took his first in-flight wing walk when he was 14 and was wowing
audiences with it professionally by 17, making him then the youngest
professional wing walker on the planet. He’s also the first person
to ever wing walk on the world’s only jet-powered bi-plane.
Audiences get their first taste of Franklin’s abilities when
he flies solo with the 500 hp Waco “Mystery Ship” and wows
the crowds with the amazing lomcevak and breathtaking inverted flat
spin. What the heck is a lomcevak? It’s Czechoslovakian for a
berserk headache.
Franklin comes from a pedigree of talented pilots and airshow stunt
people. His father was none other than the legendary pilot Jimmy Franklin.
Kyle Franklin’s wife and partner is Amanda Franklin, the daughter
of legendary pilot Bobby Younkin and sister to Matt Younkin. Together
Kyle and Amanda have created a swaggering, wing-walking pirate show
that would make Captain Jack Sparrow gulp.
This flying circus of “Pirated Skies” will have audiences
yelling “Aaargh” as Amanda wing walks, playing the part
of “Scandalous Scarlett” and sword fights with Kyle, the
menacing “Captain Kyro.”
After learning to fly solo by 16 years old, Amanda remains an adept
pilot, able to maneuver numerous kinds of aircrafts. She learned the
art of aerial stunts from training for the Super Decathlon with her
father Bobby.
Aside from their in-flight antics, the couple shares a rich history
that would make an exceptional movie plot. Kyle’s father Jimmy
and Amanda’s father Bobby died when the planes they were each
flying stuck each other in a mid-air collision while performing at
an airshow in 2005. Their love rose from the ashes of the plane wreckage
and their abilities as an airshow act are a testament to the on going
legacy of a family fated to continue dancing on wings of airplanes.
