Sean “Skippy” VanHatten’s love of flying was sparked on an EAA Young Eagles flight at 9 years old which led him to building and flying RC airplanes through his adolescence. He is now an ATP rated pilot with 9 type ratings and authorizations as well as a M.S. Science in Flight Test and Evaluation from National Test Pilot School. The RC world led him to a passion in aerobatics which then spread to the full-scale world where he committed to soloing in a Citabria at 17 and completing a Pitts checkout and aerobatic training with Steve Wolf immediately after obtaining his private pilot’s certificate a year later. His grandfather spent some time as a crew member on PBY Catalinas during WWII, so between that and some living history days in high school meeting and talking to WWII flight crews, a love for warbirds was born.

Combining the above skills and interests, he was checked out in the T-6 in 2014 and has remained sporadically active with the airplane. In 2015, Sean found himself with the opportunity to obtain a Fouga authorization – His first jet. This led onto authorizations in the L-29 and L-39 where he remains active with the latter two primarily in flight-test and aerial cinematography. As for this year, he is now a colonel in the CAF Minneapolis wing, and is slated to add a B-25 SIC type rating by the end of the year.

Sean was an active competitor in the IAC Advanced category in a Pitts S-1S for several years. His air-racing career started in 2016 at the Reno Air Races in the Sport Class, which ultimately led him to a 3^rd place finish in the Sport Gold Heat at the final Reno Air Races in 2023. He is currently the VP of Operations for Sport Class Air Racing and is the primary pace pilot for the organization’s racing events. For work, Sean splits his time between aircraft management and corporate flying as well as providing contract flight test pilot services for a number of individuals and manufacturers of unique experimental aircraft.