New South Lake Tahoe business offers ultimate flying experience

Have you ever wanted to be a fighter pilot, be inside an airplane doing acrobatics or take controls of your own airplane? These are all possible with Sky Combat Ace, a new South Lake Tahoe business based at the airport.

They call themselves a "unique aviation experience" that offers a level of adrenaline you may not have known possible in the skies above Lake Tahoe, complete with G-Forces experienced by fighter pilots.

At the Lake Tahoe airport Friday, owner Richard "Tex" Coe and his team unveiled the company to the public, and even took a few willing participants up for a spin as part of the grand opening and Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting.

I was offered a ride but passed, preferring to watch from afar.

There are four experiences on the menu Sky Combat Ace (SCA) offers: Aerobatics, Air Combat, A Combination of both and Flight Training. On all packages you take the controls on departure. Some include dog fighting over Lake Tahoe, advanced aerobatics around South Lake Tahoe and low level "bombing" run on a target over Desolation Wilderness.

Coe and his team take participants through a quick instructional class in their offices, showing them what to expect while in the air. The film shows others going upside down in the air, doing a barrel roll, the loop, the hammerhead, a tail slide, the spin and a Lomcevak (cartwheels).

SCA worked with Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and other stakeholders to make sure their business does no harm to the environmentally sensitive nature of Lake Tahoe.

Coe started SCA in 2011 in Las Vegas, Nev. and expanded to San Diego, Calif. in 2015. He and his family recently bought a home on the South Shore. "My move was 30 percent business related and 70 percent so I could live in Tahoe," said Coe.

He has two planes based at the Lake Tahoe Airport, the perfect number for couples who want to participate in "bombing" the other plane while on maneuvers. The other pilot in South Lake Tahoe is Scott "McFly" McDonald, the company's director of operations and a pilot for ten years.

Coe is retired Air Force and was once a F-16 fighter pilot.

The pilots will do corporate events, teambuilding, birthdays, retirements, bachelor parties and more.

For more information, visit their website at www.skycombatace.com.