Sky Dancing at 400 km/h
"Being the only woman in the room can be a disadvantage or a superpower. You get to choose." From the grease of a diesel workshop to high-stakes ‘half-pipes’ in the sky, Emma McDonald, the sole female competitor in Air Race X, is redefining what it means to be a pilot.
By Glorious
Emma McDonald doesn’t do things by halves.
When people ask what she does, she usually starts with something that makes them pause. “I fly aerobatic race planes at 400 km/h, a few metres off the ground and I try not to blink.”
Then she explains it properly. Air Race X is Formula One in the sky. Single-seat aerobatic aircraft racing through a virtual track of gates marked in the sky, pulling up to 12Gs, making split-second decisions at speeds where milliseconds decide outcomes. Very few pilots in the world are capable of operating at this level. “It’s fast, technical, and unforgiving. There’s no hiding up there!” Emma exclaims. Being one of eight pilots competing at this level isn’t a throwaway statistic. It’s the reality of just how extreme this discipline is.
To put it in perspective, Emma’s head weighs about 10kg with her helmet on. Under 12 Gs, that’s 120kg pressing down on her shoulders and neck. “It’s a lot of fun but it’s hard on the body. That’s why I’m so short!” Emma is the first and only female pilot in Air Race X. The only woman competing at this level anywhere in the world.
Recently, she took prominent action sports broadcaster Selema Masekela, presenter of The Team Ignition Show, up for a flight. She pulled off what felt like a “half-pipe in the sky”, linking her signature stall tricks into a skateboard-style run. “It felt playful, which is not something people usually associate with aerobatics,” she laughs. “Flying with someone else in the plane changes everything. You’re hyper-aware, not just of the aircraft, but of their experience. You’re managing energy, G-loads, and timing in a way that still delivers intensity without overwhelming them!”
Emma calls what she does “sky dancing”. She’s not just racing. She’s trying to create something artistic whilst pulling 10Gs at 350km/h. “Because even in the most technical environments, I’ve always looked for expression.” Air racing is brutally precise. Numbers matter. Angles matter. Energy management matters. But within that structure, there’s still room for feel.
Before she committed fully to the sky, Emma spent eight years as a diesel fitter. Hands filthy, spanners in pockets, learning how machines really work from the inside out. During that time, she also ran her own pole fitness studios for ten years called Beyond Gravity Pole Fitness Academy. Two worlds that couldn’t look more different, but both taught her the same thing: mastery comes when strength, mechanics, and flow meet. “None of it was random. I was learning precision, resilience, body awareness, and how to back myself. Skills that translate directly into the cockpit.” At 400 km/h, pulling 12Gs, everything strips back to instinct and rhythm. “That’s when flying stops being just technical, and starts becoming art.”
On her very first day as an apprentice at Hastings Deering, the Caterpillar dealer, Emma was the only woman. All the apprentices were lined up in front of the supervisors when one pointed at her and told her bluntly that she didn’t belong there. That girls didn’t belong on the floor. That she’d never be good enough. Emma smiled. “That’s okay. I got this.” She went out onto the floor and worked really, really hard. Hard enough to become Apprentice of the Year. Hard enough to become runner-up for Asia-Pacific Apprentice of the Year.
The same supervisor is now a good friend. He apologised, told her he had her all wrong, and said he hoped more women like her would come into the workplace. Since then, countless other women have joined the workforce. “I learnt pretty quickly that being ‘the only woman in the room’ can either be a disadvantage or a superpower. You get to choose.”
instincts
She’s never had the luxury of blending in. “When you stand out, you’re noticed for everything. Your mistakes, your work ethic, your competence. So I learned to be sharp, prepared, and consistent. Not louder. Not tougher. Just undeniable.”
The moment everything changed came ten years ago at Old Station Air Show. She was watching Matt Hall fly and something clicked. Hall is an Australian aerobatic pilot and former Red Bull Air Race World Championship competitor, known for his precision and technical mastery. “I didn’t just see Matt flying, I saw permission.” What really got her was the artistry. The aircraft looked aggressive and loud, but what he was actually doing was creating shape, rhythm, and emotion in the sky. “It wasn’t chaos, it was choreography. Passion expressed through physics.”
While watching, she turned to her dad and said, “That’s what I want to do.” He told her it wasn’t an easy path. Now, ten years later, she looks back at that moment as what lit the fire in her belly.
But the path here wasn’t inevitable, even though her entire family are pilots going back to her grandparents. “I like to think I chose flying, but the truth is, it was always in the air around me.” Aircraft were just normal. Dinner-table conversations weren’t about if you’d fly, but where you’d flown and what could be done better. Aviation wasn’t put on a pedestal. It was a craft, a discipline, a way of thinking. “They’re the reason flying never felt impossible, and also the reason I never take it lightly. I’m standing on a lot of shoulders, some still here, some gone, and I carry them with me every time I strap in.”
In Race 3 of Air Race X, Emma momentarily outpaced reigning champion Yoshihide Muroya. Muroya is the Lewis Hamilton of modern air racing. A Japanese aerobatic pilot who won the Red Bull Air Race World Championship overall title in 2017. His reputation is built on being exceptionally precise, calm under pressure, and technically clean. He is clinical. For Emma to outpace him, even momentarily, wasn’t a novelty. It was a serious credibility check.
superpower
Beyond the race track, Emma also dedicates her time to flying unwell children from the outback to cities for medical treatment. “Growing up around flying in Australia, you see very early how vast the country is, and how isolated life can be.” For families in the outback, medical care can be days away, or simply unreachable without an aircraft. “The same skill set I use in racing and aerobatics can also change outcomes in a very real, human way. When you’ve seen what aviation can mean to a family in crisis, it gives everything else perspective.”
With all that intensity, downtime becomes essential. When she’s not in the cockpit, Emma switches off by going back to things that make her feel free in a different way. The beach. Motorbikes. Camping in nature. And then there’s her softer switch-off: a hammock, a good book (currently First Light), and a glass of bubbles. “That quiet moment where nothing is required of me except to breathe, read, and just be. That balance is everything. It’s what lets me go hard in the sky and still come back human.”
If a young woman reads this and thinks “I want to fly”, Emma’s advice is simple. “Tomorrow? Do one simple, brave thing. Go to your local airfield. Book an introductory flight. Sit in the aircraft. Ask questions.” Don’t wait until you feel “ready”. Readiness comes after action. “You don’t need to look a certain way, come from aviation parents, or have it all mapped out. You just need curiosity, commitment, and the willingness to give it a go.”
information
The best piece of advice she’s ever been given? “IMAGINE with all your mind, BELIEVE with all your heart and ACHIEVE with all you’re might. Back yourself because no one else is going to do it for you!” And her own philosophy? Be Beyond Gravity.
Her next challenge is a full season on the American airshow circuit and being in the top four in the Air Race X season. She’s just bought her first aircraft of her own, a race plane. “Being in the top 4 isn’t about ego, it’s about proving consistency, discipline, and belonging in a field where the margins are razor thin despite the challenges, setbacks and difficulties of living and operating in a foreign country with a whole new aircraft I haven’t become acquainted to yet.”
It’s ambitious.
It’s demanding.
And it’s exactly where she wants to be.
Watch The Team Ignition Show on YouTube and find out more here
Follow Emma: @emma_beyondgravity and @teambeyondgravity on Instagram
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