NextGen Eagles Set to Tear Up Cleveland Skies as Hollie Strano Goes Behind the Scenes at the Air Show

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CLEVELAND, OH — The wind coming off Lake Erie has that unmistakable, electric Labor Day charge, carrying the roar of engines and the smell of aviation fuel straight across the tarmac at Burke Lakefront Airport. For three days every September, this lakefront runway transforms into the focal point of the entire region, but while the military iron commands attention, the true heart and soul of the Cleveland National Air Show often lives in the art of formation flight. This weekend, a piece of aviation royalty returned to Northeast Ohio skies with a vibrant, modern heartbeat as the NextGen Eagles made their Cleveland debut.

Longtime airshow fans remember the legendary Eagles Aerobatic Team led by aviation icons Charlie Hillard, Tom Poberezny, and Gene Soucy, who flew together for more than two decades before making their final Cleveland appearance in 1995. Thirty-one years later, the NextGen Eagles have stepped into those iconic cockpits, flying the unmistakable, feather-feathered rainbow liveries of the Christen Eagle II. Originally engineered by Frank Christensen in the late 1970s as a high-performance kit-built competitor to the Pitts Special, the agile, inverted-capable biplane revolutionized civil aerobatics. Today, the two-ship demonstration team is piloted by Leland Kracher and Stephen Covington, a pairing that bridges childhood wonder with seasoned cockpit authority. Kracher grew up attending airshows with his family, took his first solo flight on his 16th birthday, and worked his way from desktop flight simulators all the way to leading formation aerobatics. Flying off his wing is Covington, bringing more than 3,000 flight hours and over 25 years of piloting experience.

Just before strapping in and firing up the Lycoming engine, Leland Kracher took a moment along the flight line to look out over the swelling crowd pressed along the fence line. "We're ready to go tear up the skies of Cleveland," Kracher said with a wide grin. "It's packed out here, this is a great airport pillar of the community. We're ready to go." Looking down the tarmac toward the downtown skyline, he reflected on what it means to bring a nostalgic act to an airport that sits right in the city's front yard. "We love it here. It's so apparent how important this airport is. It's a pillar of this community. There's so many important things that happen on the day-to-day that no one ever sees; so to then also be able to bring this amazing community out to see this event and pack it out like it is, there's nothing like Cleveland. We are very excited to be here."

With canopy latches clicking into place and the pre-flight checklists complete, Kracher offered a final nod toward the flight line: "We'll see you all in a minute." Moments later, the NextGen Eagles rolled down the runway and launched directly into the lakefront airspace. Their performance delivered everything airshow traditionalists crave: razor-thin wingtip-to-wingtip separation, crisp formation barrel rolls, and breathtaking head-on opposing passes trailing thick streams of white smoke against the blue sky. It is precision flying at its purest, honoring a 1980s legacy while reminding thousands of spectators along Lake Erie why aviation captures the imagination like nothing else.