Is Russell Royce Still an Air Boss? What Records Show

Current answer: Russell Royce served as the air boss at the 2022 Wings Over Dallas airshow and held the FAA’s highest multi-venue air boss designation at that time. However, his name does not appear on the FAA’s current Air Boss Master List, revision 21, published in July 2026. That means current public FAA records do not establish that he is presently authorized as a recognized air boss. The public list does not explain why a name is absent, so it would be wrong to claim—without another authoritative record—that he retired, was suspended, or voluntarily stopped working.

Is Russell Royce still an air boss?

The most responsible answer is: not according to the FAA’s current published list, but the reason is not public in that document.

The FAA’s National Aviation Events Program page links to an Air Boss Master List covering Basic, Standard, Recognized Air Boss Single-Venue and Recognized Air Boss Multi-Venue designations. We checked revision 21 of that spreadsheet in July 2026. It contains 70 named entries across those sections, and Russell Royce is not listed.

This is narrower than saying he has been “banned,” “stripped,” “retired” or “cleared.” Absence from the current list verifies only that the list does not show a current designation for him. The spreadsheet does not state the reason for removal or nonrenewal, and it is not a directory of every aviation-related job a person may hold.

Readers can verify the source directly through the FAA National Aviation Events Program or download the current FAA Air Boss Master List.

Russell Royce and Wings Over Dallas

On November 12, 2022, a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63F Kingcobra collided during the Wings Over Dallas airshow at Dallas Executive Airport. All five people aboard the B-17 and the P-63 pilot died. No one on the ground was injured.

The NTSB’s final Aviation Investigation Report AIR-24-07 identifies Royce as the air boss for the performance. An air boss directs participating aircraft and controls airshow operations within the demonstration area under authority delegated by the event’s responsible person. The report states that the accident performance involved eight historic military aircraft divided into bomber and fighter groups, with the air boss directing their movements by radio.

The final report, adopted December 4, 2024, is the correct source for the NTSB’s conclusions. Earlier versions of this site incorrectly described the NTSB record as if the board had blamed only the P-63 pilot. That was inaccurate.

What the NTSB actually concluded

The NTSB determined that the probable cause included the air boss’s and event organizer’s lack of an adequate, prebriefed aircraft-separation plan. The performance instead relied on real-time deconfliction instructions and pilots seeing and avoiding other aircraft. That strategy allowed the B-17 and P-63 to lose separation.

The board also identified the pilots’ diminished ability to see and avoid each other as causal. Factors included the geometry of their flight paths, aircraft structures blocking portions of the view, workload during the performance and inherent human limitations in detecting another aircraft.

Contributing factors extended beyond one individual. The NTSB cited missing FAA guidance for developing separation plans and risk assessments for aircraft outside an approved maneuvers package, along with missing requirements for recurrent air boss evaluations and direct surveillance of air boss performance.

Read the primary source: NTSB Aviation Investigation Report AIR-24-07. The supporting evidence remains available in the NTSB public docket for CEN23MA034.

What designation did Royce hold at the time?

The NTSB report says the accident air boss held the Recognized Air Boss, Multi-Venue designation—the highest level described in the Air Boss Recognition Program then in effect. The report explains that this level required education, testing, experience, recommendations and an evaluation by an ICAS-recognized Air Boss Evaluator.

The report also identified a systemic weakness: once a person reached that level, objective recurrent performance assessments were not then required in the same way as the initial practical evaluation. The NTSB consequently recommended recurrent air boss evaluations, standardized terminology, better FAA observation and documented separation and risk-assessment procedures.

The current FAA framework describes an air boss as the person with primary responsibility for controlling participating airshow operations on active taxiways, runways and in the demonstration area while the waiver and associated airspace restrictions are active. A person acting in that capacity at a covered airshow must hold the applicable FAA letter of authorization.

For a plain-language explanation of the job, see what an air boss does at an airshow.

What public records do not establish

Several claims repeated across older pages on this site could not be substantiated and should not be treated as fact:

• That Royce currently works a reduced schedule of five or six shows.
• That he retired, moved into consulting or mentors new air bosses.
• That he left the Columbus Airshow for a particular reason.
• That he was formally suspended, revoked or “cleared” by the FAA.
• That he served as a senior airline executive, pioneered predictive maintenance or received honorary doctorates.
• That a public event calendar can prove who holds the air boss role, because event sites often do not publish operational staffing.

These statements appeared without reliable sourcing and, in some cases, contradicted one another. They have been removed rather than repeated as rumor. If the FAA list changes or a directly attributable statement becomes available, this page should be updated with the source and date.

Does the NTSB report decide legal liability?

No. An NTSB probable-cause finding is a transportation-safety determination. It is not a civil judgment, criminal verdict or employment ruling. The report analyzes the accident and makes safety recommendations; it does not by itself answer every question about private litigation, insurance, contracts or professional discipline.

That distinction matters here. It is accurate to report the NTSB’s conclusions and the current FAA list. It would not be accurate to turn those records into an unsupported claim about a court outcome or the personal reason for Royce’s present listing status.

How Wings Over Dallas changed airshow safety

The NTSB issued recommendations to the FAA, ICAS and the Commemorative Air Force. They included:

• preplanned administrative controls to keep multiple dissimilar aircraft separated;
• a documented safety risk assessment for each performance;
• daily debriefing and feedback procedures;
• recurrent air boss evaluations during authorization renewal;
• standardized, unambiguous terms for show lines and other instructions;
• direct FAA observation of an air boss’s visual performance and radio communications.

Those recommendations show why the accident cannot responsibly be reduced to one pilot’s visibility error or one radio call. The final report addressed planning, human factors, communication, oversight and organizational risk management together.

Russell Royce FAQ

Was Russell Royce the air boss at Wings Over Dallas?

Yes. The NTSB final report identifies him as the air boss directing the 2022 performance.

Is Russell Royce on the current FAA Air Boss Master List?

No. His name does not appear in revision 21 of the list checked in July 2026.

Does that prove why he is no longer listed?

No. The list reports current names, levels and expiration dates but does not explain why a particular person is absent.

Did the NTSB blame only Russell Royce?

No. The probable-cause statement addressed the air boss and event organizer’s separation planning, the pilots’ limited ability to see and avoid each other, and gaps in FAA guidance and oversight.

Was the earlier profile information on this site reliable?

No. Several older pages contained unsupported and contradictory biographical or career claims. Those pages have been consolidated into this source-based record.

Last evidence review: July 2026. This article will be revised if the FAA master list or another authoritative public record changes.