Patty and her crew just returned from Denver where they attended their third Cirrus Perspective customer event. Cirrus has launched a new cockpit - the Cirrus Perspective by Garmin - an amazing new avionics system with features like 12" screens, highway in the sky, unbelievable visuals, updated autopilot features, and more. The events we attended in Chicago, Tampa and Denver were intimate gatherings with Cirrus customers and those interested in the new Cirrus, and gave us a chance to talk to a number of people one on one. Check out the Cirrus web site for more information on this amazing new option from Cirrus: www.cirrusdesign.com
We just returned from Denver and the Rocky Mountain Metro Open House. This is held at the old "Jeffco" Airport and indeed everyone still has a hard time not calling it Jeffco. Our good friend Andy Irwin who is based in Denver helped make our stay even better; and it was great to see Wayne and Mary Hammack who organized and air bossed the airshow, and a number of other old friends. The weather was fantastic, but the Density Altitude was high and it took Patty a few flights to get used to the thin air up there at 5600' MSL. We also found some good restaurants nearby and our favorite was Bloom at the Flatiron Crossing Mall. We ate their three times and found every single thing on the menus to be awesome!
Patty spoke at the Flying Physicians Conference in Asheville, N.C. recently. Other speakers included Bruce Lansbergh and Dick Rutan. We flew the Cirrus up to Asheville in less than two hours from St. Augustine, and stayed at the beautiful Grove Park Inn. Patty spoke about the physiological effects of G's, both short term and long term, and gave the docs an idea of how to treat and discuss G related medical issues with their patients.
We flew the Hunstville, Alabama, Airshow and were hosted very well by the Huntsville Airport Authority, the Huntsville Flight Cente and Signature Flight Services. Huntsville Flight Center offered us ride in the Diamond Twin Star; a really nifty little twin engine airplane powered by a Thielert Diesel engine. We cruised at 7 gallons per hour and were very impressed! Unfortunately a great show was marred by a freak storm that came through on Sunday, tearing up the chalets on the flight line, injuring several people and killing a young child. Speaking for all of the performers, we are very sorry about this tragedy and that it had to happen at such a great airshow.
We are really getting excited about going to Oshkosh and seeing our friends and airshow family there. Please come and visit when you can! Here is Patty's schedule:
It seems as though everyone is doing blogs these days, so why not me. I'm in St. Augustine in between airshows and other travels which I will tell you about. People ask me where I go for a vacation, and I say "Home!" It's the greatest place to be. St. Augustine is a good place to live. My two dogs, Cassidy and Ripley are here and keep me company, and of course there is Buddha, my Green Cheek Conure. Bunny, the Orange Factor Canary, is beautiful to look at and listen to but doesn't care for the company of people. He prefers to sit outside on the patio in the company of other bird sounds. And, we have a lot of birds in St. Augustine. In addition to the sea birds, herons, egrets, cranes, spoonbills, Ospreys, we have bluebirds, cardinals, lots of mockingbirds, woodpeckers, owls and even bald eagles.
Oshkosh was great this year, other than an unpleasant little interlude one evening - something that I hope will be resolved soon. The weather was good, seemed like attendance was up and people arrived early and like every other Oshkosh we've been to since 1987, well organized and neat - meaning no trash, no lines, just nice. Lycoming hosted a dinner one evening, which as an annual event is really pleasant. The National Air & Space Museum hosts an exclusive little dinner every year and is a highlight for their guests; and just seeing friends and airshow family makes the week really great.
This week I will be the presenter for Betty Skelton's induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame. You can read more about this at:www.hofmag.com/content/view/1154/190/ and the Motorsports Hall of Fame web site is:
www.mshf.com I will be flying the Cirrus to the DC area (outside the ADIZ, if you please) to pick up Dorothy Cochrane, curator of General Aviation for the National Air and Space Museum, good friend to me and to Betty; and Melissa Courtney, good friend and flight instructor; and then we will be flying to the Detroit area for the Hall of Fame events. Another great opportunity to dress up!
Every day we read updates about good friend Alan Henley, lead pilot of the Aeroshell Team, who was injured in a completely fluke accident at home, while playing with his kids. This has been extremely difficult for his family and his wife, Jennifer, is updating her blog and keeping us up to date on his condition on a daily basis at: www.caringbridge.com/visit/alanhenley
In two weeks we are heading to the Wichita Air Show at Jabarra Airport. This is the third year in a row that we've flown this show and it's one of our favorites. For one, Wayne Boggs is the airboss and that always gaurantees a great show. Wichita is an aviation town and the shows always has a great line up of performers. We've done a lot of work over the years in Wichita so really look forward to going back.
The Advanced World Championships have wrapped up, and Team USA did splendidly! Congratulations to Rob Holland for his victory and a special congratulations to our friend Alex Land who did so well. Alex has only been competing for about a year and we are really proud of his performance so far.
And, I've been riding a lot working and training Bego Gigolo and getting him ready for sale! He is only going to be allowed to go to the best home. He's a fabulous jumper, doing Level 5 and moving up, so if anyone is looking for an Irish Sport Horse jumper with the best nature of any horse I've known, go to www.bridlebourne.com and look up my horse for sale.
This motorcycle is just too awesome to be sitting in my garage. I never seem to have time to ride it, so putting it up for sale.
2001 Ducati Monster, M600, Dark. Light and fast. 8000 miles. $5000. For more information contact me at:patty@pattywagstaff.com
I'm here with Dorothy Cochrane Melissa Courtney to see, support and enjoy Betty Skelton Erde's induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame. In addition, I'll be her presenter during the induction ceremony tonight. Last night we went to the opening reception where inductees and previous inductees were introduced and it was a who's who of motorsports people - motorcycle racers, drag racers, indy and forumula drivers - Bobby Unser, Bob Bondurant, Paul Goldsmith and we were also excited to see great Reno racer Lyle Shelton here!
Betty Skelton is fantastic to talk to about her amazing career in motorsports. This is the tenth Hall of Fame she's been inducted into (she was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2005), was the first woman to do an inverted ribbon cut and holds automotive records sucdh as world land speed record for women, transcontinental south ameria automobile record, world closed course speed record for women and was the first to break Cannonball Baker's transcontinental U.S. automobile record!
Betty Skelton Erde sitting in "Cyclops" - jet powered car she set the land speed record for women in at 315.72 mph at Bonneville Salt Flats
I have been invited to speak at the "Aviation Adventures" series at the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland, Florida, on October 3rd. This Museum is associated with Sun & Fun and you can get more information about it at: www.sun-n-fun.org
My style is pretty casual. I usually start my presentation by showing a short video of my flying, then talk about what I do, and then hope for lots of Questions and Answers!
I hope to see you there!
Fay rambled in and stayed awhile but didn't do much damage to St. Augustine and environs; we just had lots of clean up from debris and a little flooding. Hanna seems more of a concern to me, and while I'd rather be home when a storm hits, it looks like it might hit when we're at the NAS Brunwick Airshow in Maine. NAS Brunswick has been a great show for a long time but due to BRAC, the base is closing and this is their last "hurrah." I am really honored to be a part of it! We recently spent a week in Wichita because we had to leave home on Monday before the show instead of Thursday. Wichita is a great town though and for its size has more good restaurants, shopping, gyms and airports per capita than any other midwest town I know. Favorite restaurant has to be Ya Ya's, but On the Border has good gaucamole, Chesters good everything, and there are a ton more good places to eat.
I'm hoping to re-do the newsletter page so I can add more pictures. I take so many and would like to share them. Working on it!
As many of you know our good friend Alan Henley, lead pilot of the Aeroshell Team, was recently injured in an accident at home. A benefit airshow for him and his family will take place April 18 & 19, 2009, at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, FL. This is the weekend right before Sun and Fun so it's really convenient for spectators and performers. This is a very important event for our airshow family so we encourage everyone to show up and help us support Alan!
While the performers are donating their time, there are incidental costs of cars, rooms, fuel, smoke oil, etc. that will need to be taken care of. Sponsorship is needed! If you know of any entity that might sponsor please contact Bruce at bturner98@cfl.rr.com. Thank all of you so very much.
To Patty Wagstaff the sky represents adventure, freedom and challenge. A six-time member of the US Aerobatic Team, Patty has won the gold, silver and bronze medals in Olympic-level international aerobatic competition and is the first woman to win the title of US National Aerobatic champion and one of the few people to win it three times.
Patty flies one of the most thrilling, low-level aerobatic routines in the world. Flying before millions of Airshow spectators each year, her breathtaking performances give spectators a front-row seat view of the precision and complexity of modern, unlimited hard-core aerobatics. Her smooth aggressive style sets the standard for performers the world over.
Come and enjoy an up-close and personal encounter with Patty!
Aviation Adventure lectures are held at the Florida Air Museum at Sun ‘n Fun at 7:00 pm. Doors open to the public at 6:30 p.m. with light refreshments served.
Admission prices:
Non-members $20
Members $15
Ages 12-17 $10
Age 11 & under Free
Reserve your tickets today!! For more information please call (863) 644-2431 or E-mail: Museum@sun-n-fun.org.
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