Patty is awarded the Amelia Earhart Award by the Greater Miami Avation Association
From the MIAMI HERALDNovember 30, 2006 MIAMIGala honors aviation contributorsFor the first time, the aviation community honored women's contributions to the industry with an award saluting Amelia Earhart.BY WENDY J. MENGASpecial to The Miami HeraldIt was a wild evening at Parrot Jungle's Treetop Ballroom. Women dressed in iridescent silk gowns walked arm-in-arm with men in black ties, displaying their finery, to honor and support the aviation industry.More than 400 guests showed up for the Wright Brothers Memorial Awards Gala Evening on Nov. 17.What made the evening special was that it included two new awards: The Amelia Earhart Award for outstanding achievement and The Neil Armstrong Award for aerospace leaders.Oscar Garcia, president of the Greater Miami Aviation Association, said candidates for the awards were selected for ``longevity, contribution, achievements for their companies and themselves, and especially for their support in the scholarships in aviation that we give for future leaders.''Garcia welcomed guest of honor Robert Crandall, former president and CEO of American Airlines, and said the evening was about keeping the aviation industry fresh by providing scholarships to students who choose the field as a career.Also on hand were NBC's Willard Sheppard and former Telemundo journalist Ana Bencomo, who co-hosted the event.The Amelia Earhart Award went to U.S. aerobatic Olympian Patty Wagstaff for outstanding achievement. The Neil Armstrong Award went to Peter Diamandis, chairman/CEO of X Prize Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes space tourism.''The new Neil Armstrong Award is meant to inspire the young,'' Garcia said.Wagstaff was not present to accept her award in person. It was accepted on her behalf by Jo-Ann Lizio, an artist from Naples.Wagstaff asked Lizio to accept her award because Lizio created artwork with parts from Wagstaff's plane.''We are the oldest aviation association in the U.S., and we are honoring women in aviation for their contribution through the years for the first time,'' Garcia said.''Miami is changing; Miami is growing; Miami is thriving. It is very easy to see the activity at our airports here and we are keeping up with the times in the aviation industry,'' he said.According to José Abreu, director of the Miami-Dade County Aviation Department, ``In Miami everyday is like the Super Bowl. More than 80,000 passengers pass through the gates of Miami International [Airport].''By the end of the evening, six awards were handed out.For his lifelong contribution to the aviation industry, The Wright Brothers Memorial Award went to Capt. Vito La Forgia. Enrique Cueto, CEO of LAN Airlines, got the Corporate Achievement Award.The Juan Trippe Award went to Peter Dolara for his dedication to aviation in the Latin America and the Caribbean. The Glen Curtiss Award went to Mauricio Botelho for extraordinary contributions to the air transport business and private sectors.
In December, Able Flight, a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization, will announce its first two flight training scholarship winners, who will participate in a three-week intensive training course leading to a Sport Pilot certificate. Up to 20 scholarships will be awarded in 2007, with up to 35% of those being provided to veterans with a disability.
“Experiencing the freedom and challenge of flying creates an emotional high,” said Charles Stites, Able Flight’s Executive Director. “But more importantly, learning to fly is a tremendous confidence booster and can motivate anyone, especially people with various physical disabilities, to reach for even higher goals in life.”
“Given the new Sport Pilot Rule and the availability of Light Sport Aircraft, the timing is right to launch a national scholarship program and reach a vastly underserved community,” said Stites. “We’re also working with several organizations to create vocational opportunities within aviation for scholarship award winners.”
The initial scholarship winners will be trained in a specially-equipped Sky Arrow 600 provided by the Hansen Air Group of Georgia. Unique among Light Sport Aircraft, the Sky Arrow 600 is available with factory-equipped hand controls that can be removed in seconds as needed, offering great flexibility in training students with varying disabilities.
Able Flight has attracted financial and in-kind support from individuals as well as aviation companies such as Jet Aviation, an international leader in support of business aviation, and Perrone Fine Aviation Leather, a major supplier of leather products for private and business aircraft. Other sponsors include Gulf Coast Avionics and Electronics International. To learn more about Able Flight, and how to support the scholarship program, visit: www.ableflight.org.
Patty and Gene loaded the Cirrus and the Extra and headed north with Buddha to the Nantucket Airshow. Enroute they picked up good friend Dorothy Cochrane from National Air & Space Museum at Stafford Regional Airport, just south of the huge Washington DC ADIZ, and scooted around the ADIZ and assorted restricted areas and headed north and east to Nantucket. The first night weather was bad enough they couldn't make the hop across the water, and stayed the night in Hyannis. That turned out to be fortuitous because our other good friends, Pat and Jane, live nearby and were able to join us for lunch the next day!
Finally, we got to Nantucket on Friday afternoon and what a great place to fly to...scenic, beautiful, friendly...great venue for an airshow.
Saturday was beautiful and it seemed like the whole town came out to the airport for the show...featuring Rob Holland in his ultimate biplane, Jim Parker doing a beautiful glider routine, Dr. Smoke, Walt Pierce and wingwalker Jenny Forsythe, a Heritage flight with P51 and A-10 and the Blue Angels. Sunday was cold and windy and a few acts were able to fly before the rain shut the show down. Still, everyone in Nantucket seemed happy & we were happy to be there.
In celebration of the l00th anniversary of the birth of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Patty will join other speakers, including keynote speaker Kristina Lindbergh, eldest grandaughter of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, at Earthshine Institute Symposium on November 17, 2006.
We are great admirers of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, or her writing and her philosophy, and so are very honored to be a part of this symposium.
A partnership of Innovation, Performance and Difference From a Cirrus press release:
Duluth, Minn. (September 19, 2006) Cirrus Design Corporation announced today that three-time US National Aerobatic champion, Patty Wagstaff and CIRRUS have signed an agreement to continue their partnership for two more years.
“CIRRUS is proud to have Patty as a member of our team,” said CIRRUS Vice-Chairman and Co-founder, Dale Klapmeier. “Patty is one of the world’s most respected pilots, and totally committed to excellence. Patty has contributed invaluable personal and professional fervor to the personal aviation industry and we are excited to continue with her in our shared commitment to its growth.”
Wagstaff is known for her unique and innovative performances. Audiences around the world have watched in awe as the petite aviatrix flies hard-core aerobatic routines with flawless execution. A three-time US National Aerobatic Champion and the first woman to win this title, Patty is also six-time member of the US Aerobatic Team and has taken gold, silver and bronze medals at Olympic level competitions.
“It has been a huge honor to represent CIRRUS, a company whose forward thinking philosophy I truly believe in - innovation, customer service, professionalism and honesty,” stated Wagstaff. “I am very excited about the next two years and look forward to continue fly "Cirrus" - both on the wings of my aerobatic plane and when traveling cross country in my CIRRUS SR22!”
Patty Wagstaff flies the technologically advanced SR22 to and from air shows and to personal appearances. “The CIRRUS construction, design, performance and extraordinary safety features make it truly a leading edge airplane that is wonderful to fly,” concluded Wagstaff.
Pictured here is Patty wagstaff with her aerobatic plane and Cirrus SR22
We love all (okay, most?) of the shows we fly, but we were so privileged to be invited to perform at this year's NAS Oceana Airshow in Virginia Beach. The organiztion (thank you Corky et al) was superb and performers were really well taken care of and by that I mean special access roads just for us, so we didn't have to run road blocks armed by militia anymore...Yay!! The briefing was at the O Club, another yay! with full catered breakfast. The O Club is conveniently located from Lodging, so we didn't get lost trying to find the morning's briefing. We always say that the best airshows are the low stress ones, and the good organization of this show definitely accomplished lowering the stress factor associated with some of the large military airshows.
Every aviation photographer known to man (or ok, every U.S. aviation photographer known to man/person) was in attendance, probably to catch some of the last flights of the F-l4 Tomcat ever to be witnessed. There was a very cool fly by of Hornets and Tomcats...beautiful formation work guys! Our crew was joined by friends and airshow family Danny Buchanan, Bill Leff, Greg Shelton and Ashley Battles, Rick in the Starfighter F-104, the Skytypers, lots of skyjumpers, The Blue Angels and announcing was Rob Reider who did a fantastic job of talking for days it seemed... Rob, how do you do that?
We had a guest with us from Kenya, Anthony Kiroken. Anthony is the chief pilot for the Kenya Wildlife Service and has flown with Patty in Kenya for several years. He had just finished his helicopter rating in Florida and we were really happy for the opportunity to bring him to his first airshow and show him a little bit of the U.S. from the vantage point of our Cirrus SR22 flying cross-country from Florida to Virginia Beach.
Pictured here is Anthony with Caroline Sheen of Air & Space Magazine, Patty, and Dorothy Cochrane of the National Air & Space Museum.
We just returned from one of our favorites towns, Wichita, Kansas. Wichita really is the aviation capital of the world - oh, except Cirrus is located in Duluth - but seeing friends from Raytheon Aircraft, Cessna, Lear, Boeing/Spirit and more...not to mention having a great airshow, made this one of our best shows of the seasion! Not to mention, it's pretty exciting for us to show off our Cirrus, N2000M, in a town that has not yet embraced composite manufacturing for it's general aviation line of aircraft.
We started off the show arriving early for practice, then were invited to fly with the Wichita Police Department in their MD500E helicopter. Here's a picture of Patty with Officer Dave.
Officer Dave Dolieslager Wichita Police Air Section
Thanks to the Wichita Flight Festival and our airboss, Wayne Boggs, for putting together a great line up of performers. Danny Clisham who keeps everyone entertained whether there's anything in the air or not, John Mohr doing his usual amazing job of stick and rudder Stearman aerobatics; the Aeroshell Team looking perfect; Jim "Fang" Moroney in his Chipmunk; Manfred Radius doing his clown act and his glider act,
Here's Manfred in costume!
and two of our other favorite people, Gene Soucy and Teresa Stokes. We just got word that Gene is going to be inducted into the EAA International Aerobatic Club Hall of Fame. Congratulations Geno! In addition to old friends, we met new friends. Miranda Meyer, from Kansas, whose eyes light up when she's around airplanes (we know the feeling) came over and took a tour of our Cirrus Extra 300S. Girls like Miranda need all the encouragement we can give them.
We have been traversing the world, airshow to airshow, and as we planned it, it's been a really busy season. Patty flew the T6B for Raytheon Aircraft Company in Farnborough. There was a heatwave in the UK, so we had blue skies and a high show every day. From Farnborough it was straight back to Oshkosh for the week long AirVenture and as always, we returned home from there exhausted but inspired and excited by all the people we met and their enthusiasm in aviation. Cirrus has been fantastic to work with and it was a real pleasure to be able to sign autographs and talk to people at their new exhibit area. Flying Magazine took great care of us and the Cirrus Extra 300S, which was on display all week. From AirVenture we headed home for a week before a long ferry flight to Abbotsford, BC, and one of our favorite airshows. Abbotsford was the first airshow Patty ever attended as a spectator in 1983, so it's one of the most exciting to fly for us. She remembers standing on the "other" side of the fence saying "I need to be on the other - the performer - side of the fence" and it was the following year, 1984 that she flew her very first airshow in Gulkana, Alaska. After Abbotsford Patty took a well deserved break in the mountains, hiking and playing with horses, before heading to the Wichita Flight Festival, held this weekend, August 25 and 26. Anyone from Wichita, please make it out to Jabara Airport for a great airshow - what a lineup too! Aeroshell Team, Jim Moroney, Matt Youkin, Kyle Franklin and Gene Soucy and Teresa Stokes, plus an F-l5 demo...so see you there!More newsletters and photos to come!
The Duluth Monaco Airshow (Duluth, Minnesota, not Duluth, Georgia) was held July 7 - 9 and we were really happy to be a part of it because our sponsor, Cirrus Design, is headquartered there. We had not flown this airshow before and didn't know what to expect so we were very pleasantly surprised at what a great show it was. It was well publicized and well organized, with lots of good acts, including the USAF Thunderbirds, Mike Wiskus, Jeff Mawhinney, assorted warbirds and a pilot who really impressed us, David Burdine in his MIG 17. The weather was cool and clear, and morning rain just made it nicer in the north country - a really welcome change from Florida in July. Plus, it was really cool being back in this northern town where we've gotten to know where the good restaurants (Bellisios is our favorite) and coffee shops are.
On Friday, Cirrus had a company picnic for all of its employees. Patty centered her airshow toward the Cirrus plant and signed autographs for lots of Cirrus folks.
Each year we publish Patty's Oshkosh schedule on our web site because we get so many inquiries as to where she'll be signing autographs and which days she'll be performing. We are looking forward to seeing all of our friends old and new - at AirVenture 2006!
Monday, July 24 10:00 AM - 12:00 noon Autograph Signing at the Cirrus Exhibit Area
Tuesday, July 25 11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Autograph Signing at the Lycoming Tent
FLYING THE AIRSHOW!
Wednesday, July 26 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Autograph Signing at the IAC Building
12:00 Noon - 2:00 PM Autograph Signing and Press Conference at Cirrus
Thursday, July 27 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Autograph Signing at Champion Aerospace, Exhibit Hall
FLYING THE AIRSHOW!
Friday, July 28 8:00AM Women in Aviation Breakfast, Hilton
10:00 AM - 12:00 Noon Autograph Signing at Cirrus Design
Satuday, July 29 10:00 AM - 11:00AM Autograph Signing at Aeroshell
FLYING THE AIRSHOW!
Patty's "Cirrus Extra 300S" will also be on display at the Flying Magazine Tent on the West Ramp, as it has been the past several years. This is right next to the Lycoming Tent. She will be on hand to talk to people there and answer questions about her airplane etc. We will add to this schedule so keep checking back!
In the air over English Countryside in the Raytheon Aircraft "Beechcraft T6B." This is a prototype and a newer version of the T6A Texan II military trainer, with glass cockpit, HUD and light attack capability. Practicing for the Farnborough Airshow, just outside of London.
Our dear friend, airshow pilot Chuck Lischer, was killed June 27 while flying a BD-5 Microjet for a military contract in the DC area. We are not sure of details yet, but we do know that we have known Chuck for many years and he always had a smile on his face and a kind word to say about everyone he met. Chuck loved to fly. We will always miss you and miss flying formation with you Chuck.
Cirrus has a tradition that would be hard to duplicate - each year the Cirrus Owner's and Pilot's Association or COPA - meet in Duluth (or come "home" to Duluth where Cirrus Design is) for a convention. The get together includes social events (much fun!), seminars, conferences, luncheons, etc....and a great banquet finale. Highlights for us included the opening party on the Lakefront, the women's luncheon with panel of the most interesting women who each had a different story (and we hear that a couple of women in the room might be taking flying lessons??), having our Extra on display at the factory at DLH, talking with enthusiastic Cirrus owner's and pilots in the exhibit hall and seeing old friends.
Thank you Duluth Tower for your help in coordinating these photographs.
Patty went out and practiced and one day put her Canon 20D camera on the wing of her Extra (yes, there is a wing mount especially for this) for these spectacular pictures. When the skies are clear in the North country, they are spectacularly clear.
Thank you Duluth Tower for your help in coordinating these photographs.
Patty going vertical - notice the reflection on the wing!
Patty flying the "Cirrus Extra" with the Cirrus factory in the back- ground.
Patty was recently invited to speak at the Atlanta Aero Club. On her way to the Tullahoma Air Show, she stopped in to Atlanta and Epps Aviation to visit with Pat Epps and his family, before joining Steve Champness , President of the Aero Club, for the drive downtown. We were really honored by the great attendance and happy to see some of our old friends join the group.
Patty discussed some of her aviation experiences, how she got started, safety issues, and then answered questions (her favorite part!).
Pictured here is the youngest person to join us for Patty's talk. Emily is a future pilot and was able to take a day off of school to meet Patty.
In December, Able Flight, a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization, will announce its first two flight training scholarship winners, who will participate in a three-week intensive training course leading to a Sport Pilot certificate. Up to 20 scholarships will be awarded in 2007, with up to 35% of those being provided to veterans with a disability.
Officer Dave Dolieslager
Here's Manfred in costume!
Miranda Meyer in the Extra
Check the