Patty and crew have been on the road with the Cirrus and the Extra almost every weekend since Sun & Fun in April. From Lakeland we have flown Tyndall AFB Airshow, Langley AFB, Warner Robins AFB, a private airshow for Champion Aerospace, Tullahoma's Arnold AFB Airshow, and just finished a wonderful visit to Duluth, Minnesota for the Cirrus Owner's and Pilot's Association fourth annual Migration.
Our Airshow season has been just fantastic this year! The Extra is performing well, and our crew chief, Gene Powers is making life much easier for us by ferrying the Extra and taking wonderful care of us and the aircraft.
Having a beautiful Cirrus SR22 to fly has also lifted our spirits (not to mention our supplies) and brought us safe, sound and quickly to each and every airshow. We've even had it on display for people to see at several airshows.
Some of the highlights of our season so far:
Dinners with old friends and new friends on the water in Panama City
during the Tyndall AFB Airshow
Flying the Langley AFB Airshow for the first time. Langley Rocks!
Doing our first IFR ribbon cut at Tullahoma. Thank you Tora Tora!
(we're just kidding of course)
Visiting with Bill Kershner who lives near Tullahoma. Bill is the famous author and aerobatic instructor who has taught thousands of pilots at every level to be better and safer. He's one of our favorite people and our hero!
And too many more highlights to mention. Every show is a highlight for us because we are able to fly and meet some of the most fantastic people in the world...our fans.
Patty with Denny Moore of Miami and his dog Buddy. Sun & Fun was Buddy's first airshow and he handled it brilliantly!
Patty and the girls at Tyndall
Patty with the Heritage Flight Team at Langley AFB
Patty with Bill Kershner,in front of his l50 Aerobat at Suwanee, Tennessee.
Patty and Nicole Malachowski or "Fifi" Thunderbird pilot #3
Pictures This is a beautiful 260 HP Skybolt. It was repainted in 2003. It had a prop strike in 1999. The engine crank was pulled and sent out to be checked. All new main and rod bearings were installed along with new pistons and rings. The prop was replaced with a NEW Hartzell 2 blade Aerobatic Pitts Prop. There are 231 hours on Engine and Prop since this work.
TT Aircraft and Engine is 740 hours.
Engine is an IO 540-C4B5 260HP.
Prop is an HC-C2YR-4CF with a DN5127A hub.
Annual is due February of 2007.
Radio is a Val Com 760. 2 place intercom with music input.
Full Inverted Systems for oil and fuel. 28 gal fuel tank.
Enclosed Pitts style canopy plus 2 windscreens to convert to open cockpit in minutes.
4 Ailerons and spades.
7 point Hooker Harness front and rear. Rear has ratchet.
6 gallon Smoke System (Awesome smoke with "preheat" stainless tubing)
New metal instrument panel and placards installed 2006.
It was built in Canada. The logbooks are complete.
Professionally maintained by full time A&P.
I purchased this plane in 2003 and used it to teach tailwheel and basic aerobatics to my son. Now he flies an Extra 300, so I guess it worked! (see for yourself)
Just wanted to let you know about the new resturant opening April 26th at the airport. Some of you might remember me from the Cockpit Cafe' or have seen me around, well you will now be able to find me at the HONOLAUNA Island Grill & Tiki Bar This is going to be the new flyin hot spot for your lunch or dinner. It use to be known as the Squadron 44th and (Chef) Dave and his wife Valerie are now the proud new owners This place is going to rock and become famous!! There will be daily lunch specials (6 for 6) your choice of any one of the 6 lunch special sandwiches w/2 sides for only $6.00 and there will be the (Early Bird Specials) that most likey will run all day. There is also some out side seating, so look for the big unbrells when you flyin. You will find it located next to the Triple Diamond Jet Center. Spread the word and hope to see you soon. Find me Julia, remind me of who you are and were you flew in from. I have good memory on faces but sometimes forget names to put with them. PEACEOUT AND HANGLOOSE, JULIA
Daniel Heligoin and Montaine Mallet together formed French Connection Airshow for over 26 years. Their 180 hp Cap 10Bs were stock other than the smoke system. Montaine was a former aeronautical engineer who studied aerobatics with Daniel, who was originally a glider pilot, French Air Force fighter pilot and French Unlimited Aerobatic Champion. The couple met while working at Avions Mudry, makers of the Cap airplane, and the pair were the American distributors for the aircraft. In their air show performances, Mallet led routines and Heligoin followed just four feet from her wingtip. The French Connection is recognized for flawless mirror formations, the Fleur de Lys and their signature musical aerial ballet. Following their deaths during a practice session in May of 2000, family members, friends and fans worked together to create a memorial fund that could be used to give, as Daniel would say, "the gift of wings."Besides being premier airshow performers, the French Connection operated an aerobatic flight school from the time they first arrived in the United States. They demanded the same precision and perfection in their aerobatic flight instructors as they demanded in themselves. They spent considerable time training their flight instructors the art of teaching aerobatics. They both felt that only if their flight instructors were highly skilled in aerobatics and communication could they pass on, not only basic aerobatics, but the more advanced levels as well.The French Connection Memorial Scholarship is seeking a male and a female flight instructor who need financial help acquiring aerobatic training so he or she can do a better job teaching or to seek a position giving aerobatic instruction. Together, the French Connection Scholarship Committee and the recipient will select the aerobatic flight school or instructor, to ensure the level of instruction received will reflect the high standards Daniel and Montaine strived for.Visit Fred Robbins' French Connection Memorial web pages at: http://frobbi.org/dm/index.html
Scott Crossfield, gentleman, raconteur, friend, and one of the best aviators the century of flight has ever known, was tragically killed in an airplane April 19 in northern Georgia.
AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY PRESENTS LAUREATE AWARDS TO EXTRAORDINARY INDIVIDUALS AND TEAMS Annual Gala Honors Exceptional Leadership and Heroism at National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
NEW YORK, NY - Aviation Week & Space Technology honored its Laureate Award recipients at a black tie event on April 7, 2006, at The National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport.The Laurels were conceived 49 years ago to recognize the extraordinary accomplishments of individuals and teams in aviation, aerospace and defense. Today, this gala is the industry's premier event, attracting scores of aerospace pioneers and thought leaders from around the world. The 2006 Laureate Award winners are: Military The men and women of the U.S. Air Force and Georgia Air National Guard’s 16th Airborne Command and Control Sqdn., for flying in support of the U.S. Army’s ongoing conflict against insurgents in Iraq. In addition to flying nightly missions to escort convoys as they seek to resupply military garrisons across the country, they have become key players in the deadly battle against improvised explosive devices. Data collected by E-8C Joint Stars aircraft they fly is forming the basis of innovative methodologies for fusing intelligence and tracking insurgents back to their bomb factories and meeting places. Space The Cassini/Huygens spacecraft team, for the landing of the European Space Agency Huygens probe on Saturn’s moon Titan, and for the science return and poetic images from NASA’s Cassini orbiter that will continue for many years. Dennis Matson, the project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Jean-Pierre Lebreton, European Space Agency’s project scientist and mission manager, have strived since the beginning to create, protect and operate the Cassini/Huygens mission, and represent the larger team that made this two-decade international project possible. Operations U.S. Coast Guard aviators, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Satellite and Information Service and the aircrews of NOAA’s WP-3D storm reconnaissance aircraft and of the U.S. Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Sqdn., for operations during Hurricane Katrina. The Coast Guard crews converged on the Gulf Coast with 43 helicopters from 11 bases to rescue 12,500 people. Most rescues occurred over just five days, and many helicopter crewmembers logged what would normally constitute an entire career’s worth of rescues in a matter of days flying over Louisiana and Mississippi. Aeronautics/Propulsion Airbus Senior Vice President for Engineering Robert Lafontan, Vice President for Flight Test Fernando Alonso, Vice President Flight Test and Chief Test Pilot Jacques Rosay and the entire A380 engineering and flight test team, for their technical achievement in bringing the mega-transport to first flight in April 2005. The A380 flight and the complexity of program coordination represent a technical milestone for Airbus, its global network of suppliers and the aerospace industry at large. Commercial Air Transportation Air France/KLM Chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta and Vice Chairman Leo M. van Wijk, for bringing together smoothly the two major European carriers of Air France and KLM. The combined, two-hub operation is delivering the promised cost savings. The executives have avoided major business disruptions suffered by other mergers and have prudently and gradually tackled the issue of harmonizing operations. IT/Electronics Nav3D Corp. CEO Andrew K. Barrows, Naverus Chief Technical Officer Steve Fulton, Avtech President Lars G.V. Lindberg and Marinvent Corp. President John Maris, for their small companies’ innovative work in air navigation for civil aviation. Barrows at Nav3D pushed the envelope on synthetic vision, and partnered with Naverus, where Fulton is a leading authority on required navigation performance procedures. Avtech’s Lindberg assisted European air traffic authorities on challenging 4D trajectory flight trials; Marinvent’s Maris developed the software behind Jeppesen’s digital air charts and conducted advanced flight testing of new avionics technology. Business/General Aviation Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. President and CEO John Rosanvallon and Olivier Villa, senior vice president, for the first flight of the Dassault Aviation Falcon 7X, which marked a major technical milestone for the business aviation segment with the introduction of fly-by-wire technology. Rosanvallon and Villa represent the team of engineers and technicians that made the aircraft a reality, including its new wing around which future Falcon aircraft will be built. Philip J. Klass Award For Lifetime Achievement Patty Wagstaff, a six-time member of the U.S. Aerobatic Team, Wagstaff has won the gold, silver and bronze medals in Olympic-level international aerobatic competition and is the first woman to win the title of U.S. National Aerobatic Champion and one of the few people to win it three times.Wagstaff was 10 when her love affair with airplanes began, and she has turned her passion into becoming a six-time recipient of the “First Lady of Aerobatics” Betty Skelton Award. In July 2004, Wagstaff was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame and received the National Air and Space Museum's Award for Current Achievement in 1994. She also has won the air show industry's most prestigious award, the “Sword of Excellence,” and the “Bill Barber Award for Showmanship.” She garnered a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Air Force Association, was inducted into the Experimental Aircraft Association/International Aerobatics Club Hall of Fame and in 2005 received the National Aeronautic Association/99s’ Katherine Wright Award.“The 2006 Laureate Award recipients represent the highest level of insight, courage and program management in the global aviation community,” said Tom Henricks, President of Aviation Week Group. “We are also proud to have awarded the first Philip J. Klass Award for Lifetime Achievement to Patty Wagstaff, whose performances and personality have attracted millions to aviation.”The Annual Laureate Awards were sponsored by Finmeccanica and Booz Allen Hamilton. About Aviation Week Group Aviation Week Group, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, is the largest multimedia information and services provider to the global aviation, aerospace and defense industry, and includes the publications Aviation Week & Space Technology, Defense Technology International, Aviation Daily, Overhaul & Maintenance, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, ShowNews, Business & Commercial Aviation, The Weekly of Business Aviation and the World Aerospace Database including World Aviation Directory. The group's web portal, http://www.aviationweek.com, offers the industry's most reliable news, information, intelligence and features, and its Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) at http://www.aviationweek.com/awin is the industry’s most integrated business tool for managers, business developers, buyers and technical professionals across the entire aviation and aerospace field. The group also produces 12 major conferences and exhibitions in the MRO, defense and programs sectors. Information is available at www.aviationweek.com/conferences. About The McGraw-Hill Companies Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The corporation has more than 290 offices in 38 countries. Sales in 2005 were $6.0 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com. Media Contact:Rob KulatKul at Communications (732) 219-5816kucomm@hotmail.com
We have happy to post our Sun & Fun schedule for this year. Patty will be happy to meet friends and fans and sign autographs at the places listed below. In addition, we're excited about flying our first U.S. airshow of the season in the beautiful Cirrus 300S! See you there!
It's almost airshow season. We started with Singapore, but the "real" airshow season starts for us with Sun & Fun. Patty has been out practicing every day at the St. Augustine Airport. We have a box right over the runway and the St. Augustine Tower is just super wonderful about helping the akro pilots and keeping other traffic out of their way. Plus, we hope we give them a good show every day!
The Extra is out of annual, thank you Gene Powers. It's flying great and even though it has several seasons under it's belt, it looks like a new airplane and flies like one too. We're still impressed with our Lycoming 580...it growls! Not to mention the compressions are still 76 plus on each of the six cylinders after a year of hardcore akro flying. We are happy we fly the best airplane, the best engine and all the best hardware - Champion plugs, Lord Mounts, Michelin tires, National Parachute, Aeroshell oil, and now Garmin Avionics installed by Sarasota Avionics. Sometimes we think we are the luckiest people in the world to have so many great friends and sponsors.
We would also like to introduce Gene Powers. Gene has been a mechanic/pilot at the St. Augustine Airport for many years, and is now taking care of Patty's Extra exclusively, and this year will be our ferry pilot/mechanic. He's looking forward to the season and to meeting lots of airshow friends and fans.
Welcome to the team Gene!
Patty and Gene in front of the Extra at St. Augustine Airport
A couple of years ago we wrote about Monkeys (Baboons to be specific) trying to steal Patty's suitcase from her cottage in Kenya's Amboseli National Park and so it seems suitcases are often an item of either great consternation or great interest, at least to us. THE bag in question finally did arrive just the day before the show started - with flight suits, helmet with special luxurious Oregon Aero liner, our special flying boots (semi-strictly military), sequence cards, khakis and pwas shirts, you name it...it's in there. In fact, the formerly MISSING BAG was a Patagonia BLACK HOLE bag, so you can only imagine the enormity and significance of the BAG IN QUESTION.
Flying international shows like Paris, Farnborough and Asian Aerospace are long endeavors for the airshow performer. There are practice days which are always necessary because these shows are usually held only every two years and the airspace is usually a bit tricky to fly. For eg., Le Bourget is very tight and sort of wedge shaped with Charles De Gaulle Airport to the north and a neighborhood smack in the middle of the airshow box; Farnborough is in a very noise sensitive area, so altitudes are really critical and if you bust an altitude by even 50' you do hear about it. Singapore was especially interesting because, even though the airshow is flown over water, there is an international boundary with Malaysia just to the north of the show box, so not only can you be low or outside of the "box" or even in the UAV holding airspace (yep!) you can also bust international waters. We think we stayed inside the box!
Asian Aerospace was located at Singapore's busy and enormous main airport Changi and airline operations continued during the airshow, We started engines about half an hour before take off to allow for taxi time. Every day the show schedule was the same and we flew second just after the F-16 from Kadena. Following us was the turboprop Pilatus PC-21 and after that the Aeromacchi 311 jet, both trainers and both in competition against the Raytheon T6B for trainer of choice in Singapore. Of course, we think there is no real competition from either one as the T6B is overall the best choice with longest hours in service, best operating costs, and proven and reliable performance....which is what we were there to show off. An F-15 with the U.S. demo pilot flew and we had two UAV's flying the show as well. It was a small but tight show and on the two public days, the crowds were huge.
After first two designated practice days, the show started with a "validation" day followed by six days of airshow flying. After four of them it started to feel like groundhog day and the 30 hour journey back to the U.S. started looking like a day off. We wouldn't even think of complaining, however, because our two favorite Raytheon pilots, Tim and JD, are still flying the airplane back to the U.S. It took them l0 days from Wichita to Singapore and will take them easily that (headwinds going west) to get back...with stops in Thailand, India, Turkey, Italy, France, the UK, and across the pond to Iceland, Greenland, Canada and Wichita.
Signing off from a beautiful sunny day in St. Augustine, our first airshow of the season completed, and we look forward to many more starting with Sun & Fun in Lakeland, Florida. See you there!
We are proud to announce that Sarasta Avonics, one of the largest if not the largest Garmin dealer in the country, is now sponsoring Patty Wagstaff Airshows, Inc. Patty's Extra is now equipped with a new avonics package, including Garmin 396 with weather, traffic and XM radio, Garmin comm and transponder. In addition, Sarasota Avionics will be providing service and support to PWAS throughout the year.
The people at Sarasota couldn't be nicer or more professional. If you are considering having some avonics work done, you really need to consider this amazing shop. Their located in Sarasota and we had our work done at their shop in Venice, Florida. Their hangar is beautiful, clean and well organized, just the way we like things to be around our aiprlane!
A Woman's Life in Aviation: An Evening with Wally Funk
National Air and Space Museum:
The General Electric Aviation Lecture Thursday March 2, 2006 8:00 PM
Come Early & Stay Late for Bonus Events
Wally Funk could have been America’s first female astronaut, having passed preliminary testing with Lovelace Woman in Space program, a private clinic program with the same physical tests given to male astronaut candidates during Project Mercury.
Although America waited another two decades before sending women into space, Funk held nothing back and became an enthusiastic participant in all aspects of flying -- from air racing to parachute jumping to gliding to ballooning. As a professional flight instructor, she has flown with thousands of students and logged over 17,000 hours of flying.
Funk has also had a distinguished career with the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board, and continues to pursue her dream of going into space, hoping to be the first civilian woman to do so.
Join us to hear this dynamic speaker share stories about her exciting life.
Our friend and biggest fan, Cal Wagner, recently passed away in Sarasota, Florida. Cal had been recovering from a fall where he broke his hip and had been having a hard time with his recuperation. We are glad he is now resting peacefully.
Cal was a sweet, kind and thoughtful man who loved coming to airshows. He always tried to be helpful with anything we needed and appreciated just being part of the crew. He was a big fan and always wrote in our guestbook and wished us luck and kept up with our schedule.
We will miss him and he'll always be an official part of the PWAS crew.
Good bye Cal and safe flight to your next destination.
Good morning or good evening, depending on your longitude
If you follow our schedule page, you'll see that we're now in Singapore for Asian Aerospace 2006, on of the important trade shows on the global aerospace circuit. Patty will be demoing Raytheon's "Beechcraft T-6B" (yes, the Beechcraft identity is still alive and well at Raytheon) in hopes of showing it off it's great performance.
Any way you to fly Singapore from the U.S. is a long one. Our journey was 30 hours plus. From Jacksonville we flew to Atlanta with a four hour layover. Not expecting any major delays, we were alerted by CNN on plasma screens that the "snow storm of the century" was moving into the Northeast, New York in particular. Our next stop was JFK to catch our Singapore Airlines flight! We made it in just in time, and were asked to board early. We were delayed for 45 minutes while de- and anti-icing at the end of the runway, and were probably one of the last departures that evening. Such luck!
Singapore Airlines is everything it's made out to be and maybe even better. It's not just the food which is excellent it's the little things that make the difference (do we sound like an advertisement?), like an extra cushion behind your head without asking for it, Givenchy pajamas in a little bag, great wines and great food. Our first course for lunch after departing our short stop in Frankfurt, and while cruising just north of Istanbul was an excellent caviar which was preceded by hot tea, bottled water and a glass of Dom Perignon. The second course was soup and we chose the "snow fungus soup with quail egg." It was very good. The quail egg sat at the bottom of the broth and while we didn't eat it, it looked cute.
So, after 7 and a half hours to Frankfurt, a short stop, then another eleven plus hours to Singapore, we are about 12 hours away from our normal time zone and feel like the walking dead (those are zombies, by the way) for a day or so, but it's getting better.
Singapore is a beautiful and classy place, situated between Malaysia and Indonesia. Founded as a British trading colony in 1819, it joined the Malaysian federation in 1963 but separated two years later and become independent. The brits brought good manners the Raffles hotel and Singapore slings. Singapore is one of the world's most prosperous countries with strong international trading links and with a per capita GDP equal to that of the leading nations of Western Europe. Translation - great shopping, restaurants, lots of computers and Mercedes and a population of well dressed people.
We start training for the air show in a day or so, but unfortunately Patty’s' suitcase with flight gear - flight suits, helmet, boots, etc. - has not arrived so we are frantically searching for it and hoping for it's imminent arrival
More in the next postcard when the flying begins.
Patty with the Beechcraft T6B in Wichita recently.
When someone suggests we go flying, we usually say "when" and "how soon" so when Rich Karlgaard, Forbes publisher, called and said he'd be in Florida, that he had just purchased a new CIRRUS SR-22 and wanted to go fly with Patty, that's exactly what we said - let's go flying. Patty and Rich flew out of Kissimmee to Dunellen Airport to the west, a rather remote and beautiful spot that will, no doubt, be discovered by real estate developers in the near future (land speculators, here is your big chance, but don't ruin the beautiful airport please), traded legs and flew back to Kissimmee. They compared notes on their Cirrus experience (like Who would want to fly anything else?!) and had great fun boring holes in Florida skies. Rich Karlgaard's Blog
Daniel Heligoin and Montaine Mallet together formed French Connection Airshow for over 26 years. Their 180 hp Cap 10Bs were stock other than the smoke system. Montaine was a former aeronautical engineer who studied aerobatics with Daniel, who was originally a glider pilot, French Air Force fighter pilot and French Unlimited Aerobatic Champion. The couple met while working at Avions Mudry, makers of the Cap airplane, and the pair were the American distributors for the aircraft. In their air show performances, Mallet led routines and Heligoin followed just four feet from her wingtip. The French Connection is recognized for flawless mirror formations, the Fleur de Lys and their signature musical aerial ballet. Following their deaths during a practice session in May of 2000, family members, friends and fans worked together to create a memorial fund that could be used to give, as Daniel would say, "the gift of wings."Besides being premier airshow performers, the French Connection operated an aerobatic flight school from the time they first arrived in the United States. They demanded the same precision and perfection in their aerobatic flight instructors as they demanded in themselves. They spent considerable time training their flight instructors the art of teaching aerobatics. They both felt that only if their flight instructors were highly skilled in aerobatics and communication could they pass on, not only basic aerobatics, but the more advanced levels as well.The French Connection Memorial Scholarship is seeking a male and a female flight instructor who need financial help acquiring aerobatic training so he or she can do a better job teaching or to seek a position giving aerobatic instruction. Together, the French Connection Scholarship Committee and the recipient will select the aerobatic flight school or instructor, to ensure the level of instruction received will reflect the high standards Daniel and Montaine strived for.Visit Fred Robbins' French Connection Memorial web pages at: 
Check the