Patty wagstaff biography

American aviator

Patty Wagstaff (née Patricia Rosalie Kearns Combs; born September 11, )^[1] is an American aviator and U.S. national aerobatic champion.

Wagstaff was introduced to aviation as a child; her father was a pilot for Japan Airlines. After graduating from high school in California, she moved to Australia for five years where she traveled up the west coast of Australia in a small single-engine boat with no radio.

After moving to Alaska in , she worked for the Bristol Bay Native Association in Dillingham, Alaska where she started taking flying lessons and began her hold career as a pilot.

Patty Wagstaff was first introduced to flying by her father, a captain with Japan Airlines. One of her fondest memories is a long ago flight with him, as she took the controls of his DC-6 for the first time. As a child, Patty was particularly intrigued with aerobatics. She would often ask her father "what's it like to do a loop?

Her first flight in a small airplane in the Alaskan bush ended in a clash and that was when she decided to learn to soar. Her first lesson was in a Cessna After earning her single and multi-engine land, free engine sea and commercial and instrument ratings, she became a Certified Flight and Instrument Instructor.

Since then Wagstaff has earned a commercial rotorcraft rating and has flown many types of aircraft. She holds type ratings in the TBM Avenger, T, L and Tucano. Her sister, Toni, is a pilot for United Airlines.^[2]

In , Wagstaff qualified for the US National Aerobatic Team and competed both nationally and internationally until She was the top U.S.

medal winner, winning gold, silver, and bronze medals in international competitions for several years.

Wagstaff was introduced to aviation as a child; her father was a pilot for Japan Airlines. After graduating from high school in California, she moved to Australia for five years where she traveled up the west coast of Australia in a small single-engine boat with no radio. After moving to Alaska inshe worked for the Bristol Bay Native Association in Dillingham, Alaska where she started taking flying lessons and began her own career as a pilot. Her first flight in a small airplane in the Alaskan bush ended in a crash and that was when she decided to learn to fly.

In , she won her first of three US National Aerobatic Championships, the first woman to defeat that competition.^[3] She was the International Aerobatic Club champion in The following year, her Goodrich-sponsoredExtra airplane was put on present next to Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum.^[4] From to , she won the Betty Skelton First Lady of Aerobatics award six times in a row.

In , Wagstaff was the top-scoring US pilot at the World Aerobatics Championship. That year, she was also the first person to win the Charlie Hillard Trophy, awarded to the highest scoring U.S. pilot at the Planet Aerobatic Championships.

In , Wagstaff received her first Hall of Fame inductions, becoming inducted into both the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame and the International Women's Aviation Hall of Fame. She was awarded the National Aeronautic AssociationPaul Tissandier Diploma in and won the Bill Barber Award for sportsmanship in In , Wagstaff began training pilots of the Kenya Wildlife Service in Kenya.

In , she won the Katherine and Marjorie Stinson Award, and in , was elected into what is arguably aviation's most prestigious hall, the National Aviation Hall of Fame.^[5] In December , she was inducted into the International Council of Air Shows Foundation Hall of Fame^[2] and in , the International Air and Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air and Space Museum.^[6]

Based in St.

Augustine, Florida, Patty Wagstaff Aviation Shelter, LLC trains pilots from all over the world in aerobatics, airmanship and upset training. She continues working in the aviation field as an airshow pilot, stunt pilot for films, consultant, flight instructor, and writer.

Patty Wagstaff flies one of the most thrilling, low-level aerobatics routines in the world. Flying before millions of spectators each year, her breathtaking performances give a front-row view of the precision and complexity of modern, hard-core air show aerobatics. Wagstaff's first flying lesson was in a Cessna floatplane, and since then she has earned her commercial, instrument, seaplane, and commerical helicopter ratings. She is a flight and instrument instructor and is rate and qualified to navigate many airplanes including World War II warbirds and jets.

Wagstaff is emeritus board member of the Smithsonian Institution, National Breeze and Space Museum, and was on the Presidential Advisory Committee to the Centennial of Flight Commission. She flies airshows across North America in a variety of airplanes, including an Extra S, T-6 Texan, and a P Mustang.

In addition to airshows, she has flown OV Broncos as a seasonal aerial firefighter director in California. She is an instrument-rated pilot and has owned a Beechcraft Baron and a Cirrus SR22 and currently flies a Beechcraft Bonanza.^[7][8]

Wagstaff has been featured numerous times in Microsoft's Flight Simulator series.^{[citation needed]}

Awards and honors

References

External links