Tuesday, October 6, 2009

WAC, Europe shows, Ca Capital and Fleet Week

Hi everyone! Unfortunately due to bad weather we were only able to fly half of the programs at the World Championships and had about 7 days of no flying. It was still hosted beautifully by the Brits and they had excellent hospitality. I was able to meet teams from all over the world including 2 girls from the french team who are my age, this was a first for me! I hope to return next year for the European Championships.

The Extra300s that I was flying belongs to Alex and Martina Stegner who run a flight school in Augsburg Germany. The plane did well with how much training we all did in it! I was very happy to get back home to my Edge though :-)

I returned home for the CA Capital Airshow in Sacramento where we had crowds easily breaking the 100,000 mark! Not bad for a cloudy day. The clouds set in and cool us down from around 110 degrees to the high 70's. There was a bit of lightning off in the distance, even a little grass fire started by one bolt but the weather directly over the airport remained clear for most of the day and we were able to get through all of the aerobatic displays including me, the F-22, the Thunderbirds, Tim Webber, Tim Decker, Dan Buchanan, Kent Pietch, The Patriots and many more! I can't wait to return again next year!

After the show I was straight back to Europe to pick up the good little Extra from Germany to take to the Sanicole Airshow in Belgium. We had an amazing event there! I was happy to make it after waiting for a few days in the clouds before I was able to transport the plane to the show. Sanicole is a small airfield just West of Brussels. The Airshow was put on at the same time as the annual Tiger Meet. If you don't know anything about the Tiger Meet's I suggest googling it, they are amazing! From all different countries the military pilots with a Tiger in their badge get together to train and we had the privelage of having them at the show. For my first European airshow I was very impressed and I think that it will be a tough one to beat! I'll be back in 2011 for sure!

From Sanicole I headed to Budapest to meet with the Aviatrix Magazine people to discuss an event they are planning for next year. Every year Europe names a center of culture and Pecs, Hungary won that honor for 2010. To start off the festivities I will be performing a skydive and an aerobatic display for an all Women's Aviation Day at their local airport! I can't wait! Along with this event they will be launching the Aviatrix Magazine which they have asked me to be the face of! A lot of exciting things happening in Europe.

I'm finally back home after a canceled United Flight and I'm starting to prepare for Fleet Week in San Francisco this weekend. I hope to see some friends and fans out there!

Melissa