Melissa Aerobatics

The mission continues with Medicine on the Move..

2011-03-15T06:08:00.000-07:00

Fulani Education Center Meeting
After the completion of the Fulani school building (being called the Education Center) Matthew requested that all of the people meet under the roof one morning at 8 am. We of course arrived around 9:30 knowing that you should always tell people to arrive at least 1 hour before you actually want them to be there. When we arrived several of the men had gathered and the rest of the men, women and children quickly followed.

It was great to see that the men and children had been stripping the bark from the trees that were used as the supports for the building in order to preserve the wood. They also cleared the debris away from below the roof to make a nice floor. This shows that they are taking pride in the building are will hopefully continue to maintain it in the future.

The women were dressed in vibrant colors and sat quietly to one side and the children sat in a group together in the corner. Some of the older boys carried sticks across their shoulders in the same fashion that their fathers do when herding the cattle. The men were also well dressed and one elder in particular caught my eye. He was a good bit older than the others and had the face of a man who has experienced a lot in life and is full of wisdom. When he spoke, everyone listened. The men were the only ones to engage in the conversation as is customary.

Ghana is filled mostly with a Christian population and the Fulani are of Muslim belief. It happened that three ‘holy men’ were present who traveled from the North and came along to our meeting. In the end they approved of the education center and what it would be used for.

Matthew spoke English and Cindy (the school’s teacher employed by WAASPS) translated into Twi, the local language. They spoke about what the building would be used for including lessons for the children, educational materials and seminars for the women and men on health, nutrition and anything else.

One of the men asked if he could take his children out of their regular school to attend our classes and we explained that this was a learning center to be used as a stepping stone to the children who were not yet in school to learn what they need to in order to pass the school entry exams and that it is not a replacement to regular school. They will meet on Monday mornings and try to keep a sort of regular schedule. They will also pay a small fee per family so that they have a sense of contribution towards the classes and will need to have a level of responsibility.

Ghanaian ‘PUP’ License
Erin and I completed the remainder of our 5 hour conversion course and solo’s in the X-Air Falcon only one day before Fly Me Day! Jonathan completed our check rides and that night in the dark out by the picnic table Patricia presented us with our Ghanaian PUP Licenses! Erin’s was number 21 and mine was number 22. The numbers just happened to be the same days as each of our birthdays!

I feel very proud to be a part of the beginning of General Aviation in Ghana and I look forward to watching it grow under the watchful eyes of Jonathan and Patricia in the years to come.

Preparations for Fly Me Day
The girls had a lot of work to do leading up to Fly Me Day including re-fabricing the tail on one of the aircraft and having to use the parts from 2 rudders in order to make one complete one… and they did it!

We had a practice run the night before Fly Me Day where we did 2 rotations in the pattern. Jonathan briefed all of us on what our roles and responsibilities would be. We started with a girl in each plane with me, Patricia, Erin and Jonathan. On my first round I flew with Juliet! We landed in sequence, parked, shut down the engines and then went through the same procedure for switching passengers as we would the next day. On the second rotation me and Cindy flew together. It was a nice treat for everyone to get a flight in after all of their hard work.

Other Tasks around the Airfield
In addition to preparing the airplanes Matthew and Rex worked together with the girls to put together the new wind turbine. It is not completed yet but they did the wiring and were able to complete the main structure. The girls were able to learn about how the wind will generate power through the turbine to charge batteries.

They had an extra special treat when we all went for a tour of the Akosombo Dam with some of the students who came down for Fly Me Day and were able to stand above the massive turbine powered by the water.

The masons and Matthew also worked hard to clean up and place along with placing fencing and tents where the students would be between flights on the airfield and mowing the runway and surrounding areas.

They have also been working on the student and teacher accommodation and the mud hut where the wind turbine will be used in the M.O.M. garden. I am looking forward to seeing how the M.O.M. garden project will look when everything is completed! I will continue to post photos as things progress.

Fly Me Day
The big event that we have all been preparing for was finally here! The weather was looking a bit iffy but it held out for all of the childrens’ flights. We arrived and prepared the airplanes then went to meet the first group of children. We took a bit of time to introduce ourselves and talk to them about what we would be doing. Then we numbered each of them for their flights!

We started our engines and 5 hours later after 112 flights later we parked the 4 airplanes back in the hangar. The children ranged in ages from elementary school age to their last year of high school. We only had a few that kept their eyes closed and/or clung to the pilots arms where the majority of the children did very well on their first ever airplane rides!

Most of the kids would be quiet at first and as the flight progressed they would ask more and more questions about what they saw on the ground, how the plane was constructed and how the plane flew. I think that everyone had at least one child ask if they could come home with them and a few tell them that they were their new best friend!

We gave a ‘thumbs up’ to the kids who expressed an outstanding performance in questions, observations and overall enjoyment. These children were put through a series of fun trust tests and questions after the flying was completed and awarded prizes of t-shirts applause. The most exciting part was when Jonathan chose 7 girls who would return to the AvTech Academy to do 1 week in the workshop learning along side Patricia and the other girls. Hopefully a few of them will show enough potential and interest to be come AvTech students themselves.

Jonathan gave a speech to the students and teachers about maintaining the runways in their towns, ways to avoid Bilhartzia (LINK TO BILHARTIZIA INFO HERE) and aviation in general. Then he invited the students one group at a time to come and stand next to the pilot that they flew with. Our students told us ‘God bless you’ and ‘Thank you’ and we were given the opportunity to speak a few words of motivation to them.

I will never forget the looks on the students’ faces and the incredible experience of taking 23 children for their first flights in one day. I hope that they will be inspired to chase their dreams and encouraged to study hard in school so that one day they might sit at the controls to the same aircraft in which they took their first flight.

Documentary Progress

I am learning quickly that there is something called ‘African time.’ Rex put it in a great way in his last blog.. it is like a slow moving train, not in a hurry but steadily chugging along. A building that might take 2 days to build with your own crew may take 2 months using the local people in a village; but in long term it will make it last longer because they will take pride in what they have made. Interviews that we had hoped to get done in one day a week ago have turned into 1 interview every few days.. so we are learning to take things in stride and manage the time that we have as best we can to accomplish what we need to in order to make our documentary a success.

Rex and I have worked on laying out our story line and so far have excellent footage of the Avtech Academy and the airfield and have gotten a good chunk of the interviews completed. Our next step is to film Medicine on the Move operations, the heart of the WAASPS organization.

We are 2 weeks in with 2 weeks to go and have used much of our storage space already and to say that we are excited/anxious/etc. to get things completed would be an understatement. The girls are meant to prepare the float plane today so that we can take it into a village on the lake. Now that Fly me Day is over, Jonathan told us that his time will be more freed up to complete the things that we need for the film.

After 2 weeks I am counting every second to get into a village and see M.O.M. in action and to understand the reason for all that is going on here at Kpong Airfield. I know that it will have been worth the wait!

P.S. Kpong is pronounced Pong… I was corrected several times by the customs man at the airport ☺

First week in Ghana

2011-03-04T03:24:00.000-08:00

March 3, 2011
Melissa Pemberton
Kpong, Ghana

Our Arrival
As they opened the door to the airliner at Accra Airport in Ghana on Friday, February 25th Rex and I stepped into what felt like a wall of heat and humidity. We were in Africa! We quickly took off our extra layers of clothing from the trip over and made it through customs with all of our baggage to find Matthew waiting for us in the reception area. He loaded us into the van, rolled down the windows and we were off for the 1.5 hr drive to Kpong Airport. Along the way we got a glimpse of where we were. Expensive buildings and cars next to shacks and huts, a group of kids cooking a rat over a fire in the city next to an electronics shop, cars without headlights and even some without brakes driving on the roads and public transportation vans packed to overflowing with sweaty passengers. The clothes are anything from dirty rags to beautiful vibrant colors to business suits. There are billboards for the power companies and the dam (Ghana has the largest man made lake in the world and several dams for providing electricity) yet we drive through villages of mud huts and small homes with no electricity or running water and high tension power lines running 50 feet over their heads. How ironic.

When we arrived at the Medicine on the Move airfield we quickly realized that it is a sort of oasis from the surrounding areas. The green grass runways are kept beautifully trimmed and the buildings and hangars are well organized and clean. The children are in uniform and the men working on the M.O.M. housing are all wearing safety hats and boots (Not a common thing I gather). The people here have a lot of pride in their work and it shows.

Jonathan was at the airfield to greet us between his running around from thing to thing… another common occurrence here. There are so many things to do and not enough time or hands to do them. The girls were inside working on a writing assignment from Erin on helicopters. From day to day we see the ‘normal’ operations at Kpong field at the school, which range from the girls working on schoolwork, workshop (which is of course working on the airplanes) and flying lessons. Matthew works with the garden and the upkeep of the airfield as well as manages the men who are building the rooms across the field that will serve as housing for the students and teachers in the near future.

That afternoon we dropped the girls in downtown Kpong where people crowded the car trying to hawk anything from dried mango to trinkets through the windows and door and then proceeded to Jonathan and Matthew’s home where we would be staying for the duration of our trip. The meals have all been delicious and not short of spicy pepper in anyway!

First Flights & the Airfield
Erin and I each have had 2 lessons in the school planes since Rex and I have been here. I did one with Jonathan and the real treat was my second one with Patricia! She is calm and collected and very knowledgeable about everything flying. She is a great instructor and flying with her gave me great confidence in the future of their school. We did pattern work, stalls and a bit of orientation of the area. I was able to see the expanse of the lake, the town and the surrounding mountains. The weather here changes very drastically and I believe that the wind direction changed about 5 times in the course of our 1 hour lesson with clouds building from nothing to CB’s waiting to release their thunder and Jonathan is the only person around who is giving out any sort of weather observations or forecasts for the area. Having day VFR flights only, maps that aren’t quite accurate and minimal navigation facilities in the country you can see how they really are forging the start to General Aviation in Ghana. When you go on a cross country you cannot underestimate the importance of winds, navigation, weather and proper planning to get to where you want to go safely. Medicine on the Move are their own search and rescue.

Equipment is another hassle. We take for granted how simple it is to get parts and tools for aircraft maintenance in the ‘Western world’. After multiple trips over 5 months back and forth to customs and hundreds of dollars worth of fees, Matthew was finally able to pick up a shipment of parts for the tail section of ‘KT’, one of the school aircraft. Of course… all of the parts were not there and the girls and Jonathan have been improvising over the past few days to make it work. Hopefully by the end of today after months of waiting KT will be back in the air. Just to be sure that all of the resource are used; the girls are carefully removing the screws from the shipping box so that they do not go to waste.

At the beginning of each month there is a staff meeting at the airfield. At this particular meeting Rex, Erin and I were given the opportunity to give little presentations on who we are and what we do. Rex gave a wonderful motivational talk to the staff and we each emphasized on safety and teamwork. He also showed his Everest Summit video.

I was also given the opportunity to present the gifts of t-shirts, hats and other items, which were donated, from various people and organizations for our trip. The remaining items will be given out as prizes to the children on fly-me day this Saturday (when we give 100 village children rides in the airplanes), which we are all busy preparing for this Saturday.

I have seen the aerial photographs of the lakeshore that Jonathan and Patricia are taking from their plane and the shorelines are filled with little villages that have no roads or any way of accessing the outside world. The floatplanes will open up a sort of air highway to provide medical attention to millions of people who wouldn’t otherwise have it. The gravity of this problem really hit me through our next experience in the Fulani Camp.

The Fulani
We drive through the Fulani camp on the way to and from Jonathan’s house. We went there with Matthew to help to finish the building of their school. I quickly learned that when we go to ‘help’ we are really just observers because they are getting the men to do the work themselves so that they will feel the ownership and pride of what they are constructing. This gave me the opportunity to play with the children and for Rex to play with his cameras.

While the men completed the roof, Erin, Cindy and me worked on the ABC’s, 1,2,3’s and sang ‘our heads, our shoulders, our knees, our toes’ with the children under the shade of a nearby tree.

The thirst for knowledge is very apparent in the kids and they are like little sponges, soaking up everything that we have to teach. They speak their own Fulani language so it is important for them to learn English, the national language of Ghana.

The school building will double as a meeting area for the family and for educational materials on anything from how to administer medicine to nutrition.

One of the little girls in the camp has been battling a cut in her hand. It has become increasingly infected and after several trips to the hospital and several courses of antibiotics it was still in very bad condition. Matthew has been trying to explain to her parents that the wound needs to be kept clean and treated or else it could end up in permanent damage in the child’s hand.

We spent all of yesterday in the hospital having her hand x-rayed and treated. It turns out that the infection was so bad and the swelling so great that it broke the bones in the growth plate of her index finger. Asamau is only 4. Luckily, the doctors think it will heal because she is so young.

Because the parents don’t yet know how to do dosage we are stopping by the camp 3 times a day to check her wound and to administer her antibiotics. This is taking a lot of our time and causes a great deal of stress on the operation but it is important that it is done right so that the parents can see the results will save them money and heartache. You can see that they care a great deal for their children and it is only a lack of education that allows something as simple as a cut to turn into permanent damage and even loss of limbs… and this is for a tribe that lives only 10 minutes away from a hospital… I can only imagine what sorts of things are going on in the villages on the lake shore with no access to medical care.

Till next time!

Special thanks to Oregon Aero, Tempest, Women Fly and all of those who donated towards the gifts that we were able to bring to Medicine on the Move. They have brought and will continue to bring many smiles!

Melissa Pemberton

I'm going to Ghana!

2011-01-01T14:39:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone and Happy New Year!

In 2011, my airshow business Sportsgal22,llc. will be donating to an organization called 'Medicine on the Move' in Ghana, Africa. (http://www.medicineonthemove.org/)

Mission:
Medicine on the Move’s mission, to serve the people of western Africa, is two-fold and its approach to aid citizens is unique. Medicine on the Move is working to improve medical services in Africa by flying medical personnel to remote locations and by transporting ill and injured patients from remote locations to modern medical facilities.

What will we be doing?
I will be traveling to Ghana at the end of February for one month to take an active role in their mission. I will meet the people involved and help to take 100 local kids on their first flights! I will also do some flying for them in the field and participate in their medical efforts. M.o.M. is active in promoting women in the villages to learn to fly and I look forward to meeting a group of their students while I am there. I'm sure we will all have plenty to learn from each other!

Why I am blogging about this.
I am blogging about this to invite anyone to participate by donating towards our trip. I hope to raise enough for both Rex (my husband) and I to go so that he can film a mini-documentary on their efforts in Ghana which we would then share with people throughout our 2011 airshow season to encourage others to give as well. We will put any money raised towards our tickets to get there and home, towards several items for the people working there (gifts for the students) and the remaining directly towards Medicine on the Move and any needs that they might have.

We will keep a list of everyone who donates and will keep you informed on what we are doing during our trip to Ghana and everything that the donations are being used towards!

If part of your New Years resolution was to give a bit towards a worthy cause then I hope you will consider any level of contribution. Thank you!!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Or enter this into your browser:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=melissa%40sportsgal%2ecom&lc=US&item_name=Sportsgal22%2cllc%2e&no_note=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHostedGuest

Melissa Pemberton and Sportsgal.com

Some Photos of Ghana and M.o.M.

Ghana and Medicine on the move

The float plane in Ghana and some kids on the beach.

Capt. Yaw who first contacted me and a group of students in Ghana.

New Season

2010-12-28T17:18:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! I know I have A LOT of blogging to catch up on from last season and I promise to do some of it soon.. we continued the year to fly shows in Alaska, Canada, Belgium, Spain, Japan and as you know El Salvador! I have a lot of fun stories and photos to post when I get a spare few days this winter :)

To give a heads up on the potential schedule for 2011 here is a quick preview... Honduras, South Korea, Japan, Spain, Italy, Belgium, US and Canada!!

and the acts will include the usual in the Edge, Tinstix will be continued!!!! Wingsuit and Aerobatics has received a lot of interest and will hopefully be taken internationally this year and of course the new team up with Carol Pilon in her beautiful Stearman for the only all women's wingwalking routine!! Throw on your cowboy hats because it's a wild west theme that will blow you away ;) Rex picked up a new powered paraglider to tow our 1,000 sq ft flag behind too for those shows with fog and low clouds that keep the skydivers away!

Check back soon for more and HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

Comox & Snowbirds

2010-04-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

After a LONG wait for my engine and prop to come home after an exceptional overhaul and paint job at Ameritech in Redding it was time to fly off the 15 hours.... below 2000 feet and full power.... where better to go than Comox, BC to watch the Snowbirds final practice? Michael Town put in a tough couple of days getting the Edge back together and by early Thrusday afternoon she was ready to go!

I chose to fly up the west cost all the way to Vancouver island to where the Snowbirds were finishing their 3 weeks of training... check out my track from SPOT MESSENGER here:

My Flight Path

I had a later start than expected after my 4am wake up but the flight worked out perfectly! I went all the way up the coast of California, Oregon and Washington.... I cut inland to clear customs and cross the water to Vancouver Island!! The coastal hills were so green and the sunset over the mountains in Canada was breath-taking.... here are a few pics from my journey...

I stayed the night in Nanaimo, BC where I cleared customs.... very easy by the way... just a phone call to CANPASS after filing a flight plan and your EAPIS....JUST DON'T FORGET EAPIS!! I continued my journey from there up the coast to a little airpark just West of Nanaimo called Courtenay.... it was stunning!!! This airpark is full of float planes and sail boats and very cool bush planes that you would expect to see north of the border... I had a sporty landing trying to avoid the beautiful Ravins, Bald Eagles and Harings as I touched down between the trees and rolled out between Beavers, cubs on floats, sail boats and hangars... Check out the view from above:

I had a very cool parking spot too, check out my neighbor!! An extended cab Beaver!! Steam gauges and all :)

And now the fun begins.... yes the flight below 2K along the ocean and past beautiful mountains into Canada was fun... but me and 20 guys with fun jets.... even better!! I walked the few blocks to the hotel where everyone was staying and had some dinner and a few drinks with the gang.... Canadians are all so nice.... funny accents and all 'Eh?' haha. The next morning was to be their final 'Beach Show' where the public was invited to watch... I had the opportunity to stand front and center with Eric Willrich and Dan Rossi (the boys in red) to listen in to the radios! Needless to say you could tell that they had all been practicing every day for 3 weeks because everything was beautiful, crisp and nicely presented... the crowd loved it! The morning and afternoon were chilly with a bit of rain and clouds but as they would call it... we had a perfect 'Snowbird hole' at show time! I met the Snowbird's 'number 1 fan' Gordo who made the 'snowbird cut-outs' in the first picture of this blog and did a great job of introducing the team over the Mic to the crowd! The birds have a few new tricks up their sleeve for 2010 that I'm sure everyone will enjoy and I can't wait to see them again later this year in Janesville and a handful of other locations!! Oh and I'm pretty sure that Marc doesn't usually wear the 'very cool' stache in this pic hehe :)

And of course I can't forget to mention the last night pub outing.... I believe they called this the 'stale beer pub' though my beer wasn't stale at all haha. To get there we walked past the airpark where my Edge sat and I had the opportunity to show the entire team, including their General my Edge!! Happy looks quite happy sitting in it and I'm pretty sure that if I gave him the key he would have been flying in an instant :) It was a great time and a very cool opportunity to take part in their last evening celebrations and toasts and see what happens 'behind the scenes' of a jet team....

And now we are getting to the final leg of my journey!! After a good nights sleep I packed my bags and walked back to the airpark where the Edge waited for me.... looking at my watch thinking I'm running on perfect time I should have remember what my Grandma always says.... 'time to spare...go by air' and I was about to prove that true! The card reader on the fuel machine wouldn't read my card so I sat there trying...and trying... and trying.... no one was working because it was a Sunday (note to self....traveling on Sunday's through small towns is not the best idea if you are in a hurry)... finally a very nice man and his wife came over and offered to buy my fuel for me and I could send them a check later... what did I say, Canadians are so friendly!! As I was fueling the plane I saw 2 very cute little girls on the walking path looking over the path and seeing as someone had just done a nice thing for me I thought that I could do a nice thing for them so I invited them and their parents over to check out the Edge! The little girls took turns sitting in the plane and trying the controls and trying on my headset and I think that we might just have a few more women aviators on our hands in another 15 years! They even waited to watch me take off.... I love that part of aviation!

Once on my way I waved goodbye to Canada as I crossed the water and landed in Boeing Field to pass through customs...also a pain free process... looking at my watch again I thought that I was doing alright if I didn't run into too many more delays....

That being said my fuel pressure started acting up on me and jumping all over the chart so I landed as a precaution to check things out.... delay number 2!! After a bit of searching a sweet old man helped me to find a mechanic to take a look at things.... the fuel lines all seemed fine and nothing was leaking so it must have just been the gauge.... but everything happens for a reason I think and that kind mechanic just happened to have a troop of cub scouts out at the airport for a field trip that day! Good deeds should never go without another in return so I happily gave a tour of the Edge and let the scouts check out the cockpit one at a time and try on the headset..... who could resist those smiles??? Here they are :)

Next fuel stop in California..... I landed only to discover that no one was working and had to back track 10 miles to another airpark....where again.... no one was to be found..... luckily after about 45 min I was able to track down someone fueling a small airliner and they were able to fill me up. What did I say before? 'Time to spare...go by air...never time to be in a hurry!' I was able to make it home before sunset and the last leg went very smooth and the lighting on the coast and through the hills was magnificent.... Once back in Tracy I found that they had re-painted the parking lot in the few days I was gone and I was left with my very own parking spot hahaha, sorry guys!! Thinking that my journey was over I started the drive back....only to make a wrong turn and my 1.5 hr drive turned into a 3.5 good thing I was in the car by then!! It was in all an amazing trip and entirely worth every second of the journey :) After all... life is about the journey... isn't it? Safe flying to everyone and let the summer begin!!

Coming up next.... Airshow in Japan!!!

Ilopango Airshow in El Salvador

2010-02-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I got a call form Skip Stewart asking if I'd like to perform in a show in El Salvador...the first thing I had to do was google map where on earth that was! After some quick maintenance on the Edge to brush away the winter dust I took my first weather window out of Northern California, left our 12 feet of fresh snow behind and headed for the desert. I stopped in Arizona to visit friends and get a few practice flights and skydives in..and of course I had to take a walk to visit my property and my one cactus!

The next stop was Brownsville, Texas. Skip returned from a Fed EX work trip at 1 AM in Memphis and flew down to meet me the same day. We worked out the paperwork (we thought) and left the following morning for both of our first time crossing the Mexico border in private aircraft.

We quickly learned that while traveling through Mexico you can't be in a hurry...

3 hours for customs, 2 hours for fuel stops, file your flight plans, everyone with a stamp is a god, don't give them bills with pen marks or folded corners and most importantly...carry a lot of one dollar bills, they don't have change! It was a good thing that we traveled in a pair because small problems in the States are big problems in Mexico such as....

"we don't take visa"
"the volume on my radio won't turn up enough"
"the air in my tire is low..."
"we don't have change"
etc.

Several very important words we learned were...

Where is the bathroom?
More Red Wine please.
Solude (cheers)
We need crowd control.
...and don't take pictures of the guys with guns without asking first!

Stop is Terminado not Finito, hahaha. This would have come in handy when on the way home an airport attendant in Mexico was putting air in my tire and didn't stop when I asked...luckily Skip was carrying an extra tube!!!

Skip taught me 2 valuable lessons while we were traveling...never pass up a chance to eat, sleep or go to the bathroom!

Our journey took us down the East coast of Mexico, across the mountains and down the western coast of Guatemala and into El Salvador. Descending into El Salvador was incredible...we went from dry cool air up high and descended into what felt like a warm pool of water...we were in the tropics! Our last hour of flight took us between pluming volcanoes and over high crater lakes...this was a land like I've never seen before!

Upon arrival in Ilopango Skip and I were greeted first by our friend and fellow airshow pilot Greg Koontz. Greg has been flying this show for over 10 years and has gotten to know his way around pretty well. Several of the airshow officials greeted us with a bouquet of GORGEOUS tropical flowers!! I only wish I could have brought them home with me.

The people of El Salvador were incredibly welcoming and treated us like rock stars during our entire stay! We had a guy from Seattle as our helper while we were there named Craig...who we mistakenly called Greg for the first 2 days. He was too polite to correct us..without him I'm not sure what we would have done!

El Salvador time was once again, don't be in a hurry. They treated us to delicious meals each evening and I'm sure would have kept us out being entertained 24 hours a day if we didn't need to sleep! Our first dinner was up on a volcano where the owner of the restaurant personally served us.

The following day it was time to fly! Skip and I practiced our solos, Tinstix and the wingsuit skydive with him circling me. Greg was stuck waiting to find an airplane to fly...they had several lined up for him and finally the day before the show they allowed him to use a decathalon.

Leading up to show day I felt like we went back to the old barn storming days when a pilot would fly over the city to attract attention then land in a nearby field to give rides and aerobatic performances...we took a "parade" over San Salvador with nearly 20 aircraft following one after the other in order to call attention to the people and remind them where to be the next day!

Come show day we are all ready to go with plenty of water and sunblock...maybe not quite enough sun block!!

We had a few issues with crowd control and not being able to get to the fuel pumps so they had to park us on the taxi way and find fuel cans and hoses in order to transport the fuel to us....eventually it all came together and the show was a great success.

Skip and I had a blast flying Tinstix together and as usual his solo wowed everyone! Greg Koontz flew his comedy routine and his acro routine and showed us all what a Decathalon really can do! And of course I can't forget to mention the hardest working people at the show, Rich's Incredible Pyro...those guys are amazing!! And a special highlight to the day was the B1 formation fly-bye!

Check out a photo from one of our photo passes with some of Rich's Pyro! The are in they field working all day long, even long after we've all put the planes away and kicked back for a cold cervesa!

I had the unique oportunity if landing amongst the crowd from my wingsuit skydive where I was surrounded by people to the point that guards had to create a circle around me holding hands to push the people away...then they rushed me out of there on a dirt bike!! I felt like Brittany Spears, haha.

We had a special treat when the President of El Salvador came to view the show and personally requested to meet us! That was officially my first time ever meeting the president of a country and his family. His wife and child were lovely and thanked me for representing the women of their country...then he asked us to do a personal fly over for them! I love El Salvador!!

An well...I guess every great adventure has to come to an end at some point. After our 2 days of flying we had a great going away ceremony where they presented us with trophies for flying the show and made us feel so welcome in their country!

All that I can say is I can't wait to go back again!

Our trip home went relatively well...despite the not so great weather on the East coast of Mexico...Skip and I got stuck over night and decided to go out to dinner at a nice thatched roof restaurant where they hang bulls from the wine bottles...literally!

But we weren't quite brave enough to try the "cockroach to the garlic"....

Back in Brownsville we were EXTREMELY happy to have made it back to the States...that is until they told us that our manifest wasn't in their files and we were each going to owe them a $5,000. fine! (Remember in the beginning when I said that "we thought" we filed our paperwork??) Anyway, after several hours of searching, Skip found a copy of the manifest that we filed and saved us both handing over our pay-checks!! We ended up having to sit in weather for a few days, Skip was able to jump seat home and passed the time watching Avatar 3D and window shopping at the mall across the street...by the way, have you SEEN the super cool new 3D glasses???

What an adventure...and we even met Santa Claus!! Did you know he's from Iceland??

CYA next time :)

Melissa Pemberton
www.sportsgal.com

African Bush Flying Course

2009-12-12T13:40:00.000-08:00

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO PREVIEW:
http://www.bush-air.com/
I received an email from a guy named Eric asking if I'd like to travel to Africa with him and his crew to be a student in CC Pocock's BUSH AIR flying course....what a dream come true! The reason that I became involved in aviation was because I always hoped to become a bush pilot one day...this was my first opportunity to chase that dream since I became involved in Aviation! I used to train with Rolf Engelhard in Prescott, AZ training to land in the desert and fly in the mountains...now I could take that dream to the next level!

My trip to Africa started out with meeting Eric and Dennis, the camera men who invited me take part in creating a television show on a bush pilot named CC Pocock. CC spends his days teaching pilots how to fly in the lower (slow) edge of their aircraft's envelope and teaching them how to land and take off from seemingly impossible landing areas in the wild African bush! CC is also involved in a vehicle hijacking and theft program where he chases down stolen cars from the air!

Upon arrival in Johannesburg we drove late into the night to make our way to CC's home...needless to say, driving at night through South Africa may have been the most exciting portion of our trek! There are plenty of cars with no headlights or tail lights driving along un-marked roads with no street lights or reflectors! There was a stunning lightning storm going into the night creating an absolutely amazing light show in the distant African sky!

At CC's home we drove up his dirt driveway that we were lucky to get down without a 4WD!! We saw several monkeys running playfully in front of us and looking curiously at the 4 strangers driving along "their" road. Along one side of us there was a jungle of beautiful trees and bushes filled with colorful birds and wild animals...along our other side was a tall electric fence built by CC to keep wild animals and un-expected guests off of the runway. The gates were open for us (don't worry, we locked them behind us) and we were greeted by CC in his pj's on the front porch.

CC's home is amazing...it is the pilot's ultimate dream! Located in the Barberton Vally of South Africa, surrounded by beautiful mountains and not far from the famous Kruger National Park (Game Range) CC built his home with a wrap around deck, hot tub looking out on his creek that he dammed up for water and bar/kitchen filled with old African artifacts. The bedrooms are overlooking his hangar and airplane which then looks out to his private grass strip airfield...everything that a pilot could ever dream! CC built 2 extra bed rooms and a bathroom before our arrival so that we would have a place to stay...now that is SERIOUSLY good customer service! Oh, and did I mention what an amazing cook CC is??? He love's to BBQ! Look at that fire :)

Flying with CC in South Africa was a great experience! We flew through the mountains surrounding the Barberton Valley in South Africa and landed in remote mountain strips and dirt roads in the African bush. Our first mountain landing brought some real excitement when a thunderstorm came in from behind the hills on a one way in, one way out landing and changed our wind direction. We took off and used everything we could to climb out and get home quickly and safely. CC's aircraft that we flew in is appropriately named "Bush Air 1" and is a heavily modified Cessna 172 (go figure!)

At one point during the trip we did a re-enactment of a car hijacking in which CC chased down the car head on with his Cessna while a helicopter helped to round them up. The guys in the car had guns shooting at CC from the ground!! The re-enactment was a lot of fun, we chased down the cars with the planes and in the process accidentally scared a few actual thieves out of the bush who were steeling copper wire! I guess that the cars with guns and sirens and helicopters over head made them think the were getting busted!

I also got to go for a sky dive out of CC's Bush Air 1 and check out a crocadile farm!! Each morning I went for a run up and down the runway (that is unless we were starting flying at 4am) and found a scorpion!!

All in all it was an extremely fun experience and it was good to know that the skills that we were practicing could be put to use in an emergency situation where everyone (including the airplane) could go home safely at the end of the day...just a little sun burned! I highly suggest CC's Bush Air school in South Africa to anyone interested in either Bush Flying or advancing your skills to become a safer and more competent pilot in the face of emergency situations. Not to mention we made a bunch of great new friends!!

When Denis and Eric put together the show on our trip I will try to post it so that everyone can see video of our great adventure!!

CYA next time,

Melissa Pemberton
Scroll down to see more scenic shots of the crocodile canyon, elephants from above and more pics from Africa!!
P.S. You will have to ask CC what his nick name stands for if you want to know!

LOOK CLOSE FOR THE ELEPHANTS IN THE LAST ONE!!

Bush Flying in Africa

2009-11-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

We just had a beautiful Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh, PA with my family and I am getting ready to leave for South Africa this afternoon. I will be flying with 'CC' (http://www.bushair.co.za/school.htm) and filming a pilot for a new TV show. We will have a video to post when we get back home! Air safari's, off field landings and more! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

WAC, Europe shows, Ca Capital and Fleet Week

2009-10-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

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

World Aerobatic Championships

2009-08-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

The World Aerobatic Championships are held every two years and bring together the best aerobatic pilots in the world. The Championships last 10 days as pilots battle it out for the top titles in air sport. Silverstone Circuit in Britain will host the 25th FAI World Aerobatic Championship in 2009

The Championships include two separate competitions, the Technical Championship and the Freestyle Championship.

Technical Championship

The first is called the 'Technical' contest and involves flying a series of aerobatic figures as accurately as possible, the emphasis is on precision and to win this contest a pilot has to fly very complex aerobatic manoeuvres better than any of the other pilots. There are up to four 'rounds' in this contest, so most pilots will fly four aerobatic sequences during the contest. In each sequence the individual figures flown are geometrically defined and drawn from the internationally agreed Aresti Catalogue system.

Qualification Round: Known Programme

All pilots fly the same sequence and will have practiced flying the sequence before the contest. Pilots have to fly the sequence of figures accurately, in the correct order, in the specified direction, in a small area of sky and without stopping! A safe flight in this round qualifies the pilot to participate in the remainder of the competition, but this round does not count towards the final result. The World Championship is a very difficult contest, so pilots have to prove that they are good enough to fly in the contest!

Round 1: Free Programme

In the 'Free' programme each pilot flies a sequence that (s)he has composed him/herself. The manoeuvres flown must demonstrate a high level of technical difficulty and a wide variety of flying techniques. The Free programmes are designed by each pilot to suite his/her own preferences and the capabilities of their specific aircraft type.

Round 2 and 3: Unknown Programmes

Each pilot will then fly two 'Unknown' sequences. These 'unknowns' are composed from figures submitted by the competing countries and are flown without practice. Each nation will try to fox the others' pilots by choosing figures difficult to fly well at the first attempt. The Unknowns are a severe test of pilot skill and the Championship can easily be lost if a pilot executes just one figure incorrectly.

The two 'Unknown' sequences, revealed to contestants only when the previous sequences have been completed, will often be very complex and each pilot's ability to execute these requirements without practice will determine how well (s)he scores.

At every contest, pilots can be observed with hands in the air, walking backwards, or holding an imaginary stick, studying a piece of paper and making sudden turns reminiscent of a ballet dancer. This is known as 'walking the sequence' and is a vital part of the pre-flight mental rehearsal they must make if they are to succeed.

Pilots can win individual medals, or team medals. Countries need three pilots in the competition to be counted towards the team results. Aerobatics is unusual in the world of sport, because men and women compete equally in the battle to win the world title the overall winner of the Technical Championship is called the World Aerobatic Champion, a title that could be won by a man or a woman.

The Freestyle Championship

This flight is much more like airshow flying each flight is very different and flown with smoke and music. The pilots invent their own display sequences that last between 3½ and 4 minutes, using any combination of manoeuvres - anything goes! The only limit is the pilot's skill and imagination. Each performance is judged for technical and artistic merit.

It is a tremendously exciting programme to watch, with aircraft gyrating and tumbling in ways that seem quite impossible to the spectator.

Programme of Events for 2009

2009-08-19T10:07:00.000-07:00

20th-28th August Classic Contest Flights. Flying between 0900 and 2000 depending on weather.

Saturday 29th August Freestyle Championship Flights. Airshow and Closing Ceremony. 1300 to 2000 depending on weather.

Sunday 30th August Departures Only

Monday 17th August Judging teams arrive Tuesday 18th August CIVA Judging School Arrivals & Practice Jury Meeting (pm) Teams arrive & register. No landings at Silverstone before 0900 on 18th.

All contest officials to be on site on the 18th. These two days will be used to test the contest systems (judging set-up, video, scoring and aeroplane tracking system).

Wednesday 19th August Arrivals & Practice

Judges Briefing (am) 1700 Main Briefing at Silverstone 2000 Opening ceremony at the Hotel

20th August - 28th August Flying days for Programmes Q, 1, 2 and 3

Daily Briefing 0800

Flying between 0900 and 1830 Saturday 29th August Programme 4

End of flying at 1700 (estimated) Contest Dinner and Closing Ceremony at 20000 Sunday 30th August Departures only All departures by 1100

A NOTE FROM MELISSA

2009-08-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to Melissa Aerobatics!

Melissa's air show routine is a high energy and action packed display of Unlimited Aerobatics in the Edge540 Aircraft. The show will give your audience everything from the thrill of gyroscopic maneuvers to the extremely complex and technical maneuvers learned through competition. Melissa believes that mastering the skills of both competition and air shows will make her the most skilled and safe pilot that she can be. You will be provided with a full and entertaining display for every type of audience.

Melissa views each venue as a new palate where she can create a beautiful painting in the sky to please the eyes, ears and imaginations of all. As a young female in aerobatics, Melissa attracts the harder to reach audiences. The younger viewers can relate to her and be encouraged to pursue their own dreams of aviation!

"Melissa is a very impressive (and attractive) young lady! She puts on a great show too!"
~Spectator Fleet Week 2008

The Audience is the most important part of any show and our goal is to leave them wanting to come back for more next year!

Thank you for considering our show. Melissa Aerobatics is based in San Francisco, California. Any show within' 300 nautical miles is considered to be local and I will not charge any travel fees. Please visit the ICAS website and view our profile to download contracts and more.

We hope that Melissa Aerobatics is right for you!