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Vicky Benzing
Born and raised in California, Vicky Benzing has logged over 4600 hours of flight time. Her passion for flying started as a youngster while watching her uncle fly air shows in his Pitts Special and flying with him in his Cessna 180.
While in college, she learned to fly in her hometown of Watsonville in an antique taildragger. As a student pilot, Vicky learned to spin and roll the small Taylorcraft that she learned to fly in. After getting her private pilot license she went on to take aerobatic training from Amelia Reid, the legendary flight instructor who also taught Sean Tucker. Her aerobatic ambitions were put on hold for a time while she completed her PhD in Chemistry and pursued a career in the semiconductor industry. Since then she has earned her commercial helicopter and Airline Transport Pilot Ratings. She flies as a captain on her company's Gulfstream 100 when she is not busy as a patent executive.
In 2005, her interests in aerobatics were rekindled when she flew with air show legend Wayne Handley. Following that flight, she bought the Extra 300 that she is flying and began training in earnest. A student of Wayne's, Vicky now competes in aerobatic competitions through the International Aerobatic Club. In 2006 she won first place in the Intermediate category in both the Northwest Regional Championships (Oregon, Washington, Idaho) and the Southwest Regional Championships (California, Nevada, and Arizona), as well as winning numerous regional contests. She now competes in the Advanced category and won third place last year in the 2008 Northwest Regional Championships.
Vicky has a passion for everything airborne. In addition to flying, Vicky has also logged nearly 1100 parachute jumps and has competed in local, statewide, and national skydiving championships.
Vicky's airplane is a highly modified German-built midwing Extra 300. Powered by a Lycon customized experimental AEIO540 engine with a Lightspeed electronic ignition, and an experimental large diameter MT propeller, this aircraft is truly one of a kind. The Composites Unlimited wing with full-span ailerons provides a dizzying roll rate of over 420 degrees per second and because the ailerons extend all the way to the fuselage, the aircraft will continue to roll even at very low airspeeds.
Vicky is sponsored by Festo Corporation, a leading global manufacturer of pneumatic and electromechanical components and controls for the industrial automation market.
More information about Vicky Benzing.
Bill Stein
Bill Stein has logged over 3,500 hours of aerobatic and formation flight. Bill began flying aerobatics when he was still a student pilot and has been dedicated to perfecting his skills ever since. Since 1995 Bill has performed at air shows all across the United States and has entertained millions air show fans.
Bill's passion for precision flying is evident in his dazzling air show routine. He trains every day so that his skills stay razor sharp, and to maintain the all-out energy and excitement he puts into his air show sequence. Bill's experience includes competitive aerobatics and years of flying on the world famous Red Baron Stearman Squadron. Bill also gives back to the air show community by mentoring new air show pilots including coaching the "Stars of Tomorrow" team which have performed at many prestigious air shows including the EAA AirVenture Air Show.
Bill carries a Commercial Pilot Certificate with airplane multi-engine and single-engine instrument ratings. He has flown air shows in the Pitts Special, Globe Swift, Boeing Stearman, and in his current airplane: The state-of-the-art Zivko Edge 540.
Bill Stein Airshows Brochure
www.billsteinairshows.com
VFA-122 Super Hornet
Air shows are the best place to see a VFA-122 Super Hornet in action. The Tactical Demonstration, or "Tac Demo" team flies a two-seat F/A-18F as close to the the "edge of the envelope" as safety and prudence allows. The routine highlights the Rhino's maneuverability and slow-speed handling characteristics and has been very well received around the country.
In addition to high-performance demonstrations with a single aircraft, VFA-122 also participates in "Legacy" shows in which Super Hornets fly in formation with classic warbirds like the F-4U Corsair and F6F Hellcat. Legacy shows provide a unique comparison between where the past and present and provide some great photo opportunities.
John Collver
John Collver has an aviation career spanning more than three decades and over 14,000 hours of flight time in over 50 types of aircraft. His career includes time in the Goodyear Blimp, flying for television, as well as teaching and competing in the aerobatic arena. John currently has over 26 years and over 1,000 performances in the Air Show industry. In addition, John formally flew for the Northrop/Grumman corporation supporting the U.S. Military for over a decade.
War Dog was built in Texas in 1944. First stationed at MCAS El Toro, then six months later transferred to Miramar Air Station. Several years and numerous duty stations later, she was retired from the US Armed Forces. Her next duty assignment was with the Japanese Self-defense Force until 1974.
Due to be scrapped, as was the demise of many World War II warbirds, it was at this time War Dog was discovered and saved by Warbirds West in Compton, California. They sent her back to the states where she was completely rebuilt to its original condition. It was at this time John became her new owner.
War Dog's operational costs plus the numerous items related to ownership of a genuine warbird are constantly increasing. John estimates that War Dog's operating cost in the beginning was approximately $400.00 per hour. Today increased fuel prices, maintenance, parts and insurance are well beyond that. When you look at War Dog's logbook you can understand the operating cost increase. She has over 10,000 hours on her airframe and nine Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial engine replacements or overhauls by 1997. She is a tough airplane that still has plenty of flight hours left thanks to the meticulously detailed maintenance John regularly performs.
www.wardog-17.com/
Garth Harley
Garth Harley is a local physician who has been skydiving since 1992 and has logged over 3,000 jumps. He is a tandem instructor at Skydive Monterey Bay and a two time veteran of the World Team of skydivers, which set new world records for largest freefall formation in 2004 and 2006, with 357 and 400 persons respectively linked together. Garth is also a Commercial Pilot and often fills in at Skydive Monterey Bay flying their Beechcraft King Air 200 jump aircraft.
Wayne Wright
Wayne Wright is a local area businessman and private pilot who makes the Watsonville airport his "home field." A licensed pilot for over 30 years, Wayne began skydiving only 5 years ago. In addition to flying his wingsuit for "sport and relaxation," Wayne is also a tandem instructor at Skydive Monterey Bay in Marina where enjoys sharing the thrill of skydiving with many first time jumpers.
Eddie Andreini
Eddie Andreini is a heavy equipment contractor in Half Moon Bay. He flies all types of aircraft including the famed P-51 Mustang and many other warbirds, trainers and experimental airplanes. Eddie purchased a 1944 PJ-13D Boeing Stearman designed as a WWII trainer and completely restored it in to a beautiful and highly modified show stopper.
Watch Eddie turn and twist airplanes into unbelievable aerobatic maneuvers. He performs over 30 different aerobatic maneuvers in a 15 minute show.
He is the only pilot currently performing many of these maneuvers in the Stearman. Each season, Eddie has performed before over one-million people over the 30-plus years that he has been performing at air shows and coming to the Watsonville Fly-In & Air Show.
www.eddieandreiniairshows.com
Tim Decker
Ranked among the top air show performers in the nation, retired U.S. Air Force pilot Tim Decker will thrill the crowd with an exciting display of patriotism in his legendary Pitts S-2B stunt plane when he returns to the annual Watsonville Fly-In and Air Show on May 22 - 24. Tim"s trademark performance will feature precision aerial maneuvers with exciting cockpit narration as he imposes G-forces on his body like those felt in a fighter jet.
Tim Decker is a professional pilot who has logged over 5,000 hours in both military and civilian aircraft. He gained most of his flying experience in the U.S. Air Force piloting the U-2 Spy Plane,
F-117 Stealth Fighter and T-38 Talon. However, flying high-tech military jets wasn't enough for Tim. Throughout his military career, he proudly owned airplanes including a RV-4 experimental sport airplane and his prized Pitts S-2B aerobatic biplane, furthering his love of flying.
Tim"s passion for flying started in elementary school while watching airplanes take off and land at the Cleveland Hopkins Airport near his family home. One day he asked his dad, "Who flies those planes?" "Pilots do," his dad replied. "Do they get paid to do that?" he asked, and after learning that it was possible to make a living flying, Tim set his sights on becoming a professional pilot.
Tim started taking flying lessons right after high school using money earned from teaching swim lessons and summer lifeguarding jobs. His desire to fly was so strong that he resisted buying a first car, instead pouring every dollar earned into flying lessons during the summers. Tim's resolve paid off during his second year of college at Ohio State University when he earned his private pilot license.
Tim was commissioned in the U.S. Air Force following four years of ROTC, and then attended pilot training at Vance Air Force Base (AFB) in Enid, Oklahoma. Following pilot training, Tim was assigned as an instructor pilot at Vance AFB in Oklahoma. Next, he moved to Edwards AFB, California where he flew the C-141 Starlifter and was the officer in charge of the Air Force Test Parachute Program. Tim continued to excel and was selected for the U-2 program at Beale AFB, California. Still soaring higher, he transferred to Holloman AFB, New Mexico to fly the F-117 Stealth Fighter. Tim returned to Beale AFB to fly the U-2 again in 2004.
2009 marks Tim Decker's fifth season of flying aerobatics in air shows including a one-season break to serve in the Persian Gulf area. Tim spent 12 months as a U-2 squadron commander where he and his squadron flew daily missions over Iraq and Afghanistan from 2006 - 2007. Tim retired from the Air Force in February 2009 after an incredible 20 year career flying some of the world's most advanced military jets. Now Tim aces the air show circuit in a beautiful red and white Pitts Special biplane! You can watch Tim fly Memorial Day Weekend at the Watsonville Fly-In and Air Show.
AV-8B Harrier
A Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier from MAG 13 stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma will appear at the fly-in.
Jessy Panzer
Jessy started flying in 1997 at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, AZ, the country's premier aviation University. Jessy's passion for flight runs in her genes, her father was a corporate pilot, but died in a plane crash when she was 7 yrs old. After school, Jessy worked her way up through the many levels of professional aviating, including flight instructing U.S. Air Force Academy graduates, in Colorado Springs, to flying Air Ambulance and charter flights in King Air's and Citation Jets out of Lincoln, NE. While in Lincoln, Harry Barr gave Jessy the opportunity to learn aerobatics for competitions and airshows. Preparation met opportunity when in 2005, Jessy was invited to be mentored by Sean D. Tucker, Bill Stein, and Wayne Handley on the "Stars of Tomorrow" aerobatic flight team. While on the "SOT" 2005 team, Jessy got experience flying air shows such as Pittsburg, PA, Dayton, OH, and the largest airshow in the world, EAA's Airventure in Oshkosh, WI.
Currently, Jessy is a corporate pilot for Fry's Electronics based out of San Jose, CA, where she flies a King Air-350 turbo-prop, a Sabreliner, and Gulfstream jets. Jessy is an ATP pilotwith over 4500 hours of flight time, holding 4 type ratings including Lear Jets, and also a Certified flight instructor in airplanes, helicopters, and seaplanes.
Jessy will be flying her Pitts Special bi-plane based at the Watsonville airport, and has been vigorously training for the Watsonville Air Show, with Bill Stein as her mentor and coach.
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