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Debbie Gary

Freelance writer Debbie Gary is a former Bede Jet Team pilot who still gets a thrill out of airshows.

Holly Ridings in her element, the Blue Flight Control Room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The first woman to be Chief Flight Director, she may preside over the mission that sends the first woman to the moon.

Meet The Woman Who Will Direct the Next Moon Landing

As Holly Ridings takes the helm of Houston’s famed Mission Control center, another glass ceiling breaks.

Above Oshkosh in 2015, Tucker shows off a hallmark of his performances: exuberance.

The Inimitable Sean D. Tucker

In 1,300 performances over 42 years, one airshow star flew above the rest.

Ahead of the Cessna parked at Central Idaho’s Badley Ranch airstrip, the peaceful canyon doesn’t reflect the difficulty of takeoff and landing here. The strip climbs from a 10- to a 17-degree slope.

Flying the Mail in Remote Idaho

Neither tight canyons, nor wildlife on runways…The postman’s creed is slightly different for pilots delivering mail in the mountains.

Bede jets fly again! A-10 Air National Guard pilot Justin Lewis (opposite, top) zooms at last year’s EAA AirVenture.

The Thrill of Flying the World’s Smallest Jet

Jim Bede and the 1975 BD-5 Jet Team

Pilot Greg Koontz (standing) flies an act that depends on the help of his Alabama Boys, Fred Masterson, Jason Hankins, and Walter Harvey (left to right, atop their mobile runway with Koontz’s Piper J-3 Cub).

Meet the Grunts

Behind the scenes, they make airshow stars shine.

Patty Wagstaff’s latest mission: use the discipline of aerobatics to combat the chaos of California wildfires (photo-composite).

Patty Wagstaff’s Second Act

An airshow superstar adds firefighting to her repertoire.

John Mohr shows what sets him apart from the rest.

Barnstorming in the Blood

One of the world’s most inventive pilots makes everything old look new again.

Dale Snodgrass is known as a virtuoso of the F-14 (left, with squadron ops officer Dirk Hebert at right, in 1990).

The Real Top Gun

Nobody handled a Tomcat like Snort

Bob Hoover, center, enjoying a day at the Oshkosh airshow with two other legends, Chuck Yeager, left, and Clarence "Bud" Anderson.

Simply the Best

Is there an airshow fan alive who doesn’t know the legendary Bob Hoover?

Head games: Fierce concentration is what keeps airshow pilot Greg Poe from knocking his noggin during a low inverted pass. With equal focus, Poe and other aerobatic pilots control their aircraft even during the most chaotic tumbles.

Tumbling with the Stars

Today’s airshow performers do it gyroscopically.

Peggy Krainz and pilot David Potuznik go for a spin over Gmunden, Austria. Krainz is also a general aviation flight instructor and plans to train wingwalkers.

My Wingwalker

If you think it’s nerve-wracking on the wing, try being the one in the cockpit.