Once you start living you won’t be able to stop!
Yes that’s me on the top wing of a biplane.
Yes I climbed out of the cockpit at 4000 ft and strapped myself in.
Yes we flew upside-down.
Yes I was scared as hell.
Yes I’d do it again!
What is wingwalking? Wingwalking is the act of moving along the wings of a biplane during flight.
Now that I’ve answered all of your questions let me fill you in about this experience. Wingwalking is something that I’ve been wanting to do for some time now but to be honest with you I was scared. I just couldn’t see myself climbing out of a plane and onto the top wing yet I continued to look at YouTube videos constantly. I knew deep down inside that I could do it but my mind always played tricks on me. Eventually I decided that I could no longer sit behind the computer and study these videos and I had to conquer this fear and just do it.
I called the Mason Wing Walking Academy in Sequim, Washington to scheduled an introductory course. I booked the flight, hotel, and rental car and that’s when it hit me. OMG, this is really about to happen!
Sequim, Washington is about 2 hours and 10 minutes from Seattle and the scenic drives gives you a lot of time to think about what is about to happen. I showed up early of course and Marilyn greeted me with a smile on her face. Shortly thereafter 3 others showed up and we began the course. The introductory course and instruction was about 4 hours. During this time you will go over every movement that is necessary to wingwalk and you will repeat this process until you are comfortable. My anxiety calmed down just a little bit once I got the movements down and Marilyn kept assuring me that I’d be ok. Around 1 pm the practice session was over and it was time to put what we had learned to use.
I was third to fly and I was ready but I was thinking like ” I am about to climb out of a moving plane.” I climbed into the front seat of the biplane and Mike the pilot was in the back. Before you knew it we were in the sky and it was time to climb out. I literally talked to myself the whole time! I had to be my biggest cheerleader. When I stood up the wind slapped me in the face and I started to second guess this whole situation but I didn’t come here to fail. I got myself together real quick and put into motion the practice steps from earlier. We flew around and did aerobatic loops and I was just in disbelief that I was actually here doing this. Afterwards I was given the ok to unstrap and get back into the cockpit and I did just that! Let’s just say that I’m one bad woman. This experience has taught me that I can overcome anything and do anything. Don’t let anyone put you in a box and tell you what you can’t do. All things are possible.
Marilyn and Mike Mason were simply the best and made everything worth it. This is definitely a bucketlist item you should check off your list. Visit the website below for more details.
http://www.masonwingwalking.com
Bucket List Brandy 