Warbird Information Exchange

Read on todays AvWeb that her and a couple of friends were leaving some dinner last night and stopped to look at some airplane and got into it with some cops and have been charged with being in a area that they were not to be in.

I'm wondering if the airplane they stopped to check out was some mil aircraft like the F22 or something like that.

No one at Oskosh seems to want to talk about it much.

I saw that to what's up

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Don't touch my junk!!

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=2532b306-f237-43fd-854f-24399fe588cb

Airshow Pilot Runs Afoul Of Oshkosh Airshow Security

Sat, 02 Aug '08
"Embarassing" Airport Transgression By Patty Wagstaff

Normally when one hears about skirmishes with security at a fly-in or an airshow -- at least here at ANN HQ -- we tend to think about the ongoing soap opera involving Sun 'N Fun and Jim Campbell... but this time the story is a mite different, and a mite perplexing.

Accomplished aerobatic performance pilot and air show veteran Patty Wagstaff tells ANN she had an altercation at Oshkosh 2008 while attempting to get back from the "Gathering of Eagles" dinner Thursday evening, en route to the nearby Hilton, using interior airport access. It was late at night, somewhere North of 2230, and Patty (in the company of at least three other persons) apparently got off-kilter on the grounds of Wittman Field and got the rapt attention of Oshkosh airport/airshow security.

The situation went downhill from there -- during a week in which the tenor of some aspects of the security apparatus at Wittman Field has been characterized as "less than friendly."

Patty freely admits that she was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" and is horribly embarrassed at what transpired. Security "busted" her for being in an unauthorized area on the airport grounds, and the matter somehow escalated into an "uncomfortable" situation which required the attention of the Winnebago County Sheriff to resolve... and some three hours of their collective time.

This has led to an equally uncomfortable series of rumors and such -- which will need to be resolved by future judgments by local authorities. Wagstaff's scheduled performance during Friday's air show at Oshkosh was scrubbed; she was not scheduled to perform Saturday, though her Extra 300 was on the flight line (shown below.)

Wagstaff spoke to ANN, Saturday, and explained that she was "horribly upset at the misunderstanding that occurred," but also added that she was pretty unhappy with the escalation from local airshow security to the Sheriff. Once again, though, she noted that she certainly regretted any "implications in which EAA people or anyone else did anything less than upstanding..."

Since the matter will be reviewed shortly by local authorities, Wagstaff was constrained from specific comment about particular issues, but assured ANN that she remained "terribly sorry about what happened," pointedly adding that she was "absolutely not impaired."

Wagstaff says she looks forward to the review of her airport transgression so that the issue may be put behind her. The next time she drives about Wittman Field, however, Patty may prefer to take her directions from the Tower.

More info to follow.

..dont fly too close to the sun...you are too special for that

aero-news reports...........blah-blah-blah
That said nothing at all

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Don't touch my junk!!

Awright guys...keep a tight lid on all this please.

Although I'm not at liberty to go into great detail, Patty was part of an elaborate distraction of airport security for a small but elite force of WIX recruitment commandos...



News at eleven

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

I can honestly say this whole thing got ugly and that is as far as I will go.

As a part of the night Warbird Security crew I want people to know we are a very nice bunch of people who unfortunately have one member of our team who can take things a little too far giving the overall group a bad name. He is an outside hire who is paid while the rest of us are volunteers.

As for the rest of the grounds, I found the EAA Security on their scooters to be very unpleasant. I got hollered at for trying to take a picture of the Dreamlifter one night and last night they came into Warbirds and when they were asked to leave they threw a fit. Warbirds has their own security that EAA has no part of and they didn't belong in our area, period.

Unless you're out there every night it's hard to understand all this. We are volunteers doing a job and will accomodate pretty much any situation we can.

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-Al Sauer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spookythecat

I think that maybe Patty was looking to take "Old Crow" or "Impatient Virgin" for a flight, since she had such a good time in "Princess Elizabeth" last year! You'd think these warbird people would realize that she's come over from the dark side of "composite acro" aircraft!

Rich

Al- I saw that EAA security guy, he wasn't very pleasant, but I must say that I had very good experiences this trip with EAA and Warbirds security.

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

How did she distract them? By taking off her clothes?!

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Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

I wondered about the security at Airventure. It is the first time I can remember a bunch of people carrying guns. I wonder if they have gotten some sort of threats or inside information of threats that aren't made public. I hope it is not just that some outside for hire security company has sold EAA on the idea that people should be treated rudely until proven innocent and not the other way around.
I was down at the ultralights and the tram brought a group of critically ill kids, Make A Wish, families down to go for rides. This was great, but they had two armed narcs with them. Unless there is something we don't know it seems out of place, and a bad example for the kids. The Oshkosh show is one place I have always thought was essenttialy crime free, and armed goons weren't needed. It will be a shame if we have gotten to that point as a society.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Bill;

I have no idea what happened at Oshkosh, but I share a flight safety workgroup with Patty. I have found her to be totally a friendly and decent person completely devoted to flight safety and her profession.
I would be absolutely AMAZED if Patty instigated anything out of line anywhere without being seriously provoked.

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Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship

In a twist on an F. Scott Fitzgerald line, folks like Patty Wagstaff, in our aviation world, are different, and deserve a little 'consideration' in small(?) matters like this, IMHO. What, was she breaking into an F-22 or something?

Wade

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Website: http://www.wademeyersart.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Wade.Meyers.Studios

Patty can definitely be an instigator....with her FRIENDS and with a smile. Aside from that, she's one of the most professional and considerate persons I've known.

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

Maybe,
She was just trying to "One Up" Freddy Cabanas after his thing at Geneseo?

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"Hindsight is usually 20% off!"

i'm not trying to be a gossip monger..... but i've read more than 1 instance where ms. wagstaff was kind of uppity, but i have no concrete evidence to back it up. movie stars, aviation celebs, pro jockstrap atheletes etc, need to remember that we all put our pants on 1 leg at a time, & all of our cocka doody stinks the same....... right down to dubya or the queen of england.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!