Oklahoma City Chapter 59 – Currently inactive
The Oklahoma City chapter of the IAC was incorporated in the late 70’s. The pilots grouped together for fun and to go to competitions. The chapter has fostered several great aerobatic pilots. To mention a few :
– OKC – Top Ranking Intermediate Pilot. US National Champion Intermediate in 1994. Bill is also an IAC Judge. He currently few a one of kind Acrostar 330. This is a modified Rebel fuselage with a Zivko/Edge wing, and a 6 cylinder Lycoming. Bill is retired from aerobatics.
– OKC – Longtime chapter member. Bill flew Advanced and Intermediate mostly in Pitts. Bill is an active judge in the IAC and frequently judges the Nationals. He is a mentor for most of the pilots.
– OKC – Tom was one of the most popular pilots before his crash. Tom was National Unlimited Champion. Competition was a springboard to airshow work. Tom was the founder of the OKC Aerospace America Airshow. He also had one of the first Sukhou’s in the US.
– OKC – Currently, Rick is an aircraft dealer in OKC, and he is Mark Pfeifler’s Airshow announcer. Rick was Sportsman National Champion in 1994. Rick is retired from aerobatics and was recently killed in a plane crash.
– OKC – Mark is an active airline pilot. He used competition as a boost into the airshow business. Mark is active in ICAS and an ACE. He flies an Edge 540. Visit Mark’s website for more information.
– Stillwater. Fred won Nationals in Intermediate 1997 flying a Pitts S1-T. Fred is well known in the IAC for his contributions to Sport Aerobatics with his Human Factors articles. Fred runs a flight school, Delta Aviation, in Stillwater. Melissa, his wife, is also active in the IAC. Fred just acquired and EDGE-540 in late 1999.
– Enid – member of the 1997 US Advanced Team. Ray finished 15 th out of 55 pilots at the Advanced World Aerobatic Contest in 1997. He competed for 14 years.
– Midwest City – Aeromedical physician. Buck flews a Pitts. Buck was a US team physician at one point in his career.
– Guthrie – Longtime chapter member. Joe does not currently have a competition mount. He contributes a lot of time to the chapter through judging and the Okie Twistoff. Joe is retired from aerobatics.
– Verden – Dick just finished the recovering of his Pitts S1-S. He flies Advanced and is also an IAC judge. His wife, Pat, is great at running the computer scoring system. She has run the scoring table at the Okie Twistoff and other regional contests for many years.
– Guthrie – Manufacturers of the world class Edge series of aircraft. Extraordinary craftsmen building extraordinary aircraft.
– OKC – Gary recently moved back to Oklahoma City. Gary flew a homebuilt Edge 360 in the Advanced category, and recently won the Lonestar Invitational. Gary is an IAC judge. Cathy Swanson, his wife, is active in the Chapter and has been registrar for many contests including the Nationals and the WAC. Gary has retired from the sport.
– Stillwater – Very active judge.
– OKC – Competes occasionally in a Sukhoi.
– Weatherford – Tony flies for the Airlines. He moved up here from the Houston area where he was an instructor at Harvey/Rihn aviation. He flies a Pitts S2B. He and his wife, Julia, host the Dust Devil contest in Weatherford. The Woods recently acquired a Sukhoi. They just recently moved to Dallas
Weatherford – Julia flies an S2B in advanced. She also flies for the airlines. She is representing the US in the 2003 AWAC
There have been significant achievment of pilots in the chapter. The group has always been full of fun loving but rather diverse individuals. As you have read, we are a very resourceful group. I hope to include a history of the chapter at a later date.