In 1976 I started wing-walking on the wings of a Boeing Stearman we nicknamed "Miss Piggy". With pilot Darrell Montgomery, we flew many airshows across the US and Canada until I retired in 1995. When we started, we were immediately faced with many objections from the existing wing-rider crowd. Even though they strapped on prior to takeoff, and remained strapped on until the engine was shut down after landing, they called themselves "wing-walkers" instead of wing riders. As an FAA designated pilot examiner I was very familiar with the FARs (Federal Aviation Regulations)in force at the time. The most common complaint was we were in violation of the Part A that requires passengers to be seated and strapped in prior to take-off. None of those complaining ever bothered to read Part B that states that Part A does not apply if a crew member is required to be away from their station in order to perform their duties. The FAA agreed with me that if I was to wing-walk I was indeed a required crew member. The next biggest complaint was that we were an unsafe act. For 19 tears we never had an accident or incident with our act. Our act consisted of me standing on the right side of the fuselage as we took off. As we climbed for altitude I walked out on the right wing, ducked under the sabre, stepped through the N strut to sit next to it. Once seated, Darrell performed a series of loops, aileron rolls, hammerheads, 4 point slow rolls and Cuban eights. At the end of our routine, Darrell made an inverted pass down the show line. As he turned back to the show line, I walked back to the cockpit and climbed up onto the top wing. By pulling on the toe strap, mid-chord, I was able to pull myself to an upright seated position on the leading edge of the top wing center section for the final pass down the show line before landing. During our act our speed varied from 85 to 180 mph. Although on very hot days Darrell said he needed 200 mph entry speed for a loop. The coldest show we ever did was at 25F degrees. The next year at that same show site it was 35F degrees. After that we agreed we needed a minimum of 50F degrees, although we flew at the Kentucky Derby show at 45F degrees. On our way to the Reno Air Races, we left Cheyenne at 30F before climbing to 14,000 feet to clear the Rockies. Leaving Reno, Darrell wanted warmer weather so headed south to land in Death Valley at 120F degrees.
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