By ANN Correspondent Rob Milford

Patty Wagstaff needs no introduction. What might surprise you at this point in her career, is that after 12 years, she’s looking for a new sponsor!

She told ANN that “Goodrich and I have mutually agreed to seek other opportunities.”

She admits that “it’s a little scary, but I want a bigger sponsor, who’s more involved in the day-to-day promotion, a message or product that we can work with 12 months a year.”

The remaining three weeks of the year have Patty moving at a fast clip. She leaves the ICAS show for Washington, and the dedication of the new NASM facility at Dulles, and then to Kitty Hawk for flying on December 12-13-14 and 16th. It seems that her first Extra 260S is hanging in the museum, right next to Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Vega, and she’s a former member of the NASM board. She’s also a Presidential appointee to the Federal Advisory Board on the Wright Centennial.

When I asked her about the NASM at Dulles… she admitted that “the building looks big enough to fly through… but they’ve hung a lot of aircraft from the ceiling… so it could be a little tough.”

She also remains optimistic about the Wright Flyer taking to the skies next week “I think the energy will be right, and the planets will line up… and it will be neat.”

For the remaining off-season, Barrett Performance is installing a new engine in her Extra 300S, and a new crankshaft, and she plans on auctioning off or donating to charity about a dozen of her flight suits with the Goodrich logo.

Coming up in ’04, Patty will be inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, along with Astronaut Bill Anders and Harriet Quimby the first American woman licensed to fly.

FMI: www.airshows.org