Thunderbird preening: A day at the office

Susan Dacy acts like what she does is no big deal.

A guy stops to snap her picture while she's being interviewed, and she just smiles and waves like he's an old friend.

She's so regular and unassuming, it's difficult to remember she does aerobatics. She does loops and rolls, and hangs upside down in a big, honking bi-plane. And this weekend, thousands of people will watch her and kids will come up and ask her questions, their eyes wide with admiration.

Dacy just does what she's always loved.

She believes she's among fewer than a dozen women who perform aerobatics in air shows. Lots of women pilots do aerobatics, she added, but not many choose to be in shows.

Dacy's father was a crew chief in World War II, and then made his living as an airplane mechanic and opened a small airport in Harvard, Ill. It was just a short walk from their home, so she spent a lot of time there, watching him work on classic planes.

As a kid, she knew she wanted to do something with planes. Just what that would be became clear at age 5, when she got to see legendary pilots practicing maneuvers in an aerobatic show.

Dacy flies a Stearman biplane, which she has named Big Red because, well, "I'm not very creative, and it's red."

Her earrings are gold biplanes, and her shirt says, "Susan, Big Red Airshows."

"I love the other planes," she said, "but I want to be the one with the big, loud airplane. There is something about the plane. It has a very big engine that makes a meaty, throaty noise. And I just love throwing my head back in the open cockpit."

There is a romance about bi-planes, reminiscent of the barnstorming flying of the 1920s and 1930s, she said, telling how much she loves a little-acclaimed Robert Redford movie, "The Great Waldo Pepper."

"What more could you want?" she asked. "A bi-plane and Robert Redford."

Dacy has been flying for more than 25 years and appearing in air shows for about 15 years, taking part in about 10 shows a year. She also is a commercial pilot for American Airlines out of Chicago's O'Hare Airport. She figures she has logged about 25,000 flight hours.

At both days of the La Crosse air show, she will do her aerobatic show and race a jet-powered Porta Potty in a comedy routine.

Other than being in a plane, Dacy said, she's terrified of heights, and doesn't like climbing higher than a stepladder.

Her idea of a high-enough climb is to put the fuel in the top wing of her plane.

"People think a pilot is fearless," she said, "but when you are in an airplane, you feel as secure as in a building."

When she's doing aerobatics, she's held in by shoulder and lap belts and back-up belts.

Yes, she said she's had a couple incidents that tested her mettle. But she said she wasn't scared. "After all the training, it's just reflex," she said. "When something happens, you have to act now. There's no time to sit back and analyze."

That ability to stay calm and focused determines which pilots keep flying, she said.

A licensed mechanic, Dacy said she also does most of the work on her plane. Between her job and shows, aviation is much of her life. Many of her friends fly, and when people drop by to see her, she said they come to the hangar rather than her house.

PERFORMANCE TIMES

AEROBATiCS ROUTINE: 12:10 p.m., today and Sunday

COMEDY ROUTINE: 2:10 p.m. today and Sunday

Deke Slayton Airfest

The USAF Thunderbirds will soar high at the Deke Slayton Airfest today and Sunday at the La Crosse Municipal Airport. Along with the Thunderbirds, the event will feature Bill Blank's Super Decathlon, Bob Post's S2-B Pitts Special and an F/A 18 Super Hornet demonstration. Also scheduled are Susan Dacy's Big Red Stearman, Bob Carlton's Skybolt Biplane, Paul Stender's Dodge Ram Jet Truck and Bob Carlton with Silent Wings Glider.

TODAY

9 a.m.: Grounds open

11:30 a.m.: Show begins

7:30 p.m.: Hangar Party, with Burnt Brownies

SUNDAY

9 a.m.: Grounds open

11:30 a.m.: Show begins

Copyright La Crosse Tribune Jun 18, 2005
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