First Saturday at LoPresti January 2nd Sebastian Florida (X26)

"LoPresti's First Saturday Event on Saturday January 2 will host CarolAnn Garratt, aviation' s around the world record speed holder and author of Upon Silver Wings.

This charity breakfast event begins with coffee and full breakfast at 9 a.m., and then the presentation from 10-11:30 a.m. Event benefits her personal passion, ALS Research (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Charity donation $5. Sebastian Airport, X26. 210 Airport Drive East. All welcome. Call Mimi Erskine 772-562-4757.

  CarolAnn Garratt has an amazing story to tell. She personally charged herself with the mission to raise awareness and donations to fund research for Lou Gehrig's  Disease (ALS). This mission drove her to set the world record for flying around the world and topped it off with a written account "Upon Silver Wings". A woman with a purpose, CarolAnn is on our list of remarkable aviation pilots. Join us as she recounts her story of a 7-day flight with racing pilot Carol Foy to achieve this new aviation world speed record.

CarolAnn Garratt, Ocala, Florida, is a former manager with a Fortune 500 company.  She earned her private pilot license in 1978 and her instrument rating in 1980. In 1996, she completed her commercial license and bought a Mooney in 2000. After her mother suffered and died from ALS, she flew around the world in 2003 to raise awareness and donations for ALS. Not content to just fly, CarolAnn built her first plane in 2006. Today she owns and flies three different aircraft. She has over 3500 hours and flies more than 400 hours a year including flying students with the EAA Young Eagles program, the sick and needy with Angel Flights, and instructing cadets with the Civil Air Patrol.

Click for more info

 CarolAnn spent 18 months planning for her world record attempt and, with co-pilot Carol Foy, set out from Orlando International on December 2nd, 2008 to fly around the world westbound.  The planning paid off as the first six legs went like clockwork.  The seventh leg, across Africa, had its difficulties, but with the help of their ground crew, everything continued almost on schedule.  They arrived back in Orlando after 8 days, 12 hours and 20 minutes, just 90 minutes ahead of a massive cold front that was plowing its way across Florida.

The US governing body, National Aeronautics Association, has certified their flight as the US record.  The Federation Aeronautique Internationale is reviewing the paperwork and is expected to certify their world record in the coming month.

 Upon Silver Wings: Global Adventure in a Small Plane
This book is written so that you feel as if you are in the right seat watching and hearing all the action and communication as CarolAnn flies the 15-hour leg from California to Hawaii or the 12-hour leg from Darwin, Australia over Indonesia to Singapore. When the engine coughs, your heart leaps into your mouth. When the radio doesn't work, you walk step by step through the problem analysis and find a solution to allow the flight to continue. Enjoy the flight, enjoy visiting the different countries, and feel the freedom. 

 Upon Silver Wings II:  World-Record Adventure

This newly published book about the world-record flight and its 18 months of preparation is now available.  As with the first book, 100% of sales go directly to ALS Therapy Development Institute, researching a cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Read all about the flight and learn what’s involved in planning an endeavor that touches multiple time zones, governments and continents.  Learn what went right and what went wrong.  Share the experience of being in a small cockpit for 158 hours, leaving the plane only 8 times to refuel and stretch (their ground time was only 46 hours).  What did they eat?  How did they go to the bathroom?  How did they get permission to cross all those countries?  And, most important, what inspired Garratt and Foy to accomplish this world record?

Download more info

Hangar Flying - Skydiving - Antique Cars -
Aircraft Static Displays -
(Special Weekend Flyaway Rates for Hotels, Avgas,
 Skydiving, Kayaking and Fishing - Call for Reservations).

Want even more?  Stay the day or the weekend in Sebastian Link

PLEASE RSVP USING THE LINK BELOW.  LoPresti Facility on the East Ramp of X26 Hangar opens at 9:00 am with Coffee and Pancakes Donations benefit: "ALS Research (Lou Gehrig's Disease)". link Tech Talk starts at 10:00am RSVP Now! Or FaceBook Event RSVP   Poster