New Wing Walking World Record

San Francisco – June 21, 2010 — Ashley Battles took a hike on Saturday, and it landed the 27-year-old Tulsa, Oklahoma woman in the Guinness Book of World Records. KGO-TV reported that Battles walked on the wings of a 450 Stearman airplane, piloted by Robert Ragozzino of Sausalito, California, for four hours as the plane flew back and forth near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. The previous endurance wing-walking record, set in France, was 3 hours and 23 minutes. "The wing-walk world record is something we wanted to do,” she told KGO-TV. “We're just ready to break every aviation record out there." She said she could have continued for five hours, as originally planned, but it was starting to get cold and she was afraid that the biplane was starting to use up all its fuel. The Stearman, nicknamed Yello Peril, had been modified with extended fuel capacity. It has a 33-foot wingspan. Although she was dressed in three layers of ski thermals, a full leather suit, a facemask and helmet, Battles told the San Francisco Chronicle that she was "almost unbearably" cold. To distract herself, she listened to her iPod and focused on the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and other San Francisco Bay landmarks. A graduate of Oklahoma State University with an aviation degree, Battles has been wingwalking for seven years. But she has been a pilot even longer. Flying since 2000, Battles so far has obtained her commercial certificate, multi-engine, instrument, and several type ratings. She has flown thousands of hours as a fire patrol pilot, an airline pilot, and a warbird pilot. Her airline career is on hold due to a furlough; however, she can be seen on the air show circuit with Gregg Shelton of Greg Shelton Air Shows. Ragozzino, of Norman, Oklahoma, is also no stranger to record attempts; he flew his 1942 Stearman solo around the world in 2000, setting the record for solo, open cockpit circumnavigation. Battles says that San Francisco was just a warm-up and Ragozzino is already modifying his Stearman with a larger propeller, and reducing the overall weight so that they can try for a record of five or six hours at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2010, which will be held July 26-August 1 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Pilot Robert Rogozzino flies the biplane over the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday. Photo credit: Paul Chinn / The San Francisco Chronicle Wing walker Ashley Battles following the landing of a four-hour flight over the San Francisco Bay that made her the world record holder for wing walking. Photo credit: John Sebastian Russo / The San Francisco Chronicle

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