April 18, 2023 Wing-Walking School

The Liberty Gazette

April 18, 2023

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

If you shake a can of soda pop and open it right away, all the exhilaration contained in the can will burst forth, because some things are just too exciting to suppress. That’s the feeling of accomplishment displayed in victorious leaps and hollers, “Wahoo!” that Mike and Marilyn Mason see nearly every day as they teach wing-walking at Mason Wing Walking Academy.

If you’re over 18, don’t weigh more than 230 pounds, and are physically able, you too can learn to climb out of a Stearman at 3,500 feet above the ground, pull up onto the wings, and strap yourself securely there to join in the graceful dance of vertical climb until you’re weightless (that’s zero-g), pivot, and descend, as your classic dance partner leads you in a hammerhead. 

The Masons have been teaching and sharing their passion for a couple of decades, training wing-walkers to become members of this elite club. Theirs is the only wing-walking school in the world.

They do not use parachutes because if they inadvertently deployed while wing-walking, there could be disastrous entanglements with the aircraft. They do use safety harnesses and safety cables, and they’ve never had anyone fall.

Besides gusto and agility, what does it take to do this? $850 for an introductory course or $1,250 for a full course. The difference is in how many deck levels on which you get to cruise. Successful completion of the introductory course will qualify you to walk the upper wing of the biplane. In the full course, you will learn how to maneuver on both upper and lower wings.

You’ll also receive an unedited video and still photos taken from four GoPro cameras attached to the airplane. Two cameras will be shooting video and two will be shooting stills every half-second.

The adventure happens over scenic Sequim, on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Just imagine the earth seemingly spinning around you as your biplane gently rolls, pausing inverted for a moment of zero-g photo op. Due to the abundance of fresh air and the gentleness of the aerobatics, motion sickness won’t be a problem. You can do this in a day or make it a weekend if you can’t get enough of it. The first four or five hours you’ll be in ground school, practicing on climbing around the outside of the Stearman, attached to the safety harness and cables. When you have that down, it’s time to pirouette with your winged partner in the sky!

If you’re bored in your job, you might even consider wing-walking as a rewarding career. While there’s not a lot of demand for wing-walkers, you will impress friends and strangers at parties when you tell them what you do for a living. 

Is it for you? You’ll never know unless you try. Mike and Marilyn would enjoy showing you the ropes, er, cables, and celebrating with you like a shaked-up Coke bursting free on a beautiful summer day. See what they have to offer at masonwingwalking.com. 

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