AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 65

mind of what I wanted the name to mean. I went through all these possible names and meanings in the dictionary.” When she hit upon Aurora, she envisioned a sunrise, “which made me think of the sunburst wings, the red and yellow.” One of the meanings of Aurora is “new beginnings.” “That’s so appropriate of my airshow career,” she said. By June 2010, the aircraft’s restoration was complete. Wicker had booked three airshows without even having taken delivery of Aurora. “It was a little scary,” she admitted. Though she had kept herself in top physical condition, she hadn’t wing walked in seven years. And there was the matter of finding a pilot for the act. She had lined up some prospects but hadn’t flown with any of them. Wicker and Jim Carlson flew Aurora to its new home at Warrenton-Fauquier Airport and, after some reflection, Wicker asked her ex-husband to help her get her act going again. “We went through this tumultuous part in our marriage...but the flying brought us back together,” Jane said. “That’s the one place in our relationship we never fought about. We worked well in an airplane.” Kirk offered to fly for her until she could train another pilot. On a Wednesday in July, days before her return to the airshow circuit, Jane stepped out of Aurora’s cockpit as Kirk flew. “It was as though I had never stopped,” she said. “It wasn’t physically demanding. We each knew what the other was doing. He knew exactly where I was going to go. We remembered the whole routine.” They performed the entire sequence as if no time had slipped by. Kirk is Jane’s pilot, once again. She also flies with Bill Gordon of the Iron Eagle Aerobatic Team. Jane’s significant other, Rock Skowbo, has joined the team too. Skowbo, an airline pilot and

mechanic, soloed Aurora a week after Wicker did. •••
SHE STEPS OUT ONTO THE STEARMAN’S lower left wing, dividing her attention between what she’s holding onto and where she must place her feet. She can only step on the wing spar where the ribs cross, lest she put a foot through the fabric. Stepping only on the balls of her feet, she locks her arms around flying wires and struts. She seats herself on the lower wing and fastens the safety harness to a flying wire. She turns her back to the wind and hooks her legs and ankles around the N strut. Then she drops down and hangs by her knees beneath the wing. The Stear-man dives to 140 mph and performs a half-roll to fly inverted down the runway. She relaxes her body as the roll happens. With the airplane upside down, there’s a lot of wind but not much for her to hold onto, so she anchors herself with one arm against the wing and waves with the other. With Jane Wicker Airshows (www. wingwalk.org) on the circuit, Wicker is working hard not only to get her name back out there but to make her act even more exciting. She’d like to get a low-level waiver so that she can perform solo aerobatics in addition to wing walking. She has picked up some sponsors and would love to get more. “With a full-time sponsor, it could go somewhere big,” she said. The circuit has changed—many of the people who knew Wicker 10 years ago aren’t on the scene anymore. That doesn’t matter. She’s back where she feels she belongs—back on the wing, hanging upside down, waving to the crowds.

Wicker performs her signature stunt, in which she hangs upside down from the wing (above left), while the Stearman rolls inverted, then sits on the wing (above right).

Email the author at jill.tallman@aopa. org.
AOPA PILOT • 65 • NOVEMBER 2011

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011

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