The Pink Jet—a nonprofit founded to help spread the word about breast cancer awareness, provide support to survivors, and raise money for a cure—brought its freshly painted pink Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros for its world debut at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The jet is piloted by an all-female crew that includes Heather “Lucky” Penney, Stephanie Goetz, and Vicky Benzing. It is operated by breast cancer survivor support and awareness nonprofit Aerial Angels.
According to Aerial Angels, its founders, “motivated by personal experiences with breast cancer among family, friends, and colleagues, coupled their concern with a love of aviation, leading to the birth of The Pink Jet. Generous donations allowed the transformation of a former Czechoslovakian fighter jet into The Pink Jet, furthering Aerial Angels' mission to use aviation for breast cancer awareness.” Scheme Designers provided the paint scheme for the pink jet, which was painted by Dean Baldwin using paint supplied by Mankiewicz.
Aerial Angels is planning to field an all-female aerobatic team flying five to six pink jets, and plans call for appearances and flyovers at a variety of airshows and events this year and in the future.
Heather Penney, a senior fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, was one of the first wave of U.S. female fighter pilots and served two combat tours in Iraq. During the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, “she was chosen for a suicide mission to intercept and bring down United Airlines Flight 93, at whatever cost,” according to The Pink Jet.
Stephanie Goetz flies a Bombardier Global 6000 and is also an L-39 instructor pilot. “Her mother is a stage 3 breast cancer survivor, which drives Stephanie’s passion for supporting breast cancer survivors and raising money for a cure.”
Pilot, skydiver, aerobatic performer, and air racer Vicky Benzing holds the title of fastest woman racer at the Reno Air Races. With a Ph.D. in chemistry from UC Berkeley, Benzing has logged more than 10,000 hours and 1,300 parachute jumps.