Cruse was also a compassionate, thoughtful friend who visited Phelps’ late father-in-law Bob Phelps often, and took the time to attend a surprise slumber party in honor of Judy Phelps’ birthday. “The last two years I saved the birthday cards from her and I usually don’t do that,” Phelps said. “Maybe there’s a reason I saved them, I don’t know.”Cruse was an honest friend: Phelps said her first competition was a failure and the “worst part was having to come back and face my coach.... When I asked if she had done anything like that, Vickie just said ‘Nope!’ But she never made me feel bad, she was really cool like that.”Phelps said, “We’ll probably never know for sure” what went wrong on Cruse’s last flight, “but I do know it was not error, I guarantee that. I watched her fly... she made aerobatics look so easy, and she did the same thing with dance. It’s so hard losing her like this, so unexpected.... “She goes to these world championships and then would come home. I never,” said Phelps, “expected anything to happen to her.”In the 2007 interview, Cruse said when it comes to aerobatics, what she enjoys most is the “challenge... it’s a hobby, but it’s a lot of work. Sometimes I’m asked if I ever go out and fly for fun: the answer is no, I always seem to be flying for a purpose. But I’m still hooked into it because it’s never completely perfect, there’s always a challenge.”Cruse said then she also loved “straight and level flying... it’s a freedom that I think most people don’t get to experience, which is really a shame. As pilots we get to see the world from a perspective that most don’t get to see, and for the most part to go where you want when you want is a freedom that is just amazing.”A celebration of Cruse’s life will be held at Santa Paula Airport at a future date.
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Vicki Cruse |
World-class stunt pilot Vicki Cruse dies at English air show
August 26, 2009
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesVicki Cruse, the world-class stunt pilot based at the Santa Paula Airport who went from being afraid to fly to becoming a national aerobatics champion, died Saturday, August 22, in an accident during the World Aerobatics Championships in Great Britain. Cruse, described by her good friend and student Judy Phelps as “a very determined, competent person,” was 40.The petite Cruse, only about 5 feet tall and 100 pounds, was already an inspiration to pilots, especially women, before she became the National Aerobatics Champion in the Unlimited Division in 2007. A native of Missouri, Cruse was a member of the Ventura County 99s, a local branch of the International Organization of Women Pilots, and was serving her fourth term as president of the International Aerobatics Club. She was a member of the U.S. national aerobatics team when she won the national championship.Phelps, who with her husband Clay owns and operates CP Aviation at Santa Paula Airport, said Cruse was “a very determined competent person in that when Vickie said she was going to do something she did it all the way through, never halfway.” Described as shy and on the quiet side, Phelps said her friend had a tendency to keep to herself: “It took a while to get to know her, and once I did we became very good friends.”Cruse “was a very talented person who never made a big deal about” her many accomplishments. “I’m still in shock,” said Phelps.According to United Kingdom newspaper reports, Cruse lost control of her aircraft, an Edge 540, during a qualifying flight at Britain’s Silverstone motor racing circuit about 70 miles outside London. The plane, which was not her own, appeared to have suffered a mechanical problem in flight and nosedived to the ground in front of horrified spectators. Cruse reportedly was unable to bail out because of the low altitude at which she was flying.In a 2007 interview, Cruse, who had been a marine biologist, said that fear of flying stalled her ambitions after she received a pilot’s license. It was when she came to Santa Paula to take the Emergency Maneuver Training Course with Rich Stowell, an internationally known instructor, that she quickly moved into aerobatics by purchasing an aircraft sight-unseen and in which she had no previous experience.Phelps said she took aerobatic lessons from Cruse, “my coach and my mentor; she took me to my first aerobatic contest.” And in turn Phelps witnessed Cruse’s first foray into competitive dancing after the aerobatic pilot decided to take lessons and start making moves of a different, but still precise, kind.“When she started taking lessons I asked her if she was going to compete; she laughed and said no,” but Cruse then won the dancing competition. “That resulted from her commitment to her lessons and her making it happen.” And that included serving as president of the International Aerobatic Club, where Phelps said Cruse “brought a lot of organization to the organization.”
