Vicky Benzing brings star power to Salinas in her vintage Stearman

Vicky Benzing, a Central Coast native and incredibly accomplished pilot and aerobatic performer, brought her star power to the California International Airshow in Salinas on Oct. 7 and 8.

Benzing got her pilot's license 41 years ago, as a UC Berkeley Chemistry PhD student, and has catalogued over 9,500 hours of flight time since. She has performed at hundreds of airshows across the country, including the biggest airshow in the world, EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI.

Benzing is the second woman ever to race in the unlimited class in the Reno Air Races, which she has been participating in since 2010. A few years ago, Reno Air Races recognized her as the "Fastest Woman Racer" of all time.

Last weekend was Benzing's fourth time performing at the Salinas Airshow, and it certainly won't be her last.

From Watsonville to Berkeley, and back

Benzing learned to fly in Watsonville, where she was born (both of her parents are also Watsonville natives).

Benzing's first flight sparked her passion for aviation. Her uncle, a crop duster in the Salinas Valley and Reno Air Racer, took her on her first flight when she was a little kid.

"I was so young, I didn't know if we were flying over Toyland, or if those were real cars and houses, and I'll never forget that flight, my first flight. But I'll also never forget the first flight where I stepped into the airplane and took the controls," she said in an interview on Oct. 7.

Benzing trained for her pilot's license while simultaneously pursuing her PhD in Chemistry at UC Berkeley a few hours up North. She would drive back to Watsonville on Saturdays to take flying lessons.

"In my first solo flight, right where the airport instructor stepped down... (I will never forget) how light the airplane was, how well it climbed without him in it. In there, you're on your own in the air. Even now, learning to fly and flying, it's a process and it can last your whole lifetime," she reminisced.

In this solo fight, she was given a boundary to fly within -- an invisible box -- spanning from Watsonville to Moss Landing. She completed the remainder of her official training within this stretch of land on the Central Coast.

Flying from Silicon Valley

After Benzing earned her PhD, she worked in Silicon Valley, eventually becoming vice president of a company within the semiconductor industry which supplied the equipment companies like Intel, IBM and Samsung used to make chips.

"It was a big job... I worked all the time. I mean, you don't have a job like that without giving more than 100% of yourself," she said. "So, I felt like I lost that other part of me... I'd had this huge passion for, when I was younger, the skydiving and the flying."

Benzing still flew on weekends and sometimes after work, but it wasn't the same. She explained that she was fortunate to be in the semiconductor industry when it was in a major growth phase and provided sufficient stock options, which made it possible to retire early and pursue flying full-time.

"I learned to fly aerobatics while I was in school... but couldn't afford an aerobatic airplane. And I got so busy with my career, I sort of forgot about aerobatics," Benzing explained. But then she took a ride with Wayne Handley, a famous aerobatic pilot who used to live in the Salinas Valley.

"He tumbled the airplane and I'm like, 'Oh gosh, I gotta do this.' So he goes, 'Oh, this is gonna be a really expensive ride for you.' And sure enough, it was, because about a month later, I bought an Extra, which is an airplane that looks like that. Like Mike Gouilan's airplane."

Now Benzing makes her passion work as a business - she receives support from a sponsor and is paid by airshows for her performances.

"I think you can be many things in your life. You don't have to do just one thing, especially if you feel like you're settling on something that you didn't really want to do. Do it for a while and then go do something else. Because life is finite and so you kind of have to take advantage of it," she said.

Steering the Stearman

Benzing joined the International Aerobatic Club and flew competition aerobatics, which is how her peers like Mike Gouilan and Kirby Chambliss also got their start in the business, until she was qualified to fly airshows.

Benzing's first airshow was at the Paraiso Springs Winery in Soledad. Performers were paid with a case of wine at the time.

Since then, Benzing has flown hundreds of other airshows across North America, mostly on the West Coast. Once a year, she makes the big trek out to Oshkosh, Wisc. to perform in the biggest airshow in the world. It takes her three days to fly her signature red plane, a 1940 Boeing Stearman, there from her home in Monterey County.

Benzing's eye-catching Boeing Stearman was built by the U.S. Army in 1940 to train hundreds of cadets for World War II. It served Army airfields throughout the Southeastern U.S. Both the Army and Navy operated their own fleets of planes until 1947, when the Air Force was established.

After the war, the Stearman was sold to an outfit out of Oakland to be a crop duster -- spraying pesticides and fertilizers over agricultural fields while flying at low altitudes -- in the Sacramento Valley.

The Stearman lived most of its life as a crop duster before being purchased by Dennis Hogge -- and then Benzing.

"I saw it on the ramp out of Hollister. And it's such a beautiful airplane that we talked him into selling it," joked Benzing. She explained that Hogge had just bought a P-51 Mustang and no longer had room in his hangar to keep the Stearman too.

Benzing has had the Stearman since 1998. The plane retains its original build from 75 years ago and has only been refitted with a new engine and smoke system.

Benzing can be see flying her Stearman on a documentary called Mercury 13 which is currently streaming on Netflix.

Purple plane comes back to life

Benzing's other plane is a 1944 Purple P-51D Mustang, which was originally licensed in Germany and then imported into the U.S. in 1997. The plane was flown by performers like Rocky Hill at airshows across the country and became a fan favorite.

She purchased the Mustang in 2007. It then went through four years of restorations, including a new custom candy paint scheme and upgraded engine.

Benzing brought the plane to the Reno Air Races this year, racing it in the Sport and Unlimited classes. "So many people came up to me and said 'I remember that plane from when I was a kid. I'm so glad you brought it back and can't wait to see it out.' So it's going to be pretty exciting to have it out on the airshow circuit," she said.

Women in aviation remain underrepresented

Benzing explained that, when she started flying over 40 years ago, it was highly unusual to hear a woman's voice on the air traffic control radio.

"Now you hear female controllers, now you have females in airplanes. It's fantastic... And I think women have a lot to offer the industry... we're smart and capable," Benzing said.

She added that, despite this progress, women still make up a ridiculously low percentage of the pilot population. In fact, less than 10% of licensed pilots are women, according to a 2022 report by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Moreover, there are even fewer women involved in competitive aerobatics.

"There's two or three of us that fly regularly in our shows, but the women are, like, the best... (Many women) get weeded out. The ones that managed to stick around are really good... I just wish we had more role models for more women to see that women can really do serious things," Benzing explained.

Benzing said that while the airline industry and military have been trying to make it easier for women pilots to take time for their families, the challenge to balance work and family remains, as bearing children involves taking time away from flying. Additionally, corporate pilots still need to spend significant periods away from home.

"It's hard to go away and come back. So, I think we (women) have special challenges that the guys don't really face... we're the ones to reproduce. That just makes it harder for us. But you don't have to choose. Maybe I thought so when I was younger that you had to choose between having a family and having a career. Nowadays, a lot of women have shown that you don't have to choose. You can do both. You can have everything. You just have to want it and work for it."

Benzing said women who are interested in doing airplane aerobatics should go all out, take lessons and have fun. "Even though it's sort of this male-dominated world, I think the men are welcoming... it's so much more fun to have diversity," she explained.

Practice for perfection

Benzing said successfully preparing for airshows comes down to practice.

"You practice a thousand times to do it once, right? You can't make mistakes. The stakes are too high... you start your practice high and then you practice until you have it low," she said.

During the peak airshow season, Benzing usually flies enough shows that she does not have to practice mid-week -- but she still goes out to fly before performances to make sure she feels right. On the day of the show, Benzing's husband helps her ensure airplane is safe to fly. Benzing also prioritizes eating right, drinking fluids and having fun.

Right before the flight, she spends about half an hour to an hour mentally rehearsing her routine -- thinking about where she will look, accounting for airspeeds and altitudes, and considering where the flight line from the plane's wingtip will be.

Benzing's past life as a chemistry doctoral student shares some similarities with the one she has now in the world of professional flying. Both involve a great deal of math and science.

Airplanes can perform differently -- and provide different viewing experiences for audiences -- based on their surrounding weather conditions. Benzing said accommodating these conditions is similar to working against the current in an ocean or lake.

"A vector has a magnitude and a direction, right? When you fly, your plane has a vector, and the wind has a vector, so you're flying (one) way with an airspeed. And the wind has one (another) way with an airspeed, so you add those vectors, right? That ends up being wherever your eventual path is," she explained.

According to Benzing, physics and mathematics form a language that describes the physical world and help explain how everything works in it.

"The more you understand the basics, the more you have a deeper understanding of the things that you love to do. And the things that are around you. So, I'm a huge advocate for studying the sciences," she said.

This article originally appeared on Salinas Californian: Vicky Benzing brings star power to Salinas in her vintage Stearman