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THE TEAM
The team is composed by highly experienced and talented group of pilots and engineers, all of them proud members of the Asociación Jacob 52. The team is led by Miguel "Pay" Padilla, a former Spanish fighter pilot and 6 display pilots with different flying backgrounds: Patrick Koch (flight leader), Nico Goulet (#2), Tiago Correia (#3), Manuel "Coco" Rey (#4), Fernando Marinho Pereira (#5) and David Jimenez (#6). The support team is composed by Emilio Ranz, the team's safety supervisor and reserve pilot, Miguel Salas, in the coordination and logistics role, Fabiana and Ivan Rey, the public relations and social media coordinators, Carlos Saraiva as reserve pilot and Luis "Alicates" Delgado and Pawel Kidon Dzoga, our valuable and essential engineers.
Before every new season, usually during the Winter and early Spring, the Chief Pilot evaluates and selects the most suitable pilots for the team. During that period of time all the maneuvers are exhaustively and meticulously evaluated and trained and the new season display sequence is defined.
Experience, discipline and flying skills are the top characteristics that define our display pilots.
MIGUEL "PAY" PADILLA
Chief Pilot & Team Manager
From Sevilla, Spain, Pay has been living most of his life in Jerez de La Frontera. With over 20,000 flight hours, he is the Chief Pilot and Team Manager and is responsible for the strategical decisions related to the team and also responsible for all aspects of the display, from running the training program to choreographing the show.
Pay is a highly experienced former fighter pilot with more than 18 years flying experience in the Spanish Air Force and 4 years in the Spanish Navy. During his military flying career he flew C-101 Aviojet as an instructor, F-5A, Mirage F-1, F-18A and Harrier AV-8 II Plus.
During his time on the front line, Pay participated in multiple exercises at home and abroad, including a tour with the U.S. Marine Corps, flying the Harrier AV-8 II for the 542 Marine Attack Squadron. During his time in the Navy he was able to perform more than 100 carrier landings.
In his civilian life and as a Captain, he flew several Boeings, McDonnell Douglas and Airbus models for Spanair and Iberia Express. He also worked as an investigator for the National Civil Aviation Accident Commission and was also qualified as a Display Director in the most relevant Airshows in Spain.
PATRICK KOCH
Yakstar1
Flight Position: Flight Leader
From Madrid, Spain, Patrick is a charismatic pilot and one of the most experienced on the team, with almost 20 years of aerobatic and formation flying experience on the Yak 52.
In 2022 he was selected to be the flight leader of the YAKSTARS and he is the first pilot with no previous military flying experience leading the team, which reveals his capacity and talent.
He loves everything related to the air. Since his childhood he wanted to be a pilot, making his dream come true in 1996 when he obtained his SE and ME private pilot license. Since then he has been accumulating as much experience as possible, flying all kinds of airplanes, including single-engines, multi-engines, tailwheels, radials, Citation Jets and highly aerobatic aircraft like the Extra 300 and 330.
He is a competent Yak 52 formation flying supervisor with lots of experience teaching formation flying to the other members of the Jacob 52 Association. He also participated in several CEVA competitions and has won the gold medal in the Sportsman and Intermediate categories.
In 2014 Patrick participated in the inaugural 2014 air race in Cascais, Portugal, competing with a Yak 52. Patrick was very enthusiastic about his participation in 2014 and competed again in 2016 and 2018.
Patrick is also the team manager of Juan Velarde's professional racing team, a well known and respected Red Bull Air Racing Pilot.
NICO GOULET
Yakstar 2
Flight Positions: Right Wing & Solo
Nico was born in Mallorca, Spain, from an Irish/Canadian family. In his ground life, he is co-founder and Managing partner of a technology venture capital firm called Adara Ventures.
Nico started flying gliders at very young age in Boston while studying Aerospace Engineering at MIT and transitioned to powered flight in Paris when he began his professional career. Throughout his aeronautical life, Nico has continuously flown as a competition and display pilot. He has flown more than 20 different types of aircraft and is qualified in 15.
Nico is an experienced Yak 52 pilot, with over 1,000 flights at the controls of his characteristic “Blue Devil”. He has flown this aircraft in aerobatic competitions and displays, both solo and in formation, across the Iberian Peninsula. He also has significant competition experience flying the Extra 300S.
As a competitor for the last 23 years, Nico has won silver and gold medals in the Sportsman, Intermediate and Advanced levels at CEVA and Copa Triangular competitions in Spain and Portugal. Nico is also a pilot member of the “Infante de Orleans” foundation, dedicated to the preservation in flight condition of historical vintage aircraft.
Nico shares a passion for formation flying with the rest of the YAKSTARS team. Since 2022 he flies the “Blue Devil” as #2 (right wing).
TIAGO CORREIA
Yakstar 3
Flight Position: Left Wing
Tiago was born in Lisbon, Portugal, and he is a former student of "Pupilos do Exército", a prestigious military school. He dreamed of flying for most of his childhood and absorbed as much information as possible from books and films.
Tiago is a Captain flying the Airbus A319/320/321 and has logged over 10,000 flying hours on all sorts of aircraft ranging from touring, fire-fighting, single and multi-engines, turbo-props, radials, tailwheels... you can almost name it all. He was qualified in 55 different aircraft types including the military version of Pilatus P-3.
During his flying career, he was also able to be a challenging crop-dusting pilot and a freighter dog pilot flying the Boeing 737.
Tiago flew the Yak 52 for the first time during the initial steps of his flying career while he was still a Flight Instructor (FI) at a local flight school. Since then, he became completely addicted to this aircraft and for the last 15 years he has been doing aerobatics and training with the team to develop his formation flying skills.
In 2022 he was selected to be one of the display pilots occupying the #3 position (left wing).
MANUEL "COCO" REY
Yakstar 4
Flight Positions: Solo & Slot
From Vigo, Pontevedra, Spain, Manuel Rey Cordeiro, affectionally known as "Coco", is the team's lead solo, position that he has been occupying for more than 15 years. He also flies in the slot position.
Coco is one of the most talented and versatile pilots in Spain and Portugal, being able to fly commercial jets like Airbuses, extreme aerobatic aircraft like the Sukhoi SU-29M, Extra 300/330, Cap 10, Yak 52 and a wide range of single engine and multi-engine aircraft, ULMs, para-gliders, hang-gliders, etc. And he is also a parachutist!
With approximately 18,000 flight hours, he is a long time competitor with more than 25 years participating in national and international competitions, like the World Air Games, Microlight World Cups, Yak World Championships, Spanish WSC, Vueltas, CEVAs and more recently the World Aerobatic Championship. In the last 25 years we was runner up and champion many times in several different categories.
In his daily life, he is a A319/320/321 captain flying for Vueling.
FERNANDO MARINHO PEREIRA
Yakstar 5
Flight Positions: Flight Leader, Slot & Left Outer Wing
Fernando was born in Aveiro, but raised in Alenquer, Portugal, has logged over 19,000 flight hours, with more than 3,000 in formation flight aerobatics and low level aerobatics. With the YAKSTARS he flies in the slot position and Left Outer wing. When required he also leads the flight team.
He graduated from the Portuguese Air Force Academy and earned his pilot wings after attending the Undergraduate Pilot Training in the USAF. In the Air Force he flew Chipmunk, T-37, T-38 and served as Ground Attack Pilot flying the FIAT G-91 for the 301 Tiger Squadron and as Advanced and Weapons Instructor flying the ground attack version of the Alpha Jet. During his tour in the Air Force, he also served as #3 and #5 pilot with the Portuguese aerobatic team "Asas de Portugal."
After leaving the Air Force, Fernando became an airline pilot flying the Airbus A319/A320/321 and A340. As a Captain and during is airline carer, he also qualified as Type Rating Examiner (TRE), Type Rating Instructor (TRI) and Maintenance Check Flight (MCF) pilot.
Parallel to his airline career, he is also a certified flight instructor (FI), formation flying supervisor, air racing pilot and an accomplished aerobatic and display pilot with over 350 airshow performances under his belt, flying all kinds of airplanes ranging from military jets, Extras 300/330, Pitts Specials, Yaks, RVs, Huskys, etc. He also displays the Antonov AN-2, the largest single engine biplane ever built.
DAVID JIMENEZ
Yakstar 6
Flight Positions: Solo, Left & Right Outer Wing
David is native of Madrid, Spain, and is the team's opposing solo, performing a synchronization duo with "Coco". He also flies in the Left and Right Outer Wing.
His passion for aviation was seeded at the age of 11 when his father took him to the sky for the first time. Since then, he has barely set foot out of an aircraft or away from an airfield.
He obtained his first pilot license still as a teenager and soon after that he started practicing aerobatic flying. Flying a Sukhoi SU-29M and the Yak 52, he competed in several aerobatic championships and was crowned champion in several categories.
Professionally, and throughout the years, he was able to accumulate more than 10,000 flight hours and qualified in several corporate and commercial aircraft like the Cessna Citation 525, Learjet 35, Bombardier Global Express 6000, Boeing B757 and more recently as a Captain and Instructor (TRI) on the Airbus 320, 330 and 340 families.
EMILIO RANZ
Safety Supervisor & Reserve Pilot
From Madrid, Spain, Emilio is the team's safety supervisor and is a reserve pilot qualified to fly in any flying position.
With more than 20,000 flight hours, he started flying the Yak 52 in 1999 and he has been acting as formation flying supervisor and was one of the first pilots flying in the aerobatic team, more than 15 years ago.
He started his aviation career with gliders at the early age of 15. Later on he joined the Spanish Air Force and flew and qualified in an incredible amount of airplane types: T-34 Mentor, T-6 Texan, HA-200 E-14 Saeta, F-5B, F-4C/RF-4C and EF-18A. He was also selected to participate at the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB where he qualified as Experimental Test Pilot (ETP). In this tour he flew the T-37, T-38, F-4D/E, F-15B/D, F-16B, AV-8, A-7D/E, T-2 Buckeye, C-130, C-141, P-3, just to name a few. He retired from the Air Force as squadron leader and ETP on EF-18A.
In his Civilian life he flew for Spanair and Air Arabia. As a Captain, he had the opportunity to fly as a Technical Pilot and LTC on the McDonnell Douglas MD-82/83/87 and as Technical Pilot and TRI on the Airbus A320/321. He was also a Fairchild Dornier FD728/928 Project Test Pilot.
MIGUEL SALAS
Team Support & Coordination
Miguel was born in Reus, Catalonia, but has been living the most part of his life in Madrid, Spain. With over 20,000 flight hours, he is a dedicated team supporter, working very closely with the Chief Pilot.
He started his flying career as a military pilot and then progressed to be an airline pilot with Iberia. As a Captain, he flew the A320, A330, A340 and A350 aircraft and was able to be qualified as an instructor and examiner for all of them.
Miguel is an accomplished aerobatic, airshow and racing pilot and has been flying the Yak 52 since 2004. During this time he participated in several aerobatic and racing competitions, including the Copa Triangular, CEVA and Air Races.
Passionate for vintage aircraft, Miguel is also a member of the prestigious "Infante de Orleans" Foundation, a flying museum at Madrid - Cuatro Vientos, where he enjoys flying the Polikarpov Po-2, a soviet biplane rebuilt in 1956.
CARLOS SARAIVA
Reserve Pilot
From Porto, Portugal, Carlos is Engineer by qualification, Entrepreneur by vocation and Aviator by passion.
Carlos has developed an interest in airplanes still as teenager and was able to solo gliders at the age of 18 and has been passionate about aviation ever since.
Throughout his 38-year aviation career, Carlos has devoted himself to excellence in the air and was able to log over than 8,500 flight hours in several dozens of aircraft types, including gliders, ultralights, tailwheels, single-engines, multi-engines, radials and business jets. At the moment he is qualified and flies regularly in more than 20 different aircraft types, including the Yak 52, Cessna Citation 501, Antonov 2, Beechcraft Bonanza, Stemme S10-VT and PZL-101. He also flies as a Captain on the Cessna Citation 501SP and Citation CJ3.
As an aviation enthusiast and eager to develop his flying skills, Carlos is also completely addicted with aerobatic and formation flying being one of the newest members of the YAKSTARS Display Team, having the Reserve pilot role.
IVAN "IVICH" REY
Narrator, Public Relations and Social Media
From Madrid, Spain, "Ivich" has been with the team since 2017, and he is the team's narrator and one of the public relations and social media managers, working very closely with Fabiana.
He is a long time aviation lover strongly influenced by his father, a former Spanish Air Force F-4C Phantom fighter pilot. He started flying gliders when he was only 16 years old and since then he never stoped. He holds a pilot license since 2004.
In his everyday life "Ivich" is a successful IT senior consultant.
FABIANA
Public Relations and Social Media
From Palmela, Portugal, Fabiana is the latest addition to the team's line up. She caught the flying bug at an early age, and has been following the team for the last several years attending as many airshows as she can.
Fabiana has a master degree in architecture and in her everyday life she is an airline pilot flying a Boeing 737 NG/Max. She is doing her first steps into the aerobatic and formation flying world and she already loves looping and rolling the Yak!
Together with "Ivich", she is the team's public relations and social media manager. She also supports the team, helping with all kinds of things, from logistics, aircraft parking, fillings flights plans, etc.
LUIS DELGADO "ALICATES"
Chief Engineer
Luis was born in Bilbao, Spain, and is affectionately known within the aviation community as "Alicates".
He is a certified Yak 52 / M14P certified engineer and is one of the most experienced engineers in the world with more than 25 years experience on this type of aircraft and engine.
Luis started his aviation career at Iberia - Líneas Aéreas de España, and throughout his career he qualified in more than 50 different aircraft types ranging from Boeings, Airbuses, McDonnell Douglas, multi-engines, single-engines, turbo-props, radial engines, etc.
Luis is the team's chief engineer.
PAWEL KIDON DZOGA
Engineer
From Poland, Pawel is one of the team's experienced engineers.
He started his career as electronic specialist and then he specialized on the Yak 52. He is a polyvalent engineer and he can work on any aircraft component, from the engine, structure, electrical wiring, etc.
Pawel is also an aircraft pilot, and in his spare time he also enjoys para-gliding and hang-gliding.
