The Seattle Times reports the Mason Wing Walking business in Sequim that allowed paying thrill-seekers to climb atop the wings of a 1940s Stearman biplane and strap in while in flight has been shut down by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA revoked owner Mike Mason’s pilot license on March 18. Mason had been taking customers on wing-walking flights for the past 12 years in Sequim in summer and in California in the winter.
A letter from the FAA to Mason read in part: “Administrator has determined that an emergency exists related to safety in air commerce and that immediate action to revoke your Airline Transport Pilot certificate is required,”. It also said Mason was barred from piloting any plane, effective immediately.
Though the government has now ruled his operation unsafe, in an interview last August with the Seattle Times, Mason claimed that an FAA inspector had given him the all clear to conduct wing-walking flights when he started flying them in 2012.
He said he was assured he was exempt from the standard regulations governing commercial air carriers under rules specific to flight school, acrobatic and aerial photography missions.
(Photo courtesy of Mason Wing Walking)