About
Our Story
Sometimes it just takes a bit of wonder. A small plane was tracking its way across the sky. Veteran marketing strategist Andrea Vernot looked up and wondered: Where do these small planes go? She soon found herself immersed in an unexpectedly eclectic world of general aviation: Not just planes and pilots, but antique shops and pickers, adventures and characters, and, oh, the food.
After several years connecting with members of this aviation community, she became a member herself, affectionately known as the “armchair aviatrix.” Her original question changed to where DON’T these small planes go? She discovered a world made up of thousands of tiny “Small Strip USA” communities. Andrea wondered again: How to connect them all?
An idea was born, and Andrea brought it to IMG, a DC-based creative company with decades of media production under its belt. They collaborated and dreamed and joined forces. The result: Air Fare America, a community that converges via website and TV, bringing you into an incredible world of flying, food, and fun.
Flying
On the corner of Freedom and Hard Core lives Patty Wagstaff. Her aerobatics show dazzles audiences with a smooth, precise, and aggressive style. One of the most “flyingest” female pilots in general aviation, she has won several international competitions, and has even had her plane on display in the Pioneers of Flight Gallery at the National Air and Space Museum. If you’ve not seen a Patty Wagstaff Airshow, or learned to fly one of her signature moves in St. Augustine Florida yet, you have not fully lived.
Food
It’s impossible to resist Todd’s Restaurant at Ryan’s Field, where “every seat is a window seat,” literally. We expect nothing less from award-winning chef Todd Scott, who caters to a crowd as enthralled watching planes fly in and out of the airport as well as they are with his American breakfast favorites infused with quintessential Arizona flavor. Trained in famous Tuscon establishments like the Tack Room and Palomino, Todd creates his meals as an experience in an of itself, which is definitely the case when you try his prickly pear chipotle sauce.
Fun
Design your own jet. Get in a Dog fight in Iwo Jima. Not a bad way to spend a day, right? Well, these are just two of the unforgettable moments awaiting you at the Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing Tour in Everett, Washington. Here, every exhibit is designed to be touched, every experience is designed to be hands-on. When you go, don’t dare skip the ultimate in museum tours, the Boeing jumbo jet assembly plant tour where the jet maker builds 747, 777, and 787 Dreamliners.