From dad’s first stunt to the spotlight: Patrick McAlee takes flight at Gulf Coast Salute

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - One performer is living out his childhood dream at the Gulf Coast Salute Air Show.

Patrick McAlee said his love for flying took off at an early age when his dad did a stall with him. From there, his dad helped him work on building planes.

“And then did a roll with me in airplanes that we helped build, that I helped him build when I was like seven,” McAlee told NewsChannel7. “And then ever since, he never thought, I think, when he did that roll what he started.”

The father and son attended air shows where McAlee said he chased down performers, including U.S. National Aerobatic Champion Patty Wagstaff.

“It’s really neat now to kind of share the sky,” McAlee said.

Speaking of the sky, that’s how McAlee met his wife.

“We actually met at the airport, he asked to buy me a cup of coffee, I said yes,” Natalia McAlee said.

The rest was history. While Natalia is used to her husband’s air stunts now, she said it wasn’t always that way.

“The first time I saw him perform, I literally cried because I wasn’t exposed to that in my culture,” Natalia continued.

Now, the couple is introducing potential future aviators to the sky using technology.

“We also have to maintain these aircrafts; we still have to design things for them to modify, so there’s so many genres of aerospace, even if you can’t necessarily be a pilot in aviation and that’s what I’m trying to promote and use all that technology,” McAlee said.

The air show continues on Sunday at 10 a.m. McAlee said he will be back out at Aaron Bessant Park, teaching kids how to fly using the simulator.

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