Page 16 - World Airshow News Final

...INtRODuCINg tHE NExtgEN EAgLES...

The NextGen Eagles signature pass at the 2024 Wings Over
Houston Airshow (photo by Ken Cheung).

Lynne was a national judge. “Jeff could tell me how to fly the
sequence and Lynne could tell me what it looked like,” laughs
Tom.
While in San Antonio, Tom also learned the basics of for-
mation flying from a fellow IAC chapter member who was a
former USAF F-15 pilot. They would often fly formation to-
gether going to and from aerobatic contests.
Working with the Stoltenbergs for a couple of seasons, Tom
moved up in IAC competition to the Advanced category, but
after he took an airline job and moved to the Dallas-Ft. Worth
area, he stepped back a bit from competition flying. He moved
to a local airpark near Ft. Worth, and that is where he met Le-
land Kracher.
A tEAM IS bORN
Tom had already been living at the airpark for a while when
Leland and his wife moved there in 2021. A mutual friend told
Leland there was a Pitts owner on the field that he should meet.
“Tom’s hangar was open one day, and I just popped in to
say hello,” recalls Leland. “That started us flying together, and
because my love has been formation ever since my Flight Simu-
lator X virtual Iron Eagle days, I convinced him to come up
in his Pitts with me in my Sonex and we would go learn to fly
formation together.”
Leland had learned formation flying from some military- The NextGen Eagles. From left to right are Jeremy Meyers, Operations Manager;
trained RV pilots that he met soon after moving to the Ft. Worth Leland Kracher, Flight Lead; and Tom Braymer, Wing (photo by Erik Johnston).

www.airshowmag.com 16 The Final Issue