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THE FLYING TEAM
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.
He flies as #3 (Left Wing).
LUIS ALVAREZ
Yakstar 4
Flight Positions: Right Wing and Right Outer Wing
From Badajoz, Spain, Luis joined the Team in 2024 and is qualified to fly as #2 (Right Wing) and #4 (Right Outer Wing).
Luis started flying gliders when he was only 16 years old and never stopped after that. He joined the Futura Program at the Lufthansa School in Bremen and Arizona where he gained his commercial pilot license. His first job as a pilot was in Equatorial Guinea flying for Air Consul, followed by AirTruck as a Freighter Dog and then Lufthansa. Later on he joined Iberia where he has been enjoying a very successful carer for the last 27 years. He was a A320 TRI/TRE and now flies the A330/A350 as a Line Training Captain.
Luis is an accomplished aerobatic pilot since 2009 and since then he has been participating in several aerobatic competitions, including the Spanish Championship and Copa Triangular at the advanced level.
Passionate for vintage aircraft, Luis is also a member of the prestigious "Infante de Orleans" Foundation, a flying museum at Madrid - Cuatro Vientos, where he enjoys flying vintage and classical aircraft.
Professionally, and throughout the years, he was able to accumulate more than 16,000 flight hours.
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, Left Outer wing and he is also a Flight Leader.
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 Pilot (MCF).
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.
