The 2026 Australian Aerobatic Championship wrapped up in Narromine last weekend, and it was a very special time for local Chief Flying instructor Grace Walker, who was named the Phillips Cup Australian Aerobatic Champion in the Entry category for those relatively new to the sport.

It was the Narromine resident’s first attempt at a national championship in aerobatics, a sport she has only been competing in for the last year.

She first competed in the Entry category of the NSW State Aerobatic Championship, also held in Narromine in mid-April.

Competing against two other pilots, Grace placed second in that competition in her Cessna 150 Aerobat.

In preparing for the Australian National Aerobatic Championship, Grace’s training for the last couple of months has been, as she described it to Dubbo Photo News, “increased in frequency and intensity".

“I’ve had more frequent and intense training for the last eight weeks,” she said.

Just a year ago, in October 2025, Grace gained her aerobatic endorsement which would allow her to compete in the fast-paced, high-flying world of aerobatics.

“I learnt the basic aerobatic skills and figures for the entry sequence a year ago and have been polishing them since then,” she explained.

"Because I like to do ongoing training to keep myself current, I did a formation endorsement this year, which I finished in July,” she said.

Formation flying, as the name suggests, involves flying in close formation with one or more other aerobatic aircraft. With no advanced training available locally, Grace travelled to Cessnock to undertake such training.

The qualified flight instructor and proprietor of Flying With Grace – who is the only female recreational Chief Flying Instructor in the region – began her journey to aerobatic flying back in 2024.

She realised she needed to be healthier to be able to pursue this dream and set about doing exactly that – and hasn’t looked back.

“I focused on my health so I could give aerobatics a go,” she said.

“Then when I could give it a go, I just loved it, and knew it was something that I wanted to follow.

“All my other flying is feels very two-dimensional compared with aerobatics. It opens up a whole new world and is exciting. And there’s so much more to learn,” Grace added.

At the Australian National Aerobatic Championship, contesting the Entry category sponsored by Narromine Shire Council, Inland Petroleum, Sisley and Icom, Grace was in a race against herself to improve her scores with each of the four runs she had to complete.

She received a medallion for winning her category at the championship’s presentation dinner at the Narromine Aero Club on Saturday night, October 24.

She will now turn her attention to the next category up in aerobatics, Graduate, and has purchased a newer, faster aircraft, an RV6A which is quicker and has more aerobatic capability. Grace will continue her training in the new aircraft and learn the new aerobatic figures for the Graduate category, before pursuing the higher level of competition.

“The Cessna 150 Aerobat is 100hp and goes about 80-90 knots while the RV6A is 180 horsepower and goes 150-160 knots,” she said.

“The RV6 is quicker which means you have less time to complete manoeuvres [in the restricted competition airspace above the aerodrome]. I need to adjust to how to do them in a faster plane and get use to having more horsepower available,” she explained.

“For me, it’s not about beating someone else, but beating my own scores and improving” Grace said.

The mum of one is a proud role model for her daughter Abigail, 11, who Grace says loves aerobatics and may follow her into the sport one day after learning to fly in a few years. Partner Brad Naylor is also very proud, Grace said.

“It was my birthday last week and he said ‘you know, you’re the most determined person, the most driven person I know. You want something, you just go for it,' and I do," Grace concluded.