Mercè Martí Inglada

Mercè Martí Inglada

Mercé Martí was born on 9 September 1968 and her life has always been closely linked to sports. Her restlessness led her to fly for the first time aged 17 and from that moment she decided that flying would be part of her life. She travelled to the United States to study English and obtain her private, commercial, instrumental and twin-engine pilot licenses.

With these licenses under her belt she then returned to Spain to validate her qualifications but returned to the US to obtain the flight instructor licenses and founded "Cardinal Wings" flying school in Kentucky. Back in Spain she worked as a co-pilot in a major cargo company flying a Fairchild Metroliner and two years later she joined the commercial airline Spanair, flying an MD-80.

Currently, she manages her own aviation company, Infinit Air, founded in 2000 and dedicated to aerial surveillance, observation and photography. From 2012 to 2016 she combined this with working as Regional Account Manager for the multinational Shell, managing the Aviation Lubricants market for Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, and obtaining good results.

Mercé has always combined her sport aviation activity preparing expeditions, participating in races and giving lectures. She has also worked as a presenter on several television and radio programmes. She also collaborates as a writer in aviation magazines such as Avión Revue and Aviación General y Deportiva. More recently she has been involved in the promotion and development of the Air Race 1 racing circuit in Spain and has started to fly aerobatic planes with the objective of competing in the Formula One category in Reno Air Races.

Thanks to her achievements she has been declared among the 100 Greatest Spanish Adventurers of all time by "La Revista", the El Mundo newspaper’s Sunday supplement and was also the worthy winner of the Journey of the Year Award granted by the Spanish Geographical Society in March 2004. She was also honoured in 1996 on Memory Lane of the International Forest of Friendship in Atchinson, Kansas, hometown of Amelia Earhart, for her Round the World journey and was awarded the Gold Medal by her hometown, Sant Feliu de Llobregat, and the Gold Medal by the World Air Sports Federation (FAI).

Sporting achievements

  • Winner of 1994 Round the World Air Race. The first Spanish person to fly 33,500 km around the world in 92 hours and 27 minutes in a Cessna C-210P at just 25 years of age
  • Three world speed records on Asian and North American Routes. Category CID
  • Runner-up of the 1996 Air Race of the Americas. A 30,000 km race around the American continent in a Mooney 203
  • Bronze medal in the first World Air Games in 1997. A 21,000 km race across Europe in a Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche
  • Organizer of the "Discovery Flight" Air Expedition in 1998 in a 1944 Fairchild aircraft travelling all over West Africa
  • The 2002 Great Hawaiian Air Race. Seventh place in a Cessna Cardinal.
  • Winner of the 2002 US Air Race. "Marion Air Race Trophy" in a Piper Lance
  • Organizer of the "EADS Centenary Flight" in 2003 in a 1930 Bucker biplane to commemorate the centenary of the first flight
  • 2010 Royal Aero Club of England Air Race, in a Piper Twin Comanche
  • The 2011 Great Bahamas Air Race, third place in a Piper Lance
  • 2018 Participation in the Formula 1 at Reno Air Races, Classified at 312 Km/h (194 MPH) in a Cassutt 3M. 1st non-American woman and the 8th in the history of aviation. Nevada USA