Delta Pilot Plays Bagpipes at Virginia International Tattoo

Capt. Kate Pressel (Delta) recently participated with more than 800 performers from seven nations in the 2025 Virginia International Tattoo. Held at the Scope Sports Arena in Norfolk, Va., this event—the largest production of its kind in the United States—is a traditional military-style musical performance featuring choreographed bands playing songs that celebrate patriotism. Among the variety of musical instruments represented, Pressel played the bagpipes.

“This year’s event was presented as a salute to 250 years of our country’s military service, honoring members of the Army, Navy, and Marines,” said Pressel, an Airbus A320 pilot based in Salt Lake City, Utah. “It takes an enormous amount of coordination, practice, and patience to pull off a production like this.”

A press release for the event noted, “The centuries-old tradition of Tattoo originated as a signal from drummers instructing Dutch innkeepers near military garrisons to ‘Doe den Tap-too’ or ‘turn off the tap.’ Hearing the call ‘Tap-too’ soldiers would return to their barracks for an evening rollcall. The ensuing parade of soldiers evolved into a military marching band performance now known worldwide as ‘Tattoo.’”

In recent years, Pressel has played the bagpipes in a variety of settings including the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif. For years, she was a regular with the Arizona Department of Public Safety Honor Guard in Phoenix, Ariz., where she performed at local police and firefighter events. “We were asked to play at funerals, retirements, competitions, and graduations,” she commented.

Many musicians are introduced to musical instruments through family members, and Pressel is no exception. Her parents played together in a pipe band; her father was a bagpiper and her mother played the tenor drum. Completing this Celtic family trope, Pressel competed in Scottish highland dance contests throughout her childhood.

She began taking bagpiping lessons in 2005 to surprise her father, but, unfortunately, he didn’t live long enough to see her develop her true talents. “He got to hear me play once but suddenly and unexpectedly passed away months later, compelling me to continue and improve my ability to perform,” Pressel remarked.

Her father also played an important role in introducing his young daughter to aviation. He worked as an U.S. Air Force contractor in the Dayton, Ohio, area. “I was regularly in and out of the National Air Force Museum there,” Pressel remembered. In addition, an uncle introduced her to ultralights at age 11. Five years later, “I was flying something with a tail number,” she said.

Earning an aviation degree from Ohio University, Pressel served as an instructor pilot for several flight academies before flying ERJ145s for American Eagle. She joined Delta in 2016.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pressel, who lived in the Dallas, Tex., area, had a lot of free time on her hands. She and her husband, guitarist Jason Cartmell, decided to explore a new outlet for their musical talents. The two sought local musicians to join them in forming an experimental street-performance band.

But there were challenges in accomplishing this feat. “The bagpipes play in limited keys, and you only have nine notes available. They don’t tune naturally with other instruments,” she observed. Given these limitations, being able to perform something that is musically expressive—that includes the proper phrasing, timbre, and articulation—is part of the fun, she noted. In addition to the bagpipes, Pressel played the keyboards, viola, violin, electric bass, and ukelele for this ensemble.

After COVID subsided, the musicians decided to take everything from that street-music experience that worked and officially form a classic-rock cover band, Rockstrocity. “Whatever we threw at the wall that stuck, we kept,” she said. The group immediately began playing in area clubs and other paying venues and continues to perform.

Pressel admitted she only plays the bagpipes on about 30 percent of the band’s tracks, spreading time evenly among all of her other instruments. She also continues to look for opportunities to play this extraordinary woodwind instrument in more traditional settings, but whether on the flight deck or the music stage, Pressel performs with precision.