Aerobatic Pilots

[JamesTigris]

I am looking at breaking into the world of aerobatics to improve my flying skills and hopefully progress it to a competative level.

There is a lot in these pages on airline, millitary and private flying, but little on Aeros.

Are there any aerobatic pilots out there and if so where/when/what do you fly and how do you go about it? I am looking to start flying from Kemble fairly soon and make the most of the experienced based down there...

-JT

[BackPacker]

I fly aerobatics from Rotterdam in a Robin R2-160. I have invested something like 30 hours now with a coach and became first in the Dutch Open Championships last summer in the Basics class. Next year... Standard.

It's great fun. The initial investment to get to the point where you can fly the Basic maneuvers safely is about 10 hours / 10 flights. You then need some more hours to learn to fly them consistently and to get a good feel for entry/exit speeds and altitudes, so that you have an idea on how to string your full sequence together. And then you need a few more hours with someone with contest experience to judge whether your maneuvers are worth any points in the eyes of the jury. And you need to get some experience somehow with flying "in the box".

[waldopepper42]

Hi,

You could probably start here:

Home page for the BAeA website (http://www.aerobatics.org.uk/)


There's a lot of information on here about competitions, aresti formats, known sequences etc. that will help you to understand how it all works.

WP.

[Zulu Alpha]

You could try the British Aerobatic Assoc website where they have a section for people new to aeros

Buddies and locations (http://www.aerobatics.org.uk/training/buddy_main.htm)

Paul Tomlinson and a number of other aerobatic pilots lurk at Kemble and would be please to have a chat with you. Contact details are in the link above.

Or you could do one of the Loop intro days:

http://www.aerobatics.org.uk/sites09/LOOP%20Beginners%20Days%202008%20v3.pdf

The dates for 2009 are in the BAeA calendar.

ZA

[18greens]

You could do a lot worse than the AOPA course as a starter for 10. Ultimate High at Kemble will do it on the bulldog - a worthy aircraft - and you can also try the Extra while you are there. You can then decide where to go on to - Bulldog, Pitts, Formation, the world is your crab.

[Airbus Girl]

I highly recommend an aerobatics course. I did one in the summer (10 hours) and will continue (as soon as this weather improves!!!).
It really gives you confidence with the plane, I fly a Pitts and its just brilliant. You can do most things with it, it is really really good fun.
I've never been sick doing aeros, but a good idea to start with short sorties, one per day, and build up from there. Also, my brain gets a bit fuzzled if I do more than 2 x 30 or 40 minute flights in day.
There are a few sites in the UK were there are clusters of aeros pilots...White Waltham is one....
Get a good instructor and an aeroplane you like.