AOPA Basic Aeros Course in the Midlands.
 

Folks,

Has anyone done the AOPA Basic Aeros Course in the Midlands area? Any thoughts on the course itself or recommendations as I'm looking into doing it.

Cheers all,

s_q

I'd have a chat with Charlie Kimbell at Leicester - new school, nice S2C. Charlie is a good chap and their prices look just right.




Dont know if he can give you an AOPA cert - but he will give you quality instruction from a good aerobatic competition pilot who also happens to be an instructor!!


I'm not connected with the operation nor biased as Charlie has never beaten me in comps!

Hope this helps.

Stik

It's a good course, teaches discipline as well as skill. Either of the resident providers at Leicester are good, though I've only flown with LAC personally.

I'm about half way through the AOPA basic aeros course flying in a Pitts S2C at Fairoaks. I can tell you that the S2C is a very nice aircraft to fly and having had a look at the Aerobatics Leicester website, the rates there are very reasonable. It looks like they also rent the aircraft to students which is something worth considering.

I've got to a point where I'm thinking about whether I can rent in future or if buying a share is the better option. My advice is think about why you want to do the course and what aircraft you want to fly afterwards. If you do the course on a Pitts, the rental options seem fairly limited but if you're thinking about buying a share or if you have a particular aircraft in mind it might be best to seek training on that aircraft from the start.

The course itself is pretty good. It covers loops, barrel rolls, aileron rolls, 3/4 clovers, wingovers, and all the other fun stuff that was taken out of the PPL syllabus long ago. It's the best flying I've done so far and I suspect it will be for you too!

<cough>Conington Nationals '06?<cough/>

Tatenhill offer it.

Rod1

Ed - I stand corrected but was not actualy aware of that! I OWE HIM AN APOLOGY - bumped into him a fortnight ago, how time flies!!

That was the year that he went home at the end of the first day after the unknowns were published, F McG, PTT and self told him he'd be hors de combat! . I remember ZA meeting the gliders in the box and David S having a fire on start up next to the puimps. Smithy cooking his electrics and me leading him home to a fighter base in Norfolk.

Keep seeing the chang-gang hdg to engineeering at an angry field near me!

OnTrack aviation do it at Wellesbourne also.

Given the Pitts is notoriously tricky to land, is doing the AOPA course in a Pitts also teach you enough to be able to take it solo? (and hence be eligible to rent or buy one)

MichaelJP59,

In a word no. For me atleast, I will need to do tail wheel differences training which is extra to the AOPA course, but as my instructor has already pointed out you can do alot more circuits in 30 mins in a Pitts than you can in a typical spam-can.

I don't know if there are minimum experience requirements to rent a Pitts yet, but this is why I made the point about thinking about why you would want to do the course and what you want to fly afterwards. It maybe doesn't make too much sense learning aeros on a Pitts if you are planning to fly something like a Firefly afterwards.

Pitts landings
 

With the right training most folk could learn to land a Pitts. I feel and with +/- 2000 landings in a variety of them, believe I am qualified to comment - that its notoriety is somewhat misplaced.

It is not like landing a 172 or even a PA18 Cub but if men and ladies were flying them in the forties, I see no reason why today's pilots should struggle.

If you are planning on buying or renting a Firefly, then best to do your training on one.

Most Pitts insurance that I've seen just states 100 hr piston, some state 100 hrs on type. No one will rent you one if you are not covered by their policy or if they think that you might bend it.I do have a lovely S1D for sale in my hangar if you'd like one!

and ....
the technique for doing many of the basic manoeuvres in a Pitts is totally different from common basic aerobatic trainers. If I taught anyone aerobatics in a Pitts he/she would have to do much retraining to get around a roll in a Cessna Aerobat for example.

But if you'd been trained in a Pitts then why would you want to fly an Aerobat?

In fact, cancel all before 'then' above. :E

Hijacking the thread slightly, the only Pitts I've found on the internet which looks to be rentable solo in the south- listed solo at £225/hr- is the one on the West London Aero Club site which is based at White Waltham. Don't know how much of a deposit or how much blood you'd need to supply them with though for them to let a 100 hour pilot loose on it!

Anyone know of any others?

£500 do??? :)

Stik, I certainly would like one, but unfortunately finances won't allow it just yet:) Maybe a share if I can find one.

Silvaire, try this (page 3 is of particular interest):

http://medind.nic.in/iab/t07/s1/iabt07s1p37.pdf

I did and haven't been airsick since. If those exercises don't make you ill, aerobatics never will. Frankly, the exercises made me an awful lot worse than aerobatics did and I vowed never to be ill again.

A friend of mine swears by a Mars Bar and a full fat Coke before you aerobat. The theory being that the glucose forces your stomach to concentrate on digesting the sugar rather than bubbling away. Something some of the Battle of Britain chaps used to do allegedly, albeit they used neat glucose, not chocolate and an American brand icon.

In case some of this sounds familiar to some people, I used to post under another identity until relatively recently. ;)

I started my aeros on a Chippie then in a Citabria. did some Aerobat
-ing, too.

I don't think that my Citabria/Chippie time did me any harm at all - in fact they did reinforce the correct control inputs. The Cessna on the other hand was a wheeze but not really conducive to teaching accurate aeros.

I've flown/aerobatted the Yak52, CAP10, Acrosport, EAA Bipe, Skybolt, Tiger, Stampe, Jungmann, Stearman and the Extra 300. They all take different finessing and without time in them that finessing will not happen.

The problem with the Pitts (from the 150hp S1C to the 260hp S2C) is that it spoils all other aeroplanes for you!:D

Try Aerobatics Leicester for AOPA courses and Pitts conversions. Even solo hire.

Pitts S2A
 

Hello

I have a midlands based Pitts S2A, message me if you require more details, or call 07990 586469.

Paul