Ultimate High
 

Anyone had any experience with these guys...

http://www.ultimatehigh.co.uk/

Think I'm gonna give it a try - always wanted to fly something like that.

Cheers

No personal experience but I've heard very good reports and my son plans to do one of their spin training sessions this summer.
There was a very good article in Flyer mag last summer/autumn which tells you all about it. This month's Pilot mag has an article about their aeros and combat flying sessions.
Funny thing is the Pilot article mentions all the Ultimate High instructors are top class experienced pilots. Then on the back page of the same issue there's an article about that pathetic little man Steve Moody from easyjet who caused so much trouble for them and including one of the pilots who's mentioned in the article. :rolleyes:

Rustle's done it with Andy C at Kemble, you could try a PM to him

Mike

They're at Goodwood a lot - planning on having a go ASAP :)

No need for a PM...

It was bloody fantastic. Fun and educational ;)

I posted a thread here some time ago (Sept/Oct '03) titled "Spinning"

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...hreadid=102426

Did you ever get the video of that flight hosted on the web rustle? Would be good for the "Personal Flying Videos" thread!!!

I was reading about that in the latest ish of Pilot. Sounds like Fun!
Was disappointed to hear you shout 'guns guns guns' to indicate a shot. What's wrong with shouting 'DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA' in time honoured fashion?

Hi Mike - no I never extracted the digit(al) and edited the video...

I have the 900MB original MPEG if someone wants to host it :uhoh:

Or I could do the decent thing and make a "rustle's highlights" version - about 128KB :rolleyes: :hmm:

Friend of mine who is an extremely experienced aerobatic pilot flies for them on a part-time basis and agrees the flying is lots of fun. The pilots they use are professional and experienced; I would have no qualms about sending my mother-in-law up with them.....maybe that's not a good indicator!

Did the basic upset and spin package last summer at Kemble with them - fantastic fun. Great people and stunning aircraft.

I note btw that their also selling 1/6 shares in their Extras if you're keen!

:p

Thanks all.

Definitely gonna give it a go - the conversion course is tempting too...

ChiSau - so how much is a 1/6 share in an Extra, do you know?

Thanks for the kind words from you fellow flyers. I am the chief pilot at Ultimate High and we pride ourselves at providing the best instruction available anywhere.

All the staff are ex-military fast jet pilots with huge amounts of experience and you will find that each flight is taloired to the individual customer - we want everyone to leave with a permanent grin!

Any more questions, please go to the website www.ultimatehigh.co.uk, or give us a call.

Look forward to flying with you soon

Andy Cubin

Anybody who is interested in more details on the Extra share then please give me a shout or PM me.

Owners of a share have access to both Ultimate High Extra 300s, reduced monthly maintenance payments, and all of our advanced flying training courses at cost price.

As Andy has already mentioned, thanks again for your kind words!

greeners

:D

Question for Mr Cubin
 

Total and utter thread hijack I know, but...

I'd be interested to know what Andy C (and any other Ultimate High instructors) think about the removal of spin training from the PPL syllabus.

As a low-houred PPL, I've read the POH, I know what I should do and understand the theory - but I wonder if I'd instinctively do the right thing if that "Oh !!!!!" moment happens. I'll be going to Kemble in the summer to go up diddly up up anyway but I'd like to know what people who spin for a living think.

Frightened of Spinning
 

I am not sure why spinning was dropped from the PPL syllabus. Possible reasons:

You need an aircraft cleared for spinning to do it and not all clubs have such an airframe.

The number of training hours is preciously short (even shorter for an NPPL), so someone possibly decided that the time was better spent on other disciplines.

There is good evidence that more aircraft have been lost in mishandled practice spin recoveries than real mishandlings i.e, it is actually quite difficult to get into an unintentional spin.

That said, ANY aircraft can be made to spin. If you have any desires to go beyond flying straight and level for 30 mins and then turning round and flying home, then a bit of post - PPL spin training is good for the confidence. It is also great fun once you discover that there is no huge mystery to spinning.

For fear of being accused of advertising, UH teach spinning in 2 x 30 min trips. Firstly there is a lesson in theory - delivered in plainspeak! I am thick and when I first learnt spinning, the mechanics were easy enough, but I no real understanding of what was actually going on. I have written the UH spinning brief for simpletons - mainly so I can understand it!

The first sortie looks at stalling characteristics, the incipient spin and then the full blown version. The Extra 300 is the perfect platform to learn this skill as the controls are very crisp and powerful.

After a debrief and another theory session, advanced spinning is taught on the second trip. This includes gross mishandling of the controls and the throttle during the spin to see what happens and to prove the theory learnt in the classroom. We finish off with the inverted spin, by which time everyone in the aircraft is an expert!

If this frightens you, it should not. The spinning exercises are taught using a building block process - we don't move on until the individual skill has been mastered. Thereafter, new factors are introduced one at a time, and you will find your confidence grows much more quickly than you may have imagined.

Hope this rather long winded comment will illicit further remarks from the floor.

Safe flying

Andy Cubin

PPRuNe strongly recommends the value of this type of training. The right place, the right aircraft and with pro's.

Please be careful, we've had a generation of aviators without needing spin training. While it's obvious there are many capable pilots around please be very wary of those offering some unnofficial tuition.

Regards
Rob

Why spinning was dropped from PPL
 

I don't know why Spinning was dropped from the PPL syllabus, but imagine that the risk of accidents in training would likely be much higher than the risk of accidents resulting from a spin post-ppl, unless every training school invested in suitably qualified trainers and appropriate aircraft.

I found the spin training unsatisfactory in my training for the PPL and as a result of this thread will give UH a go.

Stall/spin accidents remain the single largest cause of fatalities and serious injuries in UK and US light aviation.

An article by John Thorpe, GASCo's Chief Executive, in their Winter 2003 edition of GASCo Flight Safety magazine, underlines the point.

There were 277 fatal accidents to UK registered aircraft of 5,700kg and less between 1980 and 1999, killing 483 people. Analysis of the many factors that contributed to all 277 accidents showed that under the heading 'Stretching the Limits', stall/spin was a factor in 37% of them; this was the highest percentage in the group. Similarly, in the 59 fatal microlight accidents that killed 72 people, stall/spin figures in 34%, a figure very similar to the aeroplane group. There is a clear message here.

Current PPL teaching focusses on spin avoidance, and there is undoubtedly some merit in arguing that, if you never get into a spin, then you don't need to practise recovering from it. However, this materially increases the risk of being unable to recover from an inadvertent spin; the spin CAN be disorientating, particularly at first, and being able to recite the recovery action in the comfort of a cosy crewroom is very different from doing it for real when the aeroplane is moving (perhaps violently) in an unfamiliar and unexpected manner.

A reader's letter in Flyer magazine last September illustrated this well. A student was on a GFT profile and mishandled a stall such that he entered a spin. He had seamlessly gone through the spin recovery procedure on the ground immediately before the flight but found that he was unable to do it in the air in his first ever spin. He was extremely grateful that the instructor, who had practiced spin recovery, was able to take over and deal with the situation.

Being confident and practiced in spin recovery does not make pilots bulletproof. But there are many situations where it can massively increase the odds in your favour. And, whisper it but quietly, that includes airline pilots, even on those aeroplanes where it is 'impossible' to exceed a certain angle of bank.

Bulldogs are coming
 

For anyone who is interested and has gagged at the price list, Ultimate High is about to have 2 Bulldogs come on line.

The same disciplines are taught as on the Extra, but at a considerable saving.

Check out www.ultimatehigh.co.uk

Happy flying

Had a go in November at GWC - wicked! They are also doing PPL training now at Kemble in the Bulldog.
i had been in an extra before but this was just as good. very proffessionally run. One of their extras has the facility to record your flight so you can have a vid. as well