First solo.. (kinda!)
 

I'm sat in the office with an ear to ear grin which nobody here understands :ugh:

Red letter day this Sat: Beautiful weather, and my instructor finally convinced me I didn't need him - took the pitts out without any baggage up front for the first time. Not sure if it's psychological, but it felt like a different aeroplane. What a buzz :}

A good day to remind me that it's worth all the admin and fuss that goes with the game..

Happy flying!

A first solo in a new type is exciting - must have been even better in something like a Pitts. Try helicopters!

Saturday was a fantastic day - really one that was made for flying - not for sitting on the ground, like me, waiting for his plane to come out of annual...

Congratulations! First solo in a Pitts must be pretty awesome :ok:

How long did it take you to get this far? I would like to do this someday...

Mark, well done & congratulations.

I'm still trying to teach the R2160 how to dance.

Hey, BP, you're probably a better aeros pilot than me by a long way, never really done 'competition' aeros, just enjoy the experience! The main reason for being in the pitts is that since coming back to the UK from Aus it's been about the most practical aerobat to find for hire. CS prop and inverted fuel/oil do make for a nice experience though.

Been collecting types a bit, but I've got to say more of a sense of achievement from the pitts than anything else. In my opinion it's not a tenth as bad as it's rep suggests, but you do have to fly it, therein lies the satisfaction.

It flies - I think it's very achievable. My CV is fairly short; started out with a little gliding, got a PPL 2-3 years ago; went into aeros in a Robin 2160 pretty much straight away, then later a tailwheel rating and started playing with a decathlon. I've flown fairly regularly tho, have about 170hrs TT and about 8hrs tailwheel when I started on the pitts. For whatever my opinion is worth it depends a lot on what sort of pilot you are, and what you choose to fly. If your ambitions are in that direction, get into something tailwheel as soon as you can - things like PA28's aren't a great training ground. For my part I've always been someone who flies - a 'feel-y' 'stick and rudder' type, emphasis on rudder :)

170 hrs TT does not seem very much. At the same time a lot from where I'm at the moment actually. I'm learning to fly and have 17:30 TT at te moment. 12 of those hours are on the Diamond Katana. The rest on Aeronca Champ and Piper Super Cub.

I feel more at home in a taildragger already :) I too like to fly by 'feel'. Also I've had a go in an S-2B a couple of times without landing it of course. My instructor says it will take a couple of years to get ready for the S-1T I'm looking at... So maybe not as many hours as I thought.

Sounds like you're already setting the groundwork nicely. Again, I'm not an expert, but I think the TT figure is irrelevant - relevant experience is more critical. I spent 45hrs touring the aussie bush in a C172, that added nothing to my ability to fly a pitts!

Obviously there's the CS prop to play with, and it moves much faster in the circuit than you're used to, but it's not rocket science. The main thing I'd throw out that nobody mentions is it really matters who your instructor is, and that can be quite personal:

Some are too keen to tell you how impossible everything is, often they won't let you fly enough to make a horlicks of it (perhaps they aren't confident enough in the aeroplane themselves). Some are too laid back and don't really teach. Some set you on edge, and you can't perform alongside them, no matter how great an instructor they are. Some are none of the above and absolutely brilliant - just to be clear I'm not 'having a pop' at the instructor profession - It's got to be a very tough gig to teach something like that, and my 'horror' might be your ideal.. but it does make a huge difference..

Mark, I've got about 170 hours TT as well. The last two years, most of the hours were aeros on the R2160 - it now feels as if I'm strapping the aircraft on, instead of sitting in it. And I'm lucky to have a competition aeros pilot as my mentor - he sort of guided me into competition aerobatics and I've never looked back, yet.

I'm at the level where I can fly all the allowed figures for both the Dutch and the UK "standard/sportsman" level safely and accurately, and in a reasonable sequence. Last weekend we started on some of the German "sportsman" figures - there are some real bitches in there which are just barely doable in a non-inverted-fuel aircraft.

At the same time, I'm at the level where I'm confident taking passengers up for a bit of LAROSA - Loops And Rolls On Sunday Afternoon.

My next step, somewhere in the next few years, should be a machine capable of doing intermediate aeros without breaking the bank. Unfortunately these are generally not for rent, so it'll be a group share or outright ownership. That's a commitment I'm not ready to make yet.

Thanks for the info Mark. I wondered if there was some sort of minimum number of hours needed to even consider the Pitts. But it seems this does not apply. I'm very happy with my instructor. If I don't make it into the S-1T it will not be because of my instructor.

C/S prop is not a problem as the Katana has that as well. I guess I just need to keep adding experience as much as I can.

Made it!

Today, I too sat in the office wearing an ear to ear grin. Yesterday, I finally flew the Pitts S-2A solo for the first time. To celebrate I left the circuit and performed a barrel rol and a loop. I even made a decent landing.

It took quite a lot of dedicated effort but to anyone in a similar position that I was two years ago I would like to say: Go for it, it's worth it. :ok:

Jealousy is a sin.

Peccavi.

Awesome. Good on you for getting where you wanted to be :ok:

Also, thank you for the reminder of the thread. I'm suffering a life-induced slump in my flying and wondering whether to renew my rating. You might have just helped that decision :E