(more pictures from this experience)
I had the opportunity to go up into the sky in Lady Liberty
out of
I headed up in the morning to meet up with Burning Blue President Peter Schmidt and his instructor Rob Holland. Rob is an accomplished aerobatic pilot and instructor and has all kinds of paperwork not to mention a laid back and confidence inspiring demeanor. He possesses the ability to answer any question without laughing - I tried him out by asking some really silly ones. ;) Rob is probably more used to pilots who now want to learn aerobatics than guys like me who are like "Cool! This must be a special plane, it has pedals!".
I met Rob and he took me down into the hanger and outside to look the plane over and I took a few pictures. My first impressions are that this plane is big but constructed in a light weight fashion. As I looked around at other small private planes (Cessna's and such) I realized that for a plane, this thing is small. The plane is a Pitts Special S-2C and when you look inside it you will find nothing that doesn't have to be there. Control cables, mounting points, and everything else are right in view and there is no cosmetic stuff like a dash or coverings. If you know race cars this looks like a high end pure racer with lightweight but serious looking parts everyplace and that same primitive but beautiful look that comes from form following function. Personally I found it ravishing but someone who thinks a stock BMW 325i is Spartan inside would probably think that this plane was mostly disassembled when in fact it's in its ready-to-fly configuration.
Rob brought out the parachutes and taught me how they work. There is so little room inside this little monster that the parachute makes up most of what you would call a seat. Next it was time to climb aboard and with instruction from Rob I did just that. Note that you have to be very careful what you step on or grab hold off when getting in as only small portions of the plane are meant to handle the weight of a person. Once in the plane you slip into the parachute and buckle that on much like a climbing harness. Next you strap into a 5 point harness that is very similar to what we road racers understand and then finally a lap belt goes over that. The lap belt is backup in case the harness opened up so you don't bang into the canopy if you're upside down - and you will be upside down, no worries about that.
He also instructed me on how to parachute from the plane if he told me to and how to pop the canopy off the plane and get out if something happened to him. Note that when you open the canopy on this little terror it just goes flying away and the way is clear to climb straight out of the seat and go, in the unlikely event you would need to. Lastly we popped on the cool fabric helmets with noise canceling headsets to communicate. One of the neat things was that as the passenger you can hear all the chatter with the tower and such which I thought was cool.
Now my blood was really going and honestly I was getting worried. I am not terrible but sometimes have trouble with nausea when teaching on the track, on medium sized boats in the waves, and on planes. I don't actually barf away but do get to feeling nasty and sweating like a pig. Since this was not planned to be your average flight I wondered how I would do. Both Rob and Peter, the latter probably worried about his pretty aircraft and the former probably worried since he would be in this tiny plane with me, told me that folks usually can handle about 15 minutes of aerobatic stuff the first time up and not to try and push myself but to call it quits when I felt it was time. No problem - I am not looking to be a puke hero.
So Rob fired it up and taxied us out around the buildings and onto the taxiway. You can't see forward at all in this plane from either seat as it's a tail dragger with its tail low and nose in the air, so Rob weaved it back and forth constantly so he could see that our path was clear. Once out there we waited for some other small planes to get clearance and depart and then it was our turn.
Not sure what Rob called the takeoff he did but he told me about it in advance just as he did everything else done on the flight. It is super nice that he did this since even when you're ready, or think your ready, some of the aerobatic moves are like WHOOAAA!! The takeoff involved gaining 90-100 mph at which point the plane can take off, then holding a few feet above the tarmac and gaining more speed and then zooming up into a 45 degree climb. Sounds like nothing? Well, if you haven’t experienced a 45 degree climb under full power in a propeller driven plane - trust me this alone is worth going for! It was exhilarating, and the ground below us disappeared at an astounding rate! Hmmm - I didn't see any rocket engines on this thing... After takeoff we flew about 7 minutes out to the practice area which is out of flight paths and is very lightly populated - uughh - that last item makes me worry some. Just think to yourself that it's to minimize any disturbance to those below...yeah... Yeah - that's the ticket!
The view was gorgeous on the way out and all I could think as I looked around and asked Rob stupid questions was wow! In this little plane with a gas tank in front of me and a smoke oil tank between my legs was, "Wow, this is how flying should be." You can feel everything and with your head in the little glass canopy the view is awesome. Connected, free, soaring - words really fail you here and this was just the beginning, although some people might find this the best part. It really is special and I enjoyed it far more than the other small planes I have been in.
Once out there and at 5000 feet or so feet Rob did a few maneuvers, each time describing them to me and making sure I understood and was ready. He also made sure I wanted to do them and was doing ok. I am not sure I have all the names right but we did rolls, a loop, a hammerhead stall, flew upside down, and flew some "tumbles". During the hammerhead I think at one point we were actually flying backwards but it might have just been really slow. He pulled it straight up into a vertical climb and when we stopped I think he put in a lot of tail rudder and throttle and pivoted it off to the side, rotating us180 degrees and aiming us straight at the Earth. I have never done 0 to 200+ mph that fast in my life.
To prepare to do a loop, Rob instructed me to flex all my leg muscles and abdominal muscles to tighten up and help keep the blood in my brain and upper body. Why did he ask me to do this you ask? Because we pulled 4.5 g's entering the loop. It was less over the top since we were upside down but strong in the climb and coming back down - very strong. You can feel the flesh pull on your face and the blood try to drain out of you and the views while doing this are phenomenal! Adrenaline junkies sign here!
We did rolls and more and then Rob had me take the stick and do some maneuvers. I did rolls and pulled some turns and other stuff. I banked it over pretty far and pulled back what I thought was HARD - barely registered 1.5 g's and already it was sort of hard to hold the stick as smoothly as I wanted to. The stick is so sensitive in this plane that you can hardly believe it. After I did a roll or two Rob instructed me to really pull the stick over to the left harder and further than I had. So I pulled the nose up just a little and wacked it to the side pretty far and fast. The plane did 360 degrees so fast I barely had time to catch it at the top. I thought we were going to roll like 420degres and end up sideways, but when I centered that stick the plane just stopped rolling, and I can't emphasize "stopped" enough to explain the preternatural responses. At one point we flew upside down for a little while and I looked straight up over my head at a small lake, way cool!
By now my body and brain were reaching their limit but I
thought I had a little more left in me and was having so much fun I did not
want it to stop. Once again it wasn't
just the speed and aerobatics it was the "connected" nature of this
experience - and the freedom. Hell, on
the drive up to
Rob suggested doing tumbles and described them. I don't think I can really explain it but basically the tail of the plane whips past you on the side and the plane spins downward around the prop instead of the other way around. Towards the end of the 26MB video on Burning Blue's web site you can see one being done. This was insane and the only manuever where I would not have had a clue what to do if Rob had suddenly said "Here, you take it and bring us back toward the airport." I literally had no idea which end was up but did see land - and sky - and land - and a land/sky blender effect. Heh, that is why I can't explain it.
After that one I was done but it was worth it. We then headed back home to the airport and landing wasn't a let down. This plane is a tail dragger and is very short with small wheels. It felt like and I later confirmed that Rob was making constant small corrections with the rudder to keep us going straight down the runway.
Lastly I jut want to stress again the unbelievable feeling of freedom and the smoothness of the flight. The plane just cuts through the air and regardless of the force of the maneuvers the plane slices the air smoothly and that smoothness mixed with the responsiveness is addictive and wonderful. Add in a large helping of robotic precision at the controls from a guy like Rob Holland and you will never ever ever ever forget it. The big problem is you will - trust me - you will want to fly one of these planes again. You may have trouble sleeping and begin bedwetting just as bad as when you were waiting for that first set of r-compounds for your car. Not that this ever happened to me you understand. ;)
Peter's company and info about Lady Liberty
Rob Holland's company is Aerial Advantage Aviation. Rob can teach you how to fly like a bird - a very demented thrill seeking bird. Think Jonathan Livingston Seagull meets Prodigy. Rides like mine with Rob are just $200...
(click here pictures from this experience)
Dave Spragg