aerobatics

Stunts?

By Dave English

Autopilot babies and paint-by-numbers piloting are not new ideas. Back in 1942 a Marine Corps Major wrote about it. People were calling anything past a gentle bank a stunt. We needed pilots to know the full envelope of flight then — and now. You can’t learn this type of flying out of textbooks … It seems rather silly to be explaining the term “airmanship.” But it has been necessary and is still necessary and will be necessary until people learn to speak of perfectly executed aerial maneuvers as “airmanship” instead of “stunts”. Major Al Williams, 29 April 1942.

Greatest Gift of Life

By Dave English

“Challenge and perfection is the greatest gift of life. Embrace it and use it well. To turn your back on the challenge of perfection is to close the door on your spirit, your freedom … your very existence.” Betty Skelton, quoted in 2011 book Betty Skelton First Lady of Firsts by Henry Holden. An amazing aerobatic pilot, she also held many speed and altitude records. Her Pitts Special airplane now hangs inverted, forever looping, in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Here’s its final climb:

Aerobatic training?

By Dave English

“The real need is for a fully aerobatic training aeroplane to be provided so that airline pilots can practise real flying manoeuveres and recovery from unusual attitudes. … There are too many senior transport pilots flying who have just about forgotten how to fly an aeroplane.” The Chief Test Pilot of the UK Airworthiness Authority wrote this in the last paragraph of his classic book. Fifty years ago. Long before AA587, AF447, and so many more. But we still don’t do this. Most airline pilots have never gone past 60 degrees of bank, and our simulators aren’t realistic for high … Continue reading Aerobatic training?