So, I'm a few hours into my aerobatic training...

Love acro!
People say im crazy because i go fly acro to relax, O and yeah you do become a whole lot better pilot.

 

Agree with Saleenfan, the acro work will make you a better pilot. In addition, get a few hours in a glider to get the feel of thermals and no power flying.

 

Ummm. No. I'm still working on my Private, but there's no way I'm going up in something that doesn't have an engine Gliders require WAY too much faith.

 

Chupa, what kind of Citabria are you using?

I used to own a 7ECA (this is the smallest one, 115hp) and took aerobatics in a 180hp super decathlon. Insurance company demanded I take the full aero course when I bought 5190X because they just sort of sensed what might be going to happen eventually.

I found the decathlon a lot easier to manage because of the extra power, the aileron spades, and especially the constant speed prop so that the engine did not overspeed when you were going downhill.

 

When I was horsing around in the Stearman or PT-19 we always pulled back on the throttle when we were going downhill. Same thing with the Cub or Cessna 120...or
That's the fun stuff!

 

Remember that commercial? What was it thirty years ago. I had to re-up with Rob and I forgot the Switches Off routine even though they are now. I hope that you can get a ride in the Boeing Mod. 75. They are an incredible airplane even with a 220 Cont. or a 200 Lyc. Smooth well balanced controls and they give you the impression that they want to fly as much as you do. You can't hurt them in the air as they are designed for 13G up and 13G down so you can strap yourself in nice and tight and try anything you want and the airplane will teach you lots of stuff. Mainly how to fly in all sorts of situations. As a 19 year old kid I had the most enjoyable and exhuburant fun in them. When I worked at the airport I would get there at sunrise and take the PT-17 up in the cool heavy air and simply enjoy the airplane and the scenery and maybe buzz our house on the beach. I had to get pretty good at propping the airplane while it had the tail rope on and keeping it at low idle while I got it untied. Never had a problem but not recommended . I got to fly one with the front end off an AT-10 that made it a really nice machine. Six years later I got some stick time in a 450 Stearman and boy was that fun. Then 40 years later I went flying in one with my son and we beat up the Columbia River Gorge one afternoon. back to normal stuff, I flew a early 150 Citabria and had a fun time in that too. A hairy-chested Champ. Keep up with the aerobatic training, it will make a good pilot out of you and you will be way ahead of any emergency and besides, it's a lot of fun.
SWITCHES

 

I forgot to mention my introduction to sailplanes out here in the mountains of Washington. I got 2.5 hours of dual in a Polish IL28 ( I think) and I have never enjoyed anything more. The thrill of putting the nose down a few degrees and feeling that thing accelerate from 50 to 85mph in nothing flat was short of astonishing. We caught and soared in thermals, ran the ridge nearby to get ridge lift and then x-country'd over to some clouds where we got more lift. You have got to try that if you can. It is true flying.

 

Joe Hughes had an R-1340 ( 650HP) on his and the airframe didn't require any beef up. Most of the crop dusters had 450's on them.
SWITCHES

 

Perhaps he exaggerates? AFIC|Recall is only takes about a 4G pull to do a loop. The hard part is making a circle instead of an egg.

 

I would hope so. 13G's...I think I have seen that on the Roadrunner cartoon! That is where Wild-E-Coyote straps on the rocket roller skates. Hits the switch and his neck stretches like a rubber band.

 

Here are a few shots of me in a SNJ-6 doing some acro. work. Very easy plane to fly. Great training to learn how to control the plane. The guy I was with was really nice. We could have stayed out longer, but I couldn't see much as I had vertigo.......real bad.
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My old L-3 was just a Grasshopper but it was designed for 8+ and 6- per John Houser of Aeronca. The figures that I got for the Mod 75 came from Boeing...Pete Bowers and Jim Wickham, both engineers and historians. In flying with air show guys in competent aerobatic airplanes I have been as high as 6.5 G and went through an entire routine with Freddy Ludtke in a 165 Warner powered Monocoupe and we were pulling 4.g in every maneuver pullout. I was trying to take motion pictures for a TV cameraman who refused to take the ride. The big 16mm camera that they used then damn bear broke my shoulder on pullouts. All I got pictures of was the instruments and my feet.
Switches

 

If I remember correctly that was John Stapp who did that. The body cannot survive high sustained G forces. Any and all material has a yield point. I used to watch Betty Skelton practice in her Great Lakes in the 40's. She lived in St. Petersburg and flew out of Peter O' Night airport. She was as pretty as she was good but the sustained loads on her insides finally forced her to quit after many years of a steady diet of 4.5 to 5.5 G. She lost her Great Lakes when she loaned to a friend and switched to the Pitts. Both airplanes were called " Little Stinker"
The late Dave Rahm did a routine in a Bucker and he pulled huge loads with things like outside loops and English Bunts. His wife told me that in two years his neck size went from 15" to 17" and his chest was busting out of his shirts. Around the same time period ( 1967-1974) when I was in the air shows around here I became friends with one of the Canadian Snow Birds who did the solo act in a Northrop F5. He entered the show line parallel to the crowd with after burners on and did a 360 within the confines of the airport pulling 8G all the way around. Unbelievably he did this without a G suit because he said that he simply couldn't fly well when it came on. He told me that in spite of the grunting and muscle tension he started to gray out as he was completing the 360 and sometimes "came back" as he was climbing away from the field. I met several of them that did the same thing about G suits. Jake, my friend, didn't last long doing this routine, he busted his medical and had to hang it up. They were great guys. A great time flying with Bob Hoover, Art Scholl, Joe Hughes, and a host of others. Lots of good memories.
SWITCHES

 

Please accept my apology for taking the stage with my rambling. I admire what you are doing and enjoy all of these posts that you and the other guys bring to the chat. I'm still flying, I guess.
SWITCHES

 

Bob, thanks for your recollections. Did you happen to know Bob Bishop (the little Coors jet) or Tom Jones? I used to hang out with some of the real aero guys in Oklahoma City in the mid-eighties when I had my Citabria. My old instructor back then was Dan Stroud, who used to fly F-4s in the reserve and was a local DJ. He owned a 180hp Super Decathlon. My next door neighbor Dave Howard had a very rare early Starduster - this was the single seat kind; I think maybe one of less than a dozen. Two other guys built matching Christen Eagles - what a great plane those were.

Many of those guys went around with their eyes as red as an hourly coke user from all the G forces. I stuck to about 4.5 or less - being a high altitude only amateur.

Great bunch of guys. Dave Howard and Tom Jones are gone now, both accident victims, so fly safe everyone.