AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2016 - 65

HIGH STAKES, HIGH STANDARDS
Air Force cadets put their skills to the test
At the 2015 International Aerobatic Club U.S. National Aerobatic
Championships, the seniors on the U.S. Air Force Academy team
had more on their minds than the next sequence: News of their
flight assignments, which would chart the course of their careers
as officers, was scheduled to arrive in the middle of the contest.
"You definitely have to compartmentalize," said senior cadet
Norman C. Hitosis, who hoped to land a slot that would lead to
the F-22 Raptor. "I just want to fly something fast and pointy, sir,"
Hitosis said.
The gliders the cadets flew in Texas were neither of those
things, although they arguably were the better training platforms
for it.
The Air Force has for years supplied the vast majority of competitors in the glider categories at the national championships.
Members of the 94th Flight Training Squadron also serve as the
youngest instructors in the Air Force, teaching fellow cadets the
basics in gliders while honing their own skills.
"I honestly do believe that the experience we gain flying these
gliders in an aerobatic profile pays off a lot," Hitosis said. "The
amount that you can deviate is so small, you just hold yourself to
a much higher standard. It only takes one mistake for you to be
brought from the first place down to the last place."
-JM

Soaring. Nearby, a dozen cadet pilots from the U.S. Air Force Academy
team, along with their leaders and family members, filled out the
ranks of the Intermediate and Sportsman categories, flying two-seat
DG-1001 gliders, designated the TG-16A in the military inventory.
In a broad sense, every aerobatic glider pilot is a member of a
team: competitors in the box but friends who support, coach, and
encourage one another the rest of the time. Being part of such a
small community within a small community, they exchange flight
videos over the internet and share tips and techniques. Lynch said
Williams Soaring benefits from strong support from the owners
and a shared community commitment to safety and training.
"Everybody works together," Lynch said. "I came up, basically
from nothing, in a year and a half."
Lentz-Gauthier, he added, "has been an unbelievably good
coach. It's more than an airport, it's a family. It really is a family."
Stephens came up short in his quest for a sixth championship, done in by the omission of the fourth figure in the Unknown
sequence, which is given to each pilot during the contest and
must be flown without practice. Lentz-Gauthier claimed the Les
Horvath Trophy by making no such mistakes, a steady and consistent march of mastery through three flights. Von Atzigen shone

during the four-minute freestyle, the only glider pilot to enter
that stand-alone event, which does not count toward the trophy. Canisters of colored smoke traced curves and lines from
his wing tips as he danced in the sky to Time To Say Goodbye,
recorded by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. Gliders cannot compete with high-powered composite monoplanes when
it comes to dynamic maneuvers and speed, but they give up
nothing in grace.
This month, Stephens and Lentz-Gauthier will meet
again as rivals in Hungary during the Nineteenth World
Glider Aerobatic Championships. In 2015, Lentz-Gauthier
finished fifth overall (Stephens did not make the trip to the
Czech Republic), and a podium finish is potentially within
reach for both. Perhaps, if they keep their focus sharp and
listen carefully to every subtle nuance, if they fly smooth and
precise, even a championship-which would be a first for an
American pilot.
"Ultimately, your only competition is yourself, anyway,"
Stephens said. "I wish I had learned that a long time ago." AOPA
EMAIL james.moore@aopa.org
www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 65

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2016