Flight Training - September 2013 - 31

considering a school or instructor, ask for
names of prior students so that you can
confirm the instructional quality.

THE PITTS SPECIAL (top)
and Decathlon (bottom)
offer two different
avenues to aerobatic
training.

WHAT WILL THE CURRICULUM ENTAIL?

Most schools build their curriculum in
three- to five-hour blocks. It takes just
five hours to cover aileron rolls, loops,
slow rolls, inverted flight, Cuban eights,
and Immelmans. However, while at the
end you’ll be able to do the maneuvers,
there will be limited precision and
proficiency involved. That takes more
exposure.
Throughout this whole process, it’s
important that you don’t let the instructor
go too far or too long and get you seriously
sick. The instructor has no way of knowing how you’re feeling. To make the time
both productive and enjoyable, the second
you start to feel anything suspect going on
in your innards, let him/her know.
WHAT KINDS OF AIRPLANES? The pilot
who is new to aerobatics generally comes
from the standard four-place aircraft,
and the introduction to aircraft used for
aerobatics training will be an experience
in itself. Only the Cessna 150 Aerobat is
commonly available in the nosewheel,
side-by-side, aerobatic arena. Everything
else will likely be tailwheel and tandem,
both of which will be new concepts to
many pilots.
The most common aerobatic trainers
are part of the Citabria/Decathlon series.
Descended from the Aeronca Champ,
these airplanes are great for introducing
a pilot to basic aerobatics as well as tailwheel flying. They are easy to fly, although
a little heavier on the controls compared
to other, more advanced aerobatic trainers. Their training costs, however, will be
about half the price of the others. And you
won’t be quite as overwhelmed by the raw
performance (which is part of the fun) of
the higher-powered birds.
The other two common aerobatic trainers are the Pitts Special, a hyper, little,
semi-pugnacious biplane that is a world
unto itself with a rabid following, and
the Extra 200/300 series. The Extras are
finesse personified—very smooth, very
light, easy to land, and a joy to fly. The

Pitts are loaded with character and about
as “different” an airplane as most people
will ever get the opportunity to fly. It’s a
toss-up as to which is the better advanced
trainer. Both are terrific basic trainers.
UPSET TRAINING. Upset training, also
called unusual attitude recovery training,
is all about safety. It’s aimed at developing an awareness of what the airplane is
doing and how to correct any out-of-limits
attitude in the safest, fastest way with the
smallest amount of altitude loss. What is
seldom mentioned when discussing this
kind of training is that without meaning to, the student develops the ability
to instantaneously recognize what the
airplane is doing, so he or she isn't easily
panicked. They are even safer pilots than
one who has had nothing but traditional
aerobatic training. This works in the same
way that boaters become safer boaters
when they’ve been tossed into the deep
end, while wearing clothes, and have been
taught how to survive the unexpected
rather than experiencing only traditional
swimming.
In upset training, after seeing some
scenarios, the student eventually will be
told to duck their heads or close their eyes

while the instructor puts the airplane in
a bad attitude—e.g., well past 90 degrees
of bank, nose down at a serious angle. You
open your eyes, analyze the situation to
determine the shortest way to the horizon
for both the nose and the wings, and what
to do with the power. This is invaluable
training. The open-eye training that
precedes it teaches you to recognize the
developing situation so you’ll be able to
head it off earlier, if it happens for real.
FUN WITH BENEFITS. The bottom line is
that both aerobatics and upset training are
fun. Especially aerobatics. It’s downright
screaming-your-brains out fun. You’re up
there frolicking around like a sea otter
underwater, where gravity is nothing
more than a minor inconvenience, and
you’re seeing the world from an entirely
different perspective. But, the real kicker
with aerobatics is that, at the same time
that you’re having hard-core fun, you’re
also becoming a much better pilot. What’s
not to like?
Budd Davisson is an aviation writer/photographer
and magazine editor. A CFI since 1967, he teaches
about 30 hours a month in his Pitts S-2A Special.
Visit his website (www.airbum.com).
SEPTEMBER 2013 FLIGHT TRAINING

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