AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2014 - 78

P&E

78 | 

TECHNIQUE

got a 6,000-pound pull [on the airplane].
When that airplane flips upside down,
for an instant everything seems fine, but
it immediately starts pulling towards the
ground. [During an] attempt to roll the
airplane, within a quarter of a roll you'll
be pointed straight down.
"It takes a long time to think it through
when you're turned upside down. What
we're more likely to do is pull. After
thousands of students, I've seen people
come out here, and no matter what I've
explained to them on the ground-if I flip
them over in the air before they have had
any practice-they're gonna pull.
"In reality we've got to get rid of that
lift and go at least to zero G, and then roll
the airplane. It takes training and it takes
time. It takes more than one flight. It takes
a number of flights to build up an understanding of three-dimensional flight,"
Koontz said.
He suggests the four aerobatic fundamentals: loops, rolls, hammerheads,

"It's a three-dimensional
world up there, and we're
two-dimensional people."
-Greg Koontz,
airshow pilot and
aerobatic instructor
and spins. All of those maneuvers require
three-dimensional thinking. The loop,
for example, teaches you how to get out
of a dive, but the roll is the most important thing. "When a person has a good
roll, they can get out of anything," he said.
He teaches rolls on all four flights, for a
total of at least 20 by the end of the fourflight course.
Koontz has taught continuously since
1993, training 16 to 80 students a year.
More than half of them did not come so

they could do aerobatics after they leave.
They came to improve their general skills,
Koontz said. The course is $1,390, but
includes a room in his home and breakfast. A few insist on the one-flight upset
course for $300. "If they want it, I definitely want them to have something,"
Koontz said. Some people get it and
do well, while some are frustrated after
one flight.
Koontz worked for eight years as
chief pilot for Aero Sport in St. Augustine,
Florida, and learned aerobatics from the
late Jim Moser and Moser's fellow aerobatic pilots.
So did any of his students save an aircraft after it tumbled out of control? "It
goes the other way," Koontz said. "They
prevented the aircraft from getting into
such an attitude in the first place." AOPA
EMAIL alton.marsh@aopa.org
WEB

www.gkairshows.com

DUATS DUATS
SAFETY IS CALLING

"SERVING PILOTS SINCE 1989"
SERVING

THE TOTAL FLIGHT PLANNING PACKAGE-FREE!!
BENEFITS

SELF-BRIEFING CAPABILITIES

* Improve Flight Safety: Gives
pilots the most accurate
information available for flight
plan preparation

* FAA approved weather briefing

* DUATS Mobile: Phone, Webbased, hand-held devices:
www.duats.com/mobile

* Continuous data recording-
15 day retention

* Pl i l
Plain language translation
l i
* Automated flight planner

* Custom Trip Kits (NEW!!)
* Flight plan filing
* Personal profile capability

CREATING AN ACCOUNT

* Over 100 color weather g p
graphics
including NEXRAD

DUATS on the web is located at http://www.duats.com and
can be accessed using your favorite internet browser such as
Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, or Google Chrome.

* Domestic and ICAO flight plan filing
* D-NOTAMs and FDC-NOTAMs
* Parsing NOTAMs by keyword
* SSL connection for security
* Interactive alphanumeric and
graphic weather briefing
* 24 hour Help Desk
* New and Improved Website for
CSC DUATS: www.duats.com

Once on the web site, creating an account is easy. You will
need a valid pilot certificate and medical or a valid student
certificate and medical. Click on "Create New Account."
Here you will be asked for you last name and pilot certificate
number.
Be careful, if you are using your student pilot certificate you
do not need to include the hyphen (-).

Web: www.duats.com

After you are finished registering and setting up a profile for
yourself and your aircraft, you can enjoy unlimited weather
and flight planning using your access code and password.

Mobile: www.duats.com/mobile

24/7 Technical Support: 1-800-345-3828, option #3 or 4
http://www.gkairshows.com http://www.duats.com http://www.duats.com/mobile http://www.duats.com http://www.duats.com http://www.duats.com http://www.duats.com/mobile
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2014
