Gene Lee of The HD Pilot has been taken aerobatics lessons from Adam Baker, a local airshow aerobatic pilot, in his RV-7A. In this video, Gene is learning spin recovery from a variety of spins that occur while flying.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb_lKYuKxvU&w=560&h=315]
Great show guys! What a great instructor and the student was having a blast. 3,300 hrs TT air taxi pilot, never been in a flat spin until watching this video.
Thanks!
Paul
All three videos are great, Gene. Thanks for sharing them. I am very happy to see that you were able to find an experienced aerobatic pilot willing to provide you with “log-able” dual instruction in fundamental aerobatic maneuvers in your OWN airplane. There are lots of people you can go to for dual instruction in aerobatics and spin recovery technique, but usually they want to train you in their own Citabria, Decathalon, Pitts, or other aerobatic airplane. There is no question,that is certainly a valuable experience. But the fact is, after the training, you’re still left with not having had any dual instruction in your OWN airplane, and therefore no way of knowing just how different the flight characteristics might be in your airplane in various aerobatic maneuvers versus the one you trained in. And, unless you’re willing to try some maneuvers on your own, you’re not going to know. That scenario puts me closer to being a test pilot than I want to be. So, good for you for finding Adam Baker. Here’s the deal. Like you, I have an RV-7, only mine has a tailwheel. No significant difference in the air. I also want to get some dual instruction in my own RV-7. I have a couple questions for you. First, how did you find Adam Baker? Second, how would you suggest that I, and other people in the RV community around the country, go about finding certified aerobatic instructors from whom to obtain dual instruction in elementary aerobatics in their own RV’s? I live in Battle Ground, Washington, just about 20 miles north of Portland, Oregon.
Sorry I didn’t see this comment here right away Steve, but I’m glad you liked the videos!
A few years ago I too started by having to get acro lessons in a plane other than my own. It was a in Citabria. While I did find that useful in getting my head (and stomach 😉 into the game, you’re absolutely right that it left me with the feeling of “what do I do now?” with respect to taking what I had learned into my RV. Finding Adam was a fortunate friend-of-a-friend deal. A fellow that had been in the flying club that I started flying in had went on to become a local airshow pilot, and through that experience he knew Adam. So when I told him that I wanted to give acro another try Adam came to his mind because he knew that Adam had experience teaching in RVs.
If it weren’t for my luck in having Adam available, and willing to flying in my plane, i’m not sure what i would have done. I’d been turned down by a couple of other airshow pilots saying that they weren’t comfortable doing acro in an experimental that they didn’t build. I can respect that.
So i guess i don’t have a silver bullet answer to hooking up with an RV-Experience airshow instructor. My next step was going to be checking with the (very active) RV community at my local airport (KTKI).