A Year of Opportunities

I’m very excited to report I’ve recently enjoyed a rare event in 2020: an aerobatic contest! Yes, these are thankfully still possible! Provided the Contest Director demonstrates that local guidelines can be followed, EAA’s risk management team will provide insurance and the IAC will issue a sanction letter. If you hit a snag reach out to me and I’ll help out as best I can.

You can read all about that contest in our article this month on the “Corvallis Corkscrew”. Contest Director Travis Forsman did a great job with a slightly depressed turnout due to the continued closure of the Canada/USA border. Travis’s approach of a “no frills” event fit the situation well. He decided to hold the awards ceremony in a big hangar in lieu of an expensive banquet, and some corners were cut on the trophies. Everyone had a great time with no complaints about the simpler approach. In fact, I think this was one of the most enjoyable contests I’ve been to simply because everyone was so happy to be outdoors and sharing some time with each other.

This experience reminded me of how happy and successful people find opportunity where others cannot.

If you can’t find your way to a contest this year that doesn’t mean your fun has to wait until 2021. This year a number of chapters have converted their contests into aerobatic training camps which are much easier to hold in areas with strict social distancing guidelines. A 3 to 5 day camp is a fantastic way to pick up serious aerobatic skills in a short time, or to hone your judging chops. I know how easy it is this year to sit at home and watch TV, believe me, but we may never get a chance like this again to grow as pilots and volunteers without the pressure of a looming competition. Have at it!

If you aren’t ready for a camp you can use your free time to get some initial aerobatic and emergency maneuvers training. There is nothing like 10 hours of dual instruction to prep you for the next level of your aerobatic career. This week I pulled out my old copy of Rich Stowell’s excellent “Stall/Spin Awareness”. While a book is no substitute for formal training, I highly recommend you pick this one up if you can’t attend a week long instructor-led course.

Since I’ve had some time to spare with the temporary collapse of the airshow industry, I started teaching my girlfriend, Marianne Fox, how to master a tailwheel in a Super Decathlon. After a few flights she asked if I could help her overcome her fear of spins. Then she asked if I could fly through the Primary sequence with her. She had two hours of aerobatic time one week out from the Corvallis Corkscrew when she decided she wanted to enter in the Primary category. She asked me if I thought that was enough time for her to get ready and if I would be safety pilot for her. I told her all we could do was give it a shot and see what happens. We flew three flights a day every day to get her ready and she did a fantastic job, scoring just under 70% and, most importantly, NO zeroes!

Nothing invigorates us more than sharing what we’ve learned with an excited newcomer. An added bonus: when you teach you also learn! One of the things I learned, for example, is that I am a lot less tolerant of negative gs when someone else is at the controls! Take the opportunity to teach someone, to give someone a ride in an aerobatic airplane, to post a video to social media, or to write an article for Sport Aerobatics. The IAC needs your contribution. We’d all love to learn from you.

Speaking of learning, I’ve set aside some time this year to learn how to do something new. Tailslides in CIVA Unlimited competitions can now be preceded by snap rolls. Having flown maybe 100 of these (and probably 50 of them successfully) I can attest that this adds a difficult new challenge to this already challenging figure! After a snap roll an aircraft is usually left drifting in the direction of the snap. The pilot must get rid of that drift before the aircraft’s motion ceases or the slide will score a big fat zero. I have to admit that when I first heard about this change, I thought it was too much but, as I’ve remarked many times about aerobatics, sometimes what seems impossible one week seems easy the next. I wouldn’t exactly say these figures are easy yet but it’s definitely getting easier with every iteration and I am certain my tail slide technique is all the better for the practice. I hope you are all getting some great practice time in as well.

It is always a good time for learning, for mentoring, for practicing, for sharing, and for finding joy in the things you love. I hope you’ve had an amazing aerobatic summer and I look forward along with you to an exciting aerobatic fall.