More Pitts Flying HOBBS 1899.5 hrs

 

When I developed my training plan for getting ready for my first flight, I had a goal of 200 hrs total time, 25 hrs tailwheel, transition training, aerobatics and unusual attitudes. Well, I am closing in on checking off almost every bullet point. I am now at just about 198 hrs TT, 37 hrs TW, 5.5 hrs transition training and 5.9 hrs aerobatics. The only one missing is unusual attitudes and I have read Rich Stowell's book on the topic, which will suffice for now.

 

So, last Saturday I flew with Dagmar again after about a six month hiatus from Pitts flying. The break did me good, I felt much more comfortable in the airplane this time around. She also gave me my CFI spin endorsement in the ol' logbook, which is always cool to add stuff to the big book.

 

 

We did some refresher stuff, loops, emergency spin recovery and then worked mostly on hammerheads. The first time I did HH's six months ago, they seemed oh so easy and a ton of fun. Well, they are still a ton of fun, but I learned just how to botch one and what happens when you do. For the first couple, I was trying to hold my upline too long and my pivot came too late...which results in very nice inverted spins. I gotta be honest, even the screwed up HH's and inverted spins were fun! After a couple, I got it dialed back in, it was a good flight.

 

I have committed to flying my first aerobatic contest with Dagmar in the Pitts in Sterling, CO the weekend of July 12th. I am seriously thinking of flying my RV in some contests and this will be a great introduction to how it all works with Dagmar as my guide. Lastly, this training is getting me ready to fly aerobatics in my RV.

 

Here are some pics I snapped with my GoPro2 camera...it really does take very nice still photos, along with great video. I told Dagmar to fly for a minute while I snap some pics...she went hog wild flying several maneuvers over the course of several minutes while I enjoyed the ride and snapped about 50 shots...I don't know about you, maybe I am biased, but I think these are cool as shit! :) Life is grand.