This morning, Scott was kind enough to give me a ride to Colombia for breakfast in his Cessna 210. It was a quick, pleasant flight which concluded with pigs in a blanket at the Colombia Airport. The Rancho Murieta pilots fly out to breakfast practically every Sunday (it's our church), so this wasn't an uncommon event. For the flight back Dave threw out the idea of flying me back in his red RV-7. Since I had never been in an RV-7, I thought it would be a nice experience, but I didn't realize that I was about to have the time of my life.
The first thing you realize once you lift off the ground is how fast the plane is going. Our climb speed was 120 mph which is just as fast as the cruising speed of a lot of the other planes I've flown in. Then, I realized that we were climbing at 1,500 feet per minute. Dave told me it can climb at a greater rate, but he tones it down because if he climbs to fast, his ears begin to hurt. Simply put, the RV-7 is a rocket with a cockpit attached to it.
After Dave gave me some stick time, he offered to show me some acro. I had never been upside down in an airplane before, so I didn't know what to expect. It turns out that aerobatics in an airplane is probably the funnest and most thrilling thing you can do on earth. If you've never gone upside down in an airplane, you don't know what your missing. Words cannot explain the feeling you get when flying upside down.
I was giddy for hours after I made it back on the ground. This was my greatest flight of all time! I'm going to have to build a Vans RV-7! It's pure magic!
4 comments:
Awesome video! Thanks for sharing. You may have already come across it, but here's a great blog I follow about building an RV-12: http://schmetterlingaviation.blogspot.com/.
Welcome to the world of aerobatics!! The only thing I miss about flying General Aviation is aerobatics. I was hooked. I flew a Decathlon for years. It was fun, but then I learned to fly a Pitts... then I got to fly a Sukhoi a few times! Amazing machines!
You should look into a Phantom, it's an ultralight that is aerobatic. I would just make sure I had a BRS chute though!
Thanks for sharing Julien. I will definitely have to pay attention to that blog. There's a guy at my local airport that's building an RV-12 as well. I've noticed that it's a VERY light plane. The empennage hardly weights anything, yet it's still very strong. Simply put, RVs are awesome.
Jack, it's too bad you're missing aerobatics. It is something that I want to learn more about.
Even if you decide you can't afford that type of flying, you should take an upset recovery course. You'll learn the basics and it'll make you a better pilot. Not to menion it's fun!
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