The Red Pitts Keeps Staring At Me
 

I recently aquired a hangar in my little town. They don't come up very often, and so I jumped on the opportunity to move my 9A project into a hangar that has a neighbor. My neighbor is a Hot looking little Red Pitts that is currently resting in the corner. I believe it's an S1-C. It has a Lyco 290G 125horse engine and it looks like the old builder was very meticulous and did a great job. I don't know any details of the Pitts as far as engine time, logs, AD's complied with, etc yada yada. I did hear from the airport manager that it was damaged on a rumway mishap and then rebuilt by the owner.

My agreement was that I could move into the hangar as long as the Pitts could keeps its home until the owners wife sells it. You see, the fellow who built it recently died of bone cancer and his widow is in Hawaii for who knows how long.

Anyhow, I've enviosioning myself in that sporty little thing. I must admit, the thought is intimidating for this 300 hour non-tailwheel, no hair on the chest, pilot. I know I could fly her, but landing it would be another story. I know I could do it after spending some time with Mr. Budd Davisson in Scottsdale. See www.airbud.com. Have I gone insane! She sure is purty!

Anybody out there have some time in a Pitts and would care to share their experience?

Ed
N542A Reserved

Distractions
 

Quick, refocus on your project. There are a lot of distractions out there just looking for a chance to slow the progress of your real project. I know this for a fact. When you are finished with that "9", you will be a proud traveler.

Zero time in a Pitts but it is on this years 'to do' list.

You know you must have a airplane to fly while you are building. What better airplane to sharpen your skills than a Pitts...of course after thorough training.

....and it's a tail dragger, come over to the dark side!

I know this was intended in good humor, but I'll have to add my voice to the other side (from watching a number of builders in my EAA chapter over the years): If you don't have a plane while building your odds of finishing are higher.

But I agree a pitts does seem like a sweet plane.

Can you learn how to fly it? Yes, but it will take a lot of work in the S2 with a real competent instructor. How much money do you have to spend? You would do much better in a Citabria or such. It is far more docile and will teach you to be a better tailwheel pilot because you have to really work at it in a gusty wind. get 100hrs Citabria time and trasitioning to the Pitts is a breeze. Also how big of a guy are you? The old Pitts S1C is very tight and a heavy pilot can put it aft CG with low fuel. They are great aerobatic airplanes and a LOT of fun once you get comfortable in it. I have over 600 hrs in S2A, S2B, S2c, Christen Eagle and Acroduster II.

I have a buddy that has had a nice red Pitts standing on it's nose without an engine in the corner of his hangar for years. I asked him for it several times (this was years before my RV was even a dream - was flying my trusty big-engined AA1B at the time), but he never wanted to let it go. Finally, one time, he said I could put it together and fly it if I wanted....but then I got busy with other things, and never got back to it.

The one time I got serious about it though, I asked a buddy named "Hoot" who happened to be running the astronaut office at the time what he thought about the original Pitts. "Great airplane!" he said..."and the most difficult airplane I have ever landed...." Ahh....OK, thanks Hoot! I decided to pass....(he'd flown about 180 differnt types of airplanes BTW)...

Now I know it's just another airplane, and huge number of pilots have flown them. I am pretty sure I'd enjoy the heck out of one if I had the time....but way back then, with a lot less experience in my logbook, and not a lot of money to pay for a real, thorough checkout, it just wasn't a good idea for me....

Still want to try one one day though! :)

<end of story>

Pitts.
 

Depends on how straight the original builder got the landing gear axels. If they're true; landings will be as docile as a Citabria with a lot more control authority. If not; (which a lot of them were not during the early days) it can be a handfull.

I've flown 3 different S1's and all three were great. At the time I had about 10 hours in a Super Cub, 100 or so in a champ and about 10 in a Stitttts Playboy (darn BS remover won't let me give the name of Ray S**** who designed the Playboy airplane which Van started this whole series of aircraft around). S1's are different than the S2's, but the S2 would be good training for you.

Years ago, I read an article by Richard Collins (Flying Magazine) about the Pitts S1. He said that flying the Pitts was like having a Cannon Plug (direct connection) plugged into your Cerebral Cortex! He was right!!!

Red Pitts vs. RV
 

Snoop: I feel I may be somehow able to help. I bought a beautiful Pitts S2A that had belonged to two dear friends before. That was over one and one-half years ago. To make it easy to understand: Becoming involved with a Pitts is akin to having an affair with that irresistible female (or male, depending on who's reading this).. that just can't wait to hear your voice on the phone for another fling. You know it's way riskier than the average 172 or sunday school teacher, and you may swear you will not touch her again. Yet you go back for just one more fling. One more hammerhead; one more barrel roll, one more Immelman, one more....
And so it goes. When you are in her wings, she reaches deep into your aviator's soul and makes you rediscover things long ago forgotten inside of metal meat containers. The senses are awakened, and vital juices flow again. The airplane becomes an extension of your will as you master the intricacies of aerobatic flight and the foreign language of the Aresti chart. When the interlude is over and on initial, you peel back the canopy and let the cool wind tame down your fever, as the wind in the wires communicates the wing's intimacy with flight. Landing becomes a testament of your consummate skill. Wherever you do land, she propels you into an immediate rock star status. People stare, ladies swoon; big corporate-jet types cannot hold a candle to you, the aviator, as you casually smile back, carrying your 'chute. You lift thrilled kids over the coaming so they can peer into the cockpit, dark and inviting, smelling of leather, wood, hot oil, and manhood.
My recommendation to you is to not buy the Pitts, as it will distract you from your original goal of building your RV. There are many personal factors to be considered, and mine was the fact the previous owner of my Pitts was a WWII P-51 combat pilot, who stopped flying his (my) Pitts at age 83. Cancer took him not long afterward. His spirit is now much a part of this very special airplane, and I can feel it passing through to me through the stick and rudders; especially during aerobatic flight... we laugh whenever the craft flies through its own wake turbulence after a perfect loop.
I know there are other Pitts drivers that are also part of this wonderful RV family, and I'm sure they will weigh in with their input. In closing, I can olly say that we are a most privileged group of people, and that regardless of the aircraft we fly, the ability to build and fly aircraft such as ours is a chapter in mankind's history that may not repeat itself. Enjoy every aspect of it.
Respectfully,
Tom Navar
RV-8 QB
Temporarily on hold

English Major
 

Dang it Tom:

I didn't know that you were an English Major too. I have never read a better description of the lure that the Pitts puts on you.

Your description is poetry!

Ps Get to work on the 8

Tom,
You are a fantastic word-smith and poet! Wow!