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Dean Wingard Photo - Amazing!

ronschreck

Well Known Member
A few years ago I gave a ride to a gentleman while we were performing at an air show at Decalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK) in Atlanta. He was one of the most enthusiastic of the many riders I have taken up on media/sponsor rides. Shortly after he emailed a few of the pictures he had taken during the ride. They were awesome! Since that day Dean Wingard has become a great friend to Team RV (now Team AeroDynamix) and has taken thousands of pictures of the team at many air shows and has become the official unofficial team photographer. This shot showed up this morning on Dean's Facebook wall. Taken from Kahuna's back seat during an early morning photo shoot during the Boshears Air Show in Augusta, this has to be one of his best!

That's Jerry Morris (Widget) and me on the back side of a loop. If I had known the ground was so close I would have closed my eyes!


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Ron, what G loading does the team target for loops. The amount of elevator deflection is interesting. It gives some idea of the loads the tail has to withstand.
Great pic!!
George
 
We like to enter these at ~200KTAS with a smart 3-3.5 G pull on the entry. Speed is king for the slot or 2 off wingman (fingertip or vic loops with 5). While it CAN be done at 180KTAS, speed is king and gives us excess vertical for recovery outs, as well as a great float for the crowd. We will 'knock it off' on anything less than 180KTAS.
 
Safety first

A few camera ship notes for you.
The camera ship on these type shoots is tricky business when dealing with a photographer in multi ship aerobatics. There are additional considerations for position, power, G , lighting, weight etc.. Most good photographers are not pilots. By the time you get chutes, camera gear (heavy cameras with Gyros, battery packs etc) things get a bit dicey. Photographers are not used to G, things floating around etc when they are trying to shoot. You can imagine the weight of a nice SLR, monster stabilizing gryo etc under G and float and loose belts for him to position himself.
Add to that him barking commands constantly of what he wants which adds to the work load of a pilot(me) trying to fly a formation aerobatic position. Dean knows what he wants. At the top of one loop he said "Kahuna I need the wing dipped, the nose right and I need you to fly sideways and cockeyed. It will only take a second!" My response "Ahh. No Dean, we will not enter an inverted flat spin today if you don't mind." In the heat of the moment one might actually listen to him and end up in trouble.
My point is, while these photos are cool, do not translate cool into 'let me go try this.' There is far more to this than meets the eye. These pilots are professionals with a lot of experience and constant training. Trouble is never more than one stupid event away.
 
Safety indeed..

Nice pics and good post about safety. I'd hate for someone to have an incident because they took their buddy in the back seat and tried to "channel Maverick" for some impressive flying shots...
 
Kahuna, Great advice for photographers and pilots. I depend on you to fly me safely regardless what shot I am asking or looking for. Really enjoy flying with "Kahuna" we always end up with a few photos of Team AeroDynamix to display. Thank you for enjoying my Team RV (now Team AeroDynamix) photo... Dinomite
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NOT during a performance ...

I am suprised the feds let you take a photog with you during a performance. Very nice pic.

Chris M

This was during a planned, discussed and briefed photo shoot. It was NOT during a performance.

There are other great shots where Kahuna positioned himself in consultation with the appropriate flight leads, so the photographer could get the "great shot" of Team AeroDynamix (with the appropriate equipment) that made it look like "you are there".

All done in the appropriate places under the applicable rules.

"CB"
 
I am suprised the feds let you take a photog with you during a performance. Very nice pic.

Chris M


Not a performancs here, but you are correct in assuming no pax during a performance in waived airspace. The regs allow no one but essential crew during Airshows.

This was a well briefed photo session up at safe and legal altitudes with both occupants chuted up.

In our profession I can assure you that safety is always our number one priority.
 
A few years ago I gave a ride to a gentleman while we were performing at an air show at Decalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK) in Atlanta


I guess I misunderstood the first line of the post...

I have been the airboss several times when show pilots have tried to take passengers during their performances. I know the Lima Lima guys took a videographer up during an airshow performance at Rantoul AFB some years ago. I am not making a judgement just an observation.

I thinks its a great pic.

Chris M
 
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