If you fly for a living.....

[pierre smith]

....what do you do for thrills? I've been doing back-n-forths for 41 years now

I fly in a 35 mile radius spraying cotton, peanuts and wheat, so I've seen everything there is to see around here...all the ponds, alligators and cows.

Nowadays, if I start the airplane, not the 502, the RV-10, it's going to a direct-to destination, not a local flight. Day trips to BBQ's, Sun 'n Fun, the Biltmore, Spruce Creek and our own EAA chapter's grass strip and next week the Race to Ridgeland in South Carolina.

What do you pro pilots do to get your rocks off?

Best,

[JDRhodes]

Low level back and forths...

[Ironflight]

I was going to say Acro - at something ABOVE tree-top level.....

[pierre smith]

...would do the trick since I miss my -6A for occasional acro.

Flying under high tension cables and under the branches of tall oak trees satisfies my thrill-seeking nature to a degree but that's work now, more so than thrills.

Best,

[mv031161]

I breathe, live, sleep and make a living in aviation. I sell GA and Corporate wings and represent the largest Aircraft manufacturer in the world in a couple of countries overseas....

Flying is getting to be very expensive especially if you have an aircraft that wont take MoGas....by the 10th of this month I have already burned my flying monthly budget of just aerobatic flying over my airport which is btw, the only flying I ever want to do!

[jthocker]

Formation, now getting more into acro!

[RV8Squaz]

Pierre,
I had a conversation with Ken Kreuger about this a couple of years ago. At the time (my schedule doesn't allow it now), I was flying the airplane quite a lot (every other day). He asked me what I was doing with it. I told him... everything you (Van's) designed it to do and could do. I fly local late afternoon/early evening sunset hops at 500' to check out the scenery, early morning breakfasts sometimes before sunrise, numerous lunch destinations, take kids and friends flying, take my wife out on a lunch date, numerous local and regional fly-ins, aerobatics, and formation. I also find that most people are not 100% completely comfortable with flying at night or IFR. A round robin around Atlanta at night is wonderful. About once every couple of months I go up and do night pattern work at different airports. An overcast day with 500'-1000' ceilings and no icing or T-storms present is perfect for IFR work. I practice multiple approaches to include, missed approaches, and holding. Because of that I am 98% comfortable with my 430. I could use another 2% (gives me another excuse to fly more). I have taken my airplane into 1500' grass strips and 12000 x 200' strips at major Class B airports. An RV looks puny on such a strip and the visual illusions are challenging. For some reason it looks different in an RV than it does in a MD-88. I take the airplane to see my parents in Ft. Lauderdale, take it on vacations to the Bahamas, with my wife, and take my son anywhere! I can always find a friend I hadn't seen in a while whether it's someone in Macon or Texas. The other thing... and this is my pet peeve... most people don't know their own airplanes really well and what it can and can't do. How far will it glide? What is the fuel burn and distance flown to top of climb? What is your fuel burn, speed, and range at 5000', 10000', and 15000'? Can you make a safe landing if your engine quits on downwind? The other day I did about 7 or 8 consecutive 4-5 turn spins. I wanted to investigate spin rate, altitude loss per turn, oil pressure left v.s. right spin, characteristics with pro and anti-spin aileron, recovery hands free v.s postive control inputs. I think everyone could use getting to know their airplane a little better. What better excuse to fly? Take care Pierre. I look fwd to seeing you at the next pancake fly-in if I could ever get a weekend off.

Jerry
RV-8 N84JE
DAL MD-88 FO, Retired AF

[mv031161]

Originally Posted by RV8Squaz

Pierre,
I had a conversation with Ken Kreuger about this a couple of years ago. At the time (my schedule doesn't allow it now), I was flying the airplane quite a lot (every other day). He asked me what I was doing with it. I told him... everything you (Van's) designed it to do and could do. I fly local late afternoon/early evening sunset hops at 500' to check out the scenery, early morning breakfasts sometimes before sunrise, numerous lunch destinations, take kids and friends flying, take my wife out on a lunch date, numerous local and regional fly-ins, aerobatics, and formation. I also find that most people are not 100% completely comfortable with flying at night or IFR. A round robin around Atlanta at night is wonderful. About once every couple of months I go up and do night pattern work at different airports. An overcast day with 500'-1000' ceilings and no icing or T-storms present is perfect for IFR work. I practice multiple approaches to include, missed approaches, and holding. Because of that I am 98% comfortable with my 430. I could use another 2% (gives me another excuse to fly more). I have taken my airplane into 1500' grass strips and 12000 x 200' strips at major Class B airports. An RV looks puny on such a strip and the visual illusions are challenging. For some reason it looks different in an RV than it does in a MD-88. I take the airplane to see my parents in Ft. Lauderdale, take it on vacations to the Bahamas, with my wife, and take my son anywhere! I can always find a friend I hadn't seen in a while whether it's someone in Macon or Texas. The other thing... and this is my pet peeve... most people don't know their own airplanes really well and what it can and can't do. How far will it glide? What is the fuel burn and distance flown to top of climb? What is your fuel burn, speed, and range at 5000', 10000', and 15000'? Can you make a safe landing if your engine quits on downwind? The other day I did about 7 or 8 consecutive 4-5 turn spins. I wanted to investigate spin rate, altitude loss per turn, oil pressure left v.s. right spin, characteristics with pro and anti-spin aileron, recovery hands free v.s postive control inputs. I think everyone could use getting to know their airplane a little better. What better excuse to fly? Take care Pierre. I look fwd to seeing you at the next pancake fly-in if I could ever get a weekend off.

Jerry
RV-8 N84JE
DAL MD-88 FO, Retired AF

Hey Jerry: can you comment in regards to your spin experiences in the RV. Love to hear them all since I will start building an RV8 soon.!!!

[Jetj01]

I am finding one of my favorite things to do is take a pilot or non-pilot on an intro to aerobatics or formation ride...or both! Last week I had the pleasure of taking up a retired AA pilot with 18,000 hours on an aerobatic ride in my RV. He had wanted to fly in the RV just to see what they were like having been a production plane kinda guy all his life. Prior to flight he had warned me, "No upside down kinda stuff, I have a week stomach!" He, like so many others, had previoulsy been exposed to an aerobatic ride by some other pilot who had basically scared him and turned him off to 3-dimensional flight. After takeoff and after a few gentle turns and local flying, and with music playing in the headset, I asked him if he would be comfortable with a gentle maneuver. He replied he was enjoying himself and so I proceeded to do a barrel roll around the sun, never exceeding 1 3/4 Gs and with a slow roll rate and positive G through out. He loved it, "Again!" WE proceeded to do most postive G maneuvers. While he was still having fun we flew home. Upon landing and with a cold, tasty beverage, he said he'd like to learn how to do that and now we are making plans for his aerobatic lessons. A fifteen minute ride may have caused him some money in the future! After teaching aerobatics and formation for over 2,000 hours of IP time, it's fun doing it for fun and without the pressure of a mandatory syllabus, and with people who find out they really might like this stuff. Very satisfying for this pilot!

Tailwinds!

[Bill Wightman]

Hey Pierre! that would be formation flying, aerobatics, formation aerobatics. Also, a good dogfight once in a while is good for a pilot, just to stay sharp