frankh

frankh

Well Known Member
Morning all,

Well this week is "vacation" for me where I have been attending the 10 hour aerobatic course at Wingover Aerobatics in Cresswell Oregon.

Steve Wolf is the instructor and is the Husband of Kathy Hirtz who did the rather stunning aerobatic routine in her modified "Wolf" Pitts at Arlington this year.

Steve is also a custom airplane constructor of some repute. He built the wings to Jim Wright's Hughes racer and currently provides custom wings to top airshow performers such as Sean Tucker. Personal friend of King Hussain of Jordan as he set up his Pitts display team over there.

Quite a resume...A tour of his very humble shop is one of the perks of the class...:)

I heard of steve through a mutual friend and decided to sign up for the class and took this week off to do it...Of course the WX in Oregon can never be relied on...In fact if it does't get any better today I might go shoot some IMC approaches instead!..:)

Anyway, I approached the class with having self taught myself an aileron roll and a split S...The thought of actually doing a loop brought me out in a cold sweat to be honest.

I have now done 4 hours of instruction and so far have covered. Chandelles, wingovers, loops, hammerheads, Cubans, reverse cubans, clover leaf...With the quarter roll on the way up (hard) and on the way down (easy), slow rolls, inverted flight, left and right spins...And the Zlin will flat spin (which I don't believe the RV will?)..Pull humpty's and push Humpty's. Trying to get the thing to fly striaght off the top of a push humpty when its complety stalled is a riot....That would have sacred me half to death 4 hours ago.

I did the loop on the very first lesson!....Needless to say Steve could barely get a word in edgeways after I did my first one...:)

A word about Steve's instruction style....Very laid back...I connected with him very quickly, he is a very likeable guy and has a great sense of fun. The only time he touched the controls was to demonstrate the more challenging manouvers such the hammerhead, but everything else he let me do the first one...One kinda feels like the first time one steps off the high diving board with this approach but its way cool when you do the very first one of anything!

Steve has a Zlin side by side aerobatic trainer (and a Pitts if your brave) with a 200HP IO360. Now having an RV with about 190hp I'm thinking this thing is high performance, will easily exceed redline in a dive etc etc...Nothing could be further from the truth. Its a tank and I seriously doubt if it had 300HP it would be as fast as the RV...This is a very good thing when learning Acro though, as things happen slow enough that you can see and feel every nuance, unlike in the Pitts where apparently you blink and its over!

Apparently it flys very much like English Bulldog which is used for primary instruction in the RAF.

You can literally point the Zlin straight down at full throttle and it would take all day to get to redline....:). It is setup with both RH and Left handed throttles...Excellent as I fly left hand throttle in my 7a.

One time I did the hammerhead and rotated too soon (no tail slides in the RV remember) at about 60kts and thing slideways upwards in the vertical direction. Steve even had time to explain what was happening while it was doing it!

So far if your in the area I would highly recomend Steve as an instructor. If I never do aerobatics (yeah right...I looped the RV on the way home last night...Yeeeha!) the fact that I have gone well beyond what I thought were the limits of flight are an invaluable lesson...Like flying an airplane at 30 knots and not staling it at the top of a hammerhead, even though the normal stall speed is nearer 50..And feeling relaxed while I did it....That is just waaay cool.

Hey, maybe I'll be able to look as cool as Bryan when I get my video camera set up...:)

All the best

Frank 7a
 
frankh said:
...the fact that I have gone well beyond what I thought were the limits of flight are an invaluable lesson...Like flying an airplane at 30 knots and not staling it at the top of a hammerhead, even though the normal stall speed is nearer 50..And feeling relaxed while I did it....That is just waaay cool.
Click to expand...
There is no doubt you're a better pilot for having this experience, and for having gotten it SAFELY under expert instruction.

That is exactly what I was talking about in this thread. Pushing your own limits, expanding your personal envelope to make you a safer pilot.
 
More Wingover

I just did my final flight this week and have a total of about 8 hours in the Zlin aerobatic trainer. Much of this time was spent perfecting the manouvers we did earlier in the week.

I was hoping to get the full 10 hours in this week but hadn't counted on my 46 year old body complaining at the workout it was getting...I was OK right up until snap rolls...then felt pretty green after 3 of them. They really are not all that violent but my stomach disagreed.

I therfore decided to cut the training short and go back for tha last 2 hours after I had tried everything in the RV in maybe a week or so.

Since Tuesday we have worked on 4 point rolls (a lot harder than they look), snap rolls..Ugh!..immlemens, vertical rolls, 8 sided loops and the ultimate...the inverted spin! Roll on top of a loop...4 point roll on top of a loop! tail slides Inverted flying making gentle turns.

Let me tell you if you have not spun inverted you havent lived!...:)

The really cool thing to me is that if you totally screw up an Immelmen (of course I haven't..:).)...and end up spinning upside down, it really is no big deal at this point.

My envelope has expanded way beyond what I was previously comfortable flying...Like right on the stall, sorta nervous about what happens if a wing drops...Or stalling with cross controls....Now as long as I got altitude I really don't care.

So far in the RV I have looped, slow rolled, barrel rolled, 4 point roll, flew inverted and hammerhead. I found that a 4 point harness is really inadequate for inverted stuff and when I connected up the crotch strap things were a lot more secure when flying negative.

The RV is a lot more responsive than the Zlin but I liked learning this way because the Zlin is a little harder to fly acro in my opinion and so when you jump into the RV you barely have to think about it, the control pressures are so light and it rolls fast.

Hammerheads are a delight, the Zlin's top of the green is 130kts I belive and its a heavy airplane...The RV with nearer a 170kt pull up to vertical, even with cruise power just keeps going up and up and UP...Its wild....keeping it vertical for a longer time gives you more time to practice.

I did a couple of half rolls vertically on the way up and down.

Now the big question...Would I put inverted fuel and oil in the next airplane?....Ya I probably would....:)

Now I wonder how the Pitts flys?

Once again as a plug for Wingover Aerobatics in Cresswell Oregon, Steve gets my wholehearted endorsement.

OK I now need to lie down.

Frank 7a
 
Awesome Frank, I'd like to talk to you about that sometime since I've given some serious thought to getting some aerobatic training as well. Happy vacation. Stop by sometime and chat if you like.
 
how much?

This is something I plan on doing prior to finishing my RV. But seeing on how all my money goes into the plane lately, how much should I start saving for a course like this? I guessing it will be more than the $47/hr I spend on the Citabria. ;)
 
Aerobatics in the Zlin

It's a good thing you took the course in the Zlin 'cause if you took it in the Pitts, you'd put your RV up for sale : )

Seriously though, Steve has to be the best kept secret in the Northwest for aerobatic flight training, and I try to get the word out about him when ever I can. He checked me out in my Pitts, and it was some of the most enjoyable flying I've ever done in my 2500 hours. Go see him, you won't regret it! Plus, there's always something great to see in the shop! Kathy's Wolfpitts is like an episode of Overhaulin' - looking at it today, you wouldn't believe what it looked like when he acquired it.

(And before everyone flames me, the RV's a great sport aerobatic airplane too!)

Josh P.

Portland, OR
 
Thats what I was told

Steve's shop manager Tony told me to be sure I could afford a pitts before I flew in one cus it would be all over the first flight!

Besides, going from the Zlin to the RV is a definate step up, makes the RV seem like the best aerobatic airplane ever!...Of course its not...But what I don't know won't cost me any money...:)

As to cost, the 10 hour course is $2550 but its probbly the best investment I have made in my flying skills next to my instrument rating.

Frank
 
Jim

Rivethead said:
Awesome Frank, I'd like to talk to you about that sometime since I've given some serious thought to getting some aerobatic training as well. Happy vacation. Stop by sometime and chat if you like.
Click to expand...


Yes I need to get your stuff back to you which I have finsihed with...I'll swing by in the next few days.

Cheers

Frank
 
Maybe

Flybipe said:
It's a good thing you took the course in the Zlin 'cause if you took it in the Pitts, you'd put your RV up for sale : )

(And before everyone flames me, the RV's a great sport aerobatic airplane too!)

Josh P.

Portland, OR
Click to expand...

True,
But try going 110 miles to the coast as we did yesterday in 36 minutes! ;) in any Pitts. I've flown two and the visibility sucks in straight and level flight. On the approach, if you can see the runway, you're too fast!

Nosir....... RV for me. Besides, we're comparing apples 'n cumquats.. :D

Pierre
 
Indeed

As Steve Wolf said (who incidently worked for Van a Loong time ago).."there is a very good reason there are so many RV's around"...Namely they are probably the only airplane that does everything so well.

If you can only afford one airplane the RV is it...assuming hauling dead animal's out of the wilderness is not your thing.

But if you can afford three airplanes?....Hmm, maybe the RV would not be one of them?

Frank
 
You must log in or register to reply here.