Lets face it - most of us fly aerobatics because it's immense fun! However, aerobatic flying brings confidence, precision and a practical understanding of the finer points of aerodynamics unmatched by any other flying activity, making all your flying both safer and more enjoyable. We can provide the following training on the Slingsby T67 Firefly or your own aircraft:

Aerobatic 'Taster' Flights - for those of you who're unsure about whether you'd like to do a full course, but would like to experience the wonderful world of aerobatics, we can provide a 30 minute 'taster' flight. During this trip, the instructor will introduce you to maximum-rate turns, the loop, the aileron roll and the stall turn.

The Course

Initial Aerobatics Course - Our 5 to 8 hour aerobatics courses are carried out to the AOPA syllabus, and includes briefings on the legal, physiological and structural limitations on aerobatics, prior to revising the general handling exercises, including:

• Straight and level flight at maximum/minimum speeds and inverted.
• Stalling - including both level and dynamic stalls.
• Flight at maximum angle of attack.

Our revision also covers developed spins, practice forced landings and engine re-starting in flight and moves on to recoveries from unusual attitudes including the 'near vertical' and 'semi-inverted' - by the time you've had this little lot, your recoveries should be instinctive!

Learning the basic aerobatic manoeuvres is straightforward once it is appreciated that there are only three axes of motion in which the aircraft can move; pitch, roll and yaw. The three basic manoeuvres which illustrate this are the loop, aileron roll and stall turn respectively. Even at this early stage, the basic manoeuvres can be linked to form a simple sequence.

Once the three basic manoeuvres have been mastered, we move on to the barrel roll, the slow roll, cubans, roll-off-the-top and linking individual elements to form basic sequences. Your course will culminate in you designing and flying a pleasing sequence of six manoeuvres.

Have fun and enter aerobatic competitions!

Price

Slingsby T67 Firefly: £999

Pitts Special (Tail Dragger conversion included): £1,750

Prices are for 5 hours flight training and include VAT, approach & landing fees at homebase. If you are already partway through a course and need to complete it, please call us for a quotation.