Aerobatics and Wing-Walking
This weekend was FAB! Bf and I took baby to see his parents. Whilst we were there, Bf had an aerobatics flying lesson that his parents bought him for his birthday. Baby and I went along to ‘watch’. Unfortunately, all we got to witness was his take off, as they were far clear of the air strip by the time they were doing doughnuts!
He managed to achieve ever such a lot in the 30-40 minutes he was up there. He was able to master all of what he was shown first time and was subjected to over 4G’s worth of force on his body! I cant remember all of the names of the manoeuvres he tried, but I can remember these: barrel roles, loops, wing-overs, aileron rolls and stall turns, to name a few. He came back from his lesson looking like a child in a sweet shop. I have a feeling that our bank balance is going to take a pummelling financially as a result of his new flying hobby!
Not that I mind at all… In fact, I am very keen for Bf to become an accomplished aerobatics pilot, as I am desperate to go along with him for the ride when he is! I am quite a fairground adrenaline junkie; and aerobatics has got to be the ULTIMATE ‘rollercoaster’ experience. I have loved just being in light aircraft with him when he has done steep bank turns, and always hanker after a bit more!
In fact, most of you will probably assume that I am stark raving bonkers for this, but it has always been my ambition to go wing-walking… I even applied to the Utterly Butterly wing-walking display team a few years back. I happened to mention this to Bf’s instructor whilst we were there (after he asked me if I’d ever like to be a passenger in an aerobatics plane). He has given me the details of a company where I can do some wing-walking as an ‘extreme dream’ type of day experience-so I have re-applied to the wing-walking display team and in the mean time, I am looking into booking a session… I have researched costs, and it costs £550 ($1100 USD) for approximately 10 minutes in the air as well as the 45 minutes training (Eeeeeek)!
Bf thinks I am insane. He says that he can get his entire aerobatics rating for this cost; plus, he would never get into a plane doing aerobatics without being inside, and preferably at the controls, but I can’t help looking longingly up at the wing-walkers at air displays and wishing I could have a go too!
…Who knows… Watch this space, and I’ll let you know when I do 
For now, here’s a video of the team displaying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m4HCMN2vZg&feature=related
April 14th, 2008 at 11:39 am
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