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fun day

Y

Yossarian

Lifer
my friend at work owns a Pitts, a high-performance aerobatic biplane. 260 hp, about 1100 lbs. after many months of bugging him I finally got a ride today. I had to get up at 5:30 but it was worth it.

the ride
note the placard
my fat head

that plane is insane. it climbs and accelerates like you wouldn't believe. the pilot flies from the rear seat but there are controls in front as well. you have to wear a parachute, it's crazy.

we flew to Van Nuys, CA to meet up with one of his wealthy friends who owns another Pitts. flying with him is a world-class aerobatics instructor, who is currently giving flight instruction to Tom Cruise, who also owns a Pitts and flies out of Santa Monica airport. from there we flew to Camarillo airport for lunch.

another shot

then we met a former marine F18 pilot who owns an Extra 300, another insane aerobatic aircraft.

we did a 3-plane formation takeoff and flew around for a while.

Camarillo formation takeoff
formation takeoff2
turning downwind
2 Pitts + 1 Extra 300
which way is up

we did a couple rolls but nothing too extreme, unfortunately 🙁

I got to fly a little on the way home. even though I have my instrument rating my friend didn't trust me too much with the controls 😉 he's very protective of his baby.

back at Hawthorne we saw this, piloted by 2 pretty cool cops.
cool helo gassing up

some short videos (thanks AaronB)--
inverted flight
roll
home base

all shots & video were taken with my Canon SD300.

 
I tell you man I was pretty nervous at a couple points. I mean we were about 10' from this guy's wing, doing 160 mph and occasionally we'd get gusts of wind that would blow us around some. not much room for error.

it tells you a little about the clientele at the Camarillo airport cafe that the pegboard on the wall has ads like "Porsche Carrera FS $87,000 OBO"
 
I live in Camarillo! 😀

My friend's dad has a hangar at the airport for his plane and also for his World War II Jeep and '55? Thunderbird. He also has a collection of radial engines from old planes. I would say he's pretty rich...
 
Originally posted by: Afro000Dude
I live in Camarillo! 😀

My friend's dad has a hangar at the airport for his plane and also for his World War II Jeep and '55? Thunderbird. He also has a collection of radial engines from old planes. I would say he's pretty rich...
Click to expand...

Not necessarily though. The pilots I know don't all drive new rigs, and elect to spend the cash on planes and proects.
Skip buying one Rolex and you can get a basket case plane with hours and hours of rebuild enjoyment😉
 
afternoon bump 🙂

I rode in the back seat today of a beautiful Piper Archer with my instructor and her instrument student. the guy was using expired charts, which can get you killed when you're flying in the clouds and using the charts to tell you where and how low to go to find the airport :|
 
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