The ultimate roller coaster ride!!

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With everything else thats been happening since we got here, I’ve really struggled to find the time to study for my air law conversion exam - basically a 90 min exam to show you understand the Aussie flying rules which are quite different to UK in three main ways:

1 - you need to fly upside down (obviously)

2- you need to be able to land as close as possible to a BBQ

3 - it is a pre-requisite that you have a supply of cold ones in a cool box in the luggage compartment for when you land at the aforementioned BBQ

So - I decided to take a couple of days off work and put my mind to it. I did the exam yesterday and passed it with flying colours - so the sky is the limit now - ever cloud has a silver lining - I’ll stop (land).

Anyway - recognising that I was taking my time to do the test, one of the instructors at the club promised me a fun flight in the new aircraft if I passed. So, true to his word, thats exactly what we did this evening.

As I drove over to the airport, an incoming thunderstorm looked set to ground us - when I asked if it was still flyable the answer I got was we’ll just dodge the lightning - perfect!

The new aircraft is awesome - totally responsive compared to the warriors which I have been flying. It took a wee bit of getting used to - I powered it up to start the take off roll and even the engine noise sounded really different - it needed a serious amount of rudder pressure to keep it in a straight line going along the runway. Before I knew it, it had more or less lifted itself off the ground with only the slightest bit of control input - really impressive!

So I was expecting my wee “fun flight” to be a general introduction to the Alpha - some steep turns, some stalls - just general handling. But nooooo...

We got up to 5,000ft and the instructor got me to lower the noise and bring the airspeed up to 130kts, so into a slight decent - as soon as it got to 130kts - he got me to pull it level - have a quick glance to make sure the wingtips were level with the horizon and then pull up - pull up - keep pulling up - come on - pull up... now, look up over your shoulder - the ground was now above my head - we were at the top of a loop!!! Keep pulling back, the ground started to appear from the front of the noise - and level off. Unbelievable!!!

Want to do it again, he asked - too right I did!! He helped me through another one, then I did one myself - I was addicted!!!

Next came barrel rolls. He got me to watch the wingtips, and then rolled the wings over so we were again upside down! This one I didn’t get so much, and I need to have a think about what was actually going on -its really disorientating!

Next we climbed back up, pointed the aircraft straight down vertically towards the ground and spun round and round - your life flashes before your eyes!! We recovered the spin at about 3,000 ft and climbed back up...

Next I was shown how to decent from 6,000ft to 1,500ft in less than a minute - basically kill the engine, stall the wings and let the aircraft fall out of the sky!

So we then had a look at the g-force gauge - we pulled 4.5 positive g’s and 2 negative g’s - which I was told was very smooth!! On the positive g’s I felt my mouth expand - probably about 4.5 times! On the neg g’s I got a taste for what it would feel e like to be slim!!

It was an awesome experience and I am now seriously hooked on it!!! Will defo think about signing up for an aerobatic course - its gotta be the ultimate roller coaster!!!

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