What kind of hobbies do you enjoy when you are not flying?
Surfing, climbing, Tool, Black Sabbath, making gear, explosions, fire, sailing,
diving, swimming, . . .
Got any thermaling tips you would care to share?
Every flight is a learning experience, to refine the idea of how lift
behaves, where it is, and how it flows. The best analogy I have come up with
is that lift behaves like flames. All those hours spent staring into a fire
has paid off in getting a feel for the shape and nature of lift and it's trigger.
I began to re-define my perceptions, thinking of the
behavior of flames and smoke, and relating it to the ground I am flying over.
With this understanding, I began to find myself consistently out flying the local
pilots by tracking and finding
lift more often and more quickly. Perhaps it's just the 20 years in the business,
but I believe the dogma of thermals as "columns" or "bubbles" doesn't fit
the reality of the flow of air. Thermals and flames are very similar, only a few
degrees different in temperature. Both are affected by the wind and the change in temperature
in the column which it rises through. I hope in reading you will carry away
something that results in a better flight, as a result of a more perfect understanding
of this small piece of our universe.
What recommendations do you have for performing a loop?
Beginning in aerobatics I recommend that you observe and become familiar with heading,
bank angle, and pilot input at keel level in reference to the horizon at the bottom of
the dive and at the start of the loop. Become comfortable and consistent with where you are.
This will help to define the process and progress from wingovers to pitched
over steep maneuvers to loops in an incremental process of maintaining speed
and positive G while working toward lining up entry and exit heading and keeping
oriented.
One of the pieces of advice that helped me a lot in the early days was from Eric Raymond. I was having trouble staying on track and getting consistent looping, Eric talked to me about his technique and was able to determine that I was looking out the right wing and consistently banking to the right. He told me that he had the same problem that was cured by keeping his head straight and looking up, to pick up the horizon as soon as possible at the apex of the maneuver. This made all the difference, being able to pick up my heading and correct from near the top of each maneuver.
The most important thing to do in aerobatics is practice and to be ready for what can happen. Almost all of the pilots I know who have been performing loops in the last five years have had incidents resulting in reserve rides. I think it is because the stigma of certain death that was preached to me when I began in 1983-4 is missing to some degree in 1990-2000. Prior to 1985, glider design simply made it physically very difficult to gain speed, conserve enough energy, and execute a loop, without breaking the glider. Now, gliders are so fast and responsive that it is no longer true " You're gonna Die if you do that" because the glider has a reserve of speed, more than enough pitch authority, and a wider margin of structural integrity than ever before. It doesn't mean however, that the consequences for mistakes are less severe. It is still just as likely to tumble if the glider is stopped inverted with the bar pushed out, and still just as disorienting
to find yourself without a horizon and no airspeed.
What about the gliders, can they take this much stress?
There are no gliders currently tested to the speeds attained performing aerobatics.
While production high performance gliders such as the Wills Wing Hp have been capable of doing loops
easily since 1985, the margin for error remains very small and the consequences for mistakes are severe.
Be Careful! I recommend
having a thorough understanding of your equipment and a large reserve parachute.
If you're going to throw your chute, buy one with the lowest possible rate of descent.
It's bad enough when you break your glider. Standing up a landing under a reserve
is one of the most precious moments you may ever live to tell.
Gotta TIWTIWGTD* story? (*There
is was, thought I was going to die)
There are too many "no shit, there I was. . ." stories, two broken hang gliders,
two multi-thousand foot plunges under a twisted up paraglider, scores of near
misses, hundreds of incredible flights.
Any embarrassing moments you care to share?
There are a few pilots who I have known to be more conservative, better skilled
than I, who are now dead. The most embarrassing thing in life is to be well known
and crash. The most gratifying thing is to see the faces of friends helping my stupid
ass to the hospital. As much as I wish I could claim to never have screwed up and crashed,
I think it would be more foolish a feeling to become old without risking enough to have made
a difference in humanity's perceptions of what is possible.
To everyone who has ever helped me in the times I was hurt, you have my undying gratitude and
a debt I can never repay. I can only hope to be there for someone else who needs help.
Mitch, anybody you would like to acknowledge?
Flying has been an incredible gift, keeping me out of trouble at a time when
I would have been likely dead from drugs and alcohol. There have been many
who have helped me, if I leave you out please remind me, my parents, Wills
Wing, Rob Kells, Steve Pearson, my sister, Dan Raccanelli, Greg Smith, Steve
Hawkshurst, Eric Fair, John Heiney, J.C.Brown, Roger Hyde, and Larry Tudor. I
can't do justice to all the pilots who have flown with me and helped me understand
the nature of the air and gain a better understanding of lift.
Thanks Mitch, for sharing your time and knowledge with the Airsports Network.
Visit Mitch's web page and check out more of his story.