All posts by Terry Pitts

Terry is a retired school teacher, retired Army Reservist, and retired civilian Department of the Army Civilian working about half the time as a pilot and flight instructor. He has been flying since age 19, adding gliders in 2011. He's been an FAA certificated flight instructor since 2013.
Family

I became a flight instructor

I have been a glider flight instructor since May 2013. Some readers may wonder how that came about.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I did a glider add-on rating at Bermuda High in January 2011 before going to Germany the next month. In Germany I discovered how incredible soaring was compared to just gliding; I was hooked! In April 2012 I went home on two weeks of emergency leave. While there I took one day for myself, took the written exam in the morning and the checkride in the afternoon. No, it wasn’t quite as random/spontaneous as that sounds, it took a lot of email and telephone coordination to pull it off!

A year later I was home from Germany, demobilized from the Army Reserve tour that sent me there in the first place, and I had 90 days before I had to return to work. After some research, I flew to Phoenix, Arizona for the better part of a week to train as an instructor at Turf Soaring. An important criterion for the search was the availability of a Designated Pilot Examiner on staff.

After flying the ASK-21 in Germany for two years, it was hard to transition back into a Schweizer SGS 2-33, though the backseat didn’t make much difference after a couple flights. Each morning I would have a ground lesson on lesson plans, flight instructor skills, and other required ephemera needed to make the transition from pilot to instructor. Dan Webber (retired Canadian Air Force NCO with lots of glider time in Europe) was an outstanding instructor; I learned an incredible amount from him.

Saturday morning we’re talking about the schedule, and Dan realizes I’m leaving on Tuesday. That means there’s no way to coordinate with the Phoenix Flight Safety District Office for them to give approval for an Examiner to give me the checkride. I was a little disappointed about leaving without the checkride, but the training was so good that it was it was going to be OK.

At home with a signed FAA Form 8710-1 in hand, I had just 60 days to find an examiner to give the checkride. A few days later I get a call from one of the airline pilot members of Mid-Georgia Soaring saying, “Go see Bob Burbank at Citrus Soaring in Eustis, Florida.” I called. I scheduled. I went. I passed.

My son Sean drove down to Florida with me to keep me company (and hang out on the beach?) We checked into our hotel Friday evening. The next morning Sean dropped me off at the glider field for a planned orientation day, with the checkride scheduled for the next morning. After some conversation on the ground, Bob said, “Let’s go fly.” As we were climbing in the 2-33 he said, “Remember, I’m just ‘Bob the instructor’ at the moment. Later I’ll be ‘Mr. Burbank’ the examiner. Make all your mistakes now.” I guess I took him at his word, because there sure were some mistakes…

We chatted on the way back to the office with Bob-the-instructor having survived two flights with me. We sat down and he said, “Let’s get started!” I was a little surprised and it showed. He said, “You’re here, we have time, let’s do it.” So, without any time to mentally prepare myself we got started! Bob took me through aspects of Fundamentals of Instruction, Federal Aviation Regulations, and a long, long list of things he’s required to do. A few hours later we were back in the cockpit. Since all the mistakes were out of the way, the flying went great. At the end of the last flight, Bob put his feet up over the altimeter and air speed indicator and said, “Take me home.” I did. I passed. Sean arrived right on time to pick me up and I was then America’s newest flight instructor.

Flying

Glider Aerobatics, a new attitude

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The International Aerobatic Club says on their website, “Aerobatics is about safety and recovery training. Aerobatics is about being able to confidently and safely fly in all corners of the aircraft envelope. Aerobatics is about the sheer joy that this kind of flying brings. Aerobatics is about how this kind of training brings a pilot’s confidence level up and their fear level down. All of these things enhance flight safety, as well as being a heck of a lot of fun.”

The purpose of aerobatic flight is to instill confidence in the student pilot’s ability to handle the aircraft and perform precision maneuvers in all flight regimes.

New glider pilots don’t want to bank steeply enough in a thermal. If you can fly inverted, what’s 45 degrees? Learning aerobatics I discovered a whole new world of flying. I even allowed myself to get talked into a contest! I had the pleasure of learning aerobatics with a lot of enthusiastic (crazy?) people at Lasham, Booker ,and Dunstable in England as well as the Wasserkuppe and with the Aerobatic Enthusiast Group of southwestern Germany.

My first aerobatic test was the British Gliding Association (BGA) Standard Badge. Although I passed the test and paid for the rating, I never received the actual badge. At least I got my license back! Interestingly to me as a budding aerobatic enthusiast, the British approach just uses positive G figures early in training. The German aerobatic rating (see further below) includes rolls right from the start. Both countries have vigorous aerobatic programs, so I don’t know which might be better.

BGA-standard

The figures in the drawing taped to the instrument panel are:

  1. 45-degree down line
  2. Loop
  3. Chandelle (Wingover in the US)
  4. Humpty bump (canopy down)
  5. Chandelle
  6. 45-degree up line
  7. 270-degree competition turn

The figures for the German aerobatic rating are:prfungsprogramm-01

  1. Loop
  2. Split-S
  3. Immelmann
  4. Hammerhead (a.k.a. Stall Turn in the UK)
  5. Aileron Roll
  6. Hammerhead
  7. Aileron Roll
  8. 360-degree competition turn

 

The German Bronze Badge are:Bronze-Program

  1. 45-degree down line
  2. Cuban Eight
  3. 45-degree humpty bump (canopy down)
  4. Half roll, inverted to upright
  5. Hammerhead Stall
  6. Two-point roll/hesitation roll
  7. Canopy up humpty bump
  8. Quarter clover (a loop, rolling in the first quadrant to change direction 90 degrees)
  9. 90-degree competition turn
  10. Aileron Roll
  11. 45-degree up line

In practice, I was able to fly all of these figures well. I had stressed over the 45-degree humpty to the half roll to inverted, but it turned out to be much easier than I expected. Unfortunately, when I flew for the test I pushed at the top of the hammerhead instead of rotating. It only took a millisecond to realize it was the wrong thing, but it was too late. I expect to pass this next time I get a chance to fly aerobatics in Germany.

There are a number of PDF publications available related to aerobatics. The US Air Force has extensively tested the ASK-21’s spin characteristics, and the US Air Force Academy published an ASK-21-specific aerobatics guide. The

In contrast to most countries in the world, the US does not require any formal training or rating for aerobatics. New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority has Advisory Circular 61-12 Aerobatic Flight Rating, and Gliding New Zealand, Inc. published a companion guide, Aerobatic Flight in Glider.

The Federal Aviation administration has published Advisory Circular 91-48, Aerobatics-Precision Flying with a Purpose to provide advice and guidance on safe aerobatics. The FAA also has AC 91-61, A Hazard in Aerobatics: Effects of G-Forces on Pilots.

The British Aerobatic Association has a page where you can view power and glider aerobatic sequences for several different levels for the last several years.