Those were pictures from the flight I took with Brett from Livermore to San Pablo Bay, Angel Island, over the Golden Gate Bridge then North along Rodeo Beach, Muir Beach, Bolinas, Point Reyes, Bodega and landing at Sonoma for lunch. Then direct to Mount Diablo and landing at Livermore. The first part of the flight was scenic and stunning from the Golden Gate Bridge to Sonoma with aerobatics on the way back to Livermore.
Barrelroll
Each maneuver required a dive for airspeed while decreasing throttle so as not to mismanage the prop pitch. Lowering the throttle seemed counter intuitive towards acquiring airspeed. I began compressing my lower body as I took short gulps of air through the maneuver and grunting an inarticulate exclamation. The barrel roll was really slow and wide. So much so that I was alarmed at the apparent slip at the top where things got dark in the shadow of the aircraft and the world was upside down. The Citabria is a slower aircraft making the barrel roll very different from what I anticipated. Even though I know these maneuvers by rote in the flight simulator, when I followed Brett through the the Barrelroll I could not determine what was going to happen with the stick. I thought I was tough enough just flying the simulator. Dude, not even close. It looks easy watching it but taking the controls in a maneuver was not something I was ready for. I really wanted to but it feels a lot different and given the strict safety measures I did not believe I was going to operate the aircraft safely. Brett told me I didn't have to push that hard for the G and I agreed since I felt fine so I figured I wouldn't try as hard during the next maneuver.
Into the Loop
The maneuvers were elementary in any flight simulator so you might think I was a wussy. Just diving to get speed for the loop was like a big drop in a roller coaster when you can't stand the drop anymore and the ride stops dropping because they engineered it to keep you sane. Well that wasn't the case, we kept dropping. Pulling up into the loop I didn't prepare for the G properly. My jowls sagged as my spine started to curl forward and I strained to keep my posture erect. The blood was draining out of my brain and I was disoriented. The air in my lungs wanted to leak out as I let out a low O sound. On the up line things started to go black but I thought it was the shadow of the plane. My peripheral vision went grey towards the center and I either couldn't see or wasn't aware so I can't tell you what happened until my neck nodded and I saw a yellow and whitish blur in the center of view. I think we were on the down line or pulling up almost to a break stall as the floor felt like it dropped out from under us. I felt cold and stupid, as if I let him down for not being up to the task at hand. I told Brett I think I blacked out. "Wake up Snack," he giggled. "Did you grey out?" I felt my wits with me and a bit better about myself. I smiled big and said yeah. Thousands of feet in the air, confined in a 5 point harness through a radical maneuver there is an element of fear for me. It is arguably a natural reaction but having the right attitude changed fear into exhilaration.
Hammerhead
The hammerhead was fun. In the Ciatbria it was a less violent affair than it was in the Super Decathlon. The up line into zero G was brief by comparison with the yaw into the down line still thrilling. The sound of the air moving past the cabin came to a stop then built up as we headed straight down. And by that I mean absolutely straight down almost hanging in my harness.
Over the bay
This was an intense series of maneuvers for me. After each maneuver I had to level out and let a few burps out... veggie burger with bacon. I may be a belly acher but you can try it and tell me what you think. As we flew across the bay direct to Mount Diablo I felt hot and sweaty. You might be nervous before a date with the devil. My arms were sticky and the level flight was helping me keep my cool. Calm, paced breathing helped relax me. Brett was checking in on me throughout the flight and having a good friend for company makes just about anything better. I took us into a descent towards a series of bridges and over Buchanon airfield before we climbed for Mount Diablo.
The Spins
At Mount Diablo we looked for a spot to do a spin where there weren't any homes below us. The tricky part was in finding a spot where there were no homes as the terrain below us got higher. One reason being the obvious safety precaution and another reason was not to terrify anyone gazing skyward from their home at a spinning airplane coming down towards their house. Lets be gentlemen shall we? A series of clearing turns and steep banks were required to scan for air traffic near us and below us since the spin resulted in a drastic loss of altitude. Here is a video of the break turn, a relatively mild maneuver
Executing the spin began by taking the aircraft to the minimum maneuvering speed which is the calm before the storm. Slowly approaching the minimum speed things got a little floaty. Just as it seemed cushy the aircraft rotated a nice innocent left then into a horrific satanic horizontal spin about the vertical axis. The horizon spun around in a 1,350 degree death defying spiral from heaven to hell at the devil's mountain. The nose pitched down so things got even worse before they got better. The whirring air subsided and before the spin recovery we underwent 3 G. It was intense. I think that was all we had time for. Up to now I was good to go. I reached for the big barf bag. My lymph nodes swelled with saliva pooling under my tongue. My arms were sweaty and sticky. Here the dizzy little polly woggies came in woozy waves. Behind my clammy brow a dizzy pressure swaggered through my head but I put on big boy pants so I did not fill that bag.
Failure
As we were in contact with the tower at Livermore a short in the box receiving the microphone wire caused an intermittent disruption in radio transmission. I was called upon to make a transmission to the tower when they transmitted a message asking if we heard them. I could hardly hear the tower and I was unsure of the timing to make the transmission so I could not be counted on. Fortunately when I was ready after clarification from Brett the short was temporarily fixed on the spot and we landed with out further incident.
This is a link to the video of us crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.
