Flying over the Rockies
Thanks to Steve I checked another item on my “bucket list” this weekend. The call came at 9am and by 11am we were taking off from the JeffCo Airport in Steve’s custom aerobatic plane.
The plane itself is an impressive story. Steve put it together in his garage over the course of seven years. He even had photo albums on his iPhone showing the wings being glued together with a make shift clamp in his garage. He didn’t show these to me until after the flight. : ) But seriously, the plane is quite impressive. He has won a number of “best of” awards for his efforts.
The sun was out and clouds dotted the blue sky as we took off and buzzed by the famous Flatiron rock formation which create the back drop of Boulder, Colorado. (Check out some of the pics above. You can click on them for a larger image.) With the Flatirons next to us and Denver behind us we then made our way to Long’s Peak. It looked like Everest as snow was blowing off the peak and clouds engulfed the lower valleys. After circling by the famous Colorado 14er Steve let me take control of the plane! I headed over to Evergreen, Colorado and I was able to snap a few pictures of my home from above. It was amazing seeing the “lay of the land” from that perspective. In fact, I don’t think I’ll ever look at the Front Range area the same.
Next Steve took the plane back over the plains and while passing across the Rocky Flats introduced me to stunt flying. First we did a slow roll followed by a hammerhead manuver. These terms were new to me. The hammerhead involves accelerating the plane into a straight vertical toward the sky and then after the speed slows dipping straight back down into a dive toward the ground. We were hitting about 6 Gs with this manuver. Next we did a forward loop and then Steve started showing me some of the plane’s true grit. We went into a double roll that took less than 2 seconds. My body had never experience anything like that. To be going level with the horizon and then suddenly whip around twice in less than 2 seconds! I think my favorite manuver was the tailslide. Steve did this one twice. Here’s how it played out. The plane is accelerated to a straight vertical (just like a hammerhead) On the way up we did a number of roles. Then Steve idles the engine so the plane completely losses mometum until it simply stops climbing and drops backward toward the ground. There was a moment of weightlessness were I was looking straight towards the heavens, (I remember seeing a commercial airplane up above us one time) and then the plane slowly starts to fall back towards the ground. As it falls from the sky the plane will either flip forward or backward. As soon as it flipped Steve kicked in the thrust and we did a dive straight toward Hwy 96 before pulling up and out. We then cruised above Highway 36 before a smooth landing back at the airport.
What an incredible experience! Thanks, Steve!
