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Had any good luck just lately? I have. My wife Maggie bought a few raffle tickets and to her great delight she won a prize and what was that prize you may ask. Well, it was either a free flight for sightseeing in a four seat light airplane or an aerobatic flight in an even smaller airplane with the Murcia based company Flight Fantastic. Having been aloft in small airplanes before this was great, however to be offered an airplane ride with aerobatics now you are talking a once in a lifetime thrill, so who could resist.
I rang Sara at Flight Fantastic to be greeted in a very friendly manner, which immediately put me at ease. After thinking about not having greasy food before the flight, as in my mind it was going to be a bit bumpy without a doubt, we then arranged a time and date. On arriving at the aerodrome at Las Martinez I was greeted by Sara and Hans, who are both very experienced pilots with many thousands of professional flying hours between them, mainly in aerobatics, which made me relax a little more. We had a little pre-flight talk about what we would be doing up aloft, I was then led to the aircraft, which was a two-seat (one seat in front of the other) biplane, made for aerobatics and in pristine condition. I then got in, fastened the full body harness, put on the headphones and was ready to go with eager anticipation. I still cannot understand how such a small aircraft can take off so smoothly on a non-tarmac runway and in such a short distance, but we did. Up we went and all the time Hans, the pilot, talked through the radio set to let me know where we were flying over and to let me get accustomed to being aloft in a small biplane. First we headed west over the flat landscape towards Corvera, where the new airport is being built. On towards Camposol, Hans flew us over where John Barber, our band's bass guitarist, lives in Sector A. After circulating a few times with the airplane on its side we then went on to Mazarrón Bay. Again we circulated a few times, on our side to get a better view of what was below. It is quite a pretty place from up above you know.
All the time Hans was flying very smoothly and in a very comfortable manner, very reassuring to say the least, knowing that we were going to be doing a display for all to see in its full glory, with me in the cockpit in front of the pilot. Yes, I was still a little apprehensive at this point!
We headed back towards Las Martinez taking a slightly different route and were flying much lower and slower that a jet passenger airplane. When we approached the aerodrome Hans started to show me what aerobatics were all about. What was to come was absolutely superb and a huge once in a lifetime thrill. |
I don’t know the technical terms for the rolling, twisting, climbing, flying upside down, spinning and all the other things that go into aerobatics, but I can honestly say that it’s the most exhilarating thing you could ever experience. Although it looks a bit bumpy from the ground not once did I feel uncomfortable or as though the aircraft was out of control. Hans flies very smoothly and is very reassuring, you would never get a ride like that on a rollercoaster! Just before landing Hans did his special little trick, which I am not going to tell you about. If you want to know, "You gotta go and do it!"
I would like to thank Sara and Hans at Flight Fantastic for donating this prize of a very memorable encounter with gravity. I would also like to thank my wife Maggie, who gave me the prize as she reckoned "You would have to be nutty to do it!" Go on, give it a try or make someone important in your life a special gift of a flight, whether sightseeing or aerobatic. They can be lucky also! |
