Amazing aerobatic flight
It has to be said, Britain has some of the best aerobatic flight display teams and pilots in the world. It is truly amazing to watch everything from heavy fighter jets flown in formation by a skilled RAF team, to a nimble display by an expert pilot in a privately-owned Chipmunk. No matter what the aircraft, performing incredible stunts in the air is always impressive.
We're now giving you the chance to see for yourself what it's like to experience the effects of gravity and all those varying G forces as you take to the skies in an aerobatics plane on these thrilling experiences. These specially adapted aeroplanes (they need things like header tanks and flop tubes to make sure fuel can get to the engine when in inverted flight!) are ready and waiting on the apron for you.
A variety of aerobatic-capable planes
We've got flights in all sorts of aircraft, including the high-wing monoplane Decathlon and the low-wing Slingsby Firefly, which are both often used as aerobatics trainers. Then there’s the wonderful crowd-pleasing Pitts Special bi-plane and the very rare Xtreme Air XA42. You can even do tricks in a vintage Stampe - proving there's plenty of life left in those old wonders yet!
But the gnarliest of them all has to be the the Red Bull Extreme competition-style Extras. These monoplanes are air industry by a aeronautical mile. And with a serious repertoire of tricks, it’s little wonder this
West Sussex aerobatics video shows you what the appropriately title ‘Utter Nutter’ experience involves. Watch if you dare!
So that's the plane sorted, now what about the pilot? All instructors are fully trained and qualified to teach and perform a full range of acrobatics in the air. Many of them are still active on the competition circuit and all are as cool as cucumbers when handling +10 to -7 G forces. They also manage to somehow keep their heads when all around them everything is literally spinning as they perform Cubans, chandelles, lazy eights, wing-overs, barrel rolls, Lomcovak rotations and knife-edge spins to the delight of the display-line spectators.
Perform aerial manoeuvres as friends and family watch
For your aerobatic experience, it'll be your friends and family cheering you on from the ground as you take off and get ready for your very own display sequence. Expect stall turns, steep turns and maybe even a bit of spinning if your stomach is up to it. The pilot will explain the manoeuvres before executing each one and give you some handy hints to avoid queasiness, such as looking outside the aircraft, lifting your feet up off the fuselage floor and holding on to the shoulder straps.
As well as actually experiencing gravity-defying moves on your aerobatic flight, you will also be able to have a little go at the controls too, allowing your to feel just how responsive in the air these agile flying machines are. Then it’ll be time to line up for your flypast finale that'll have the spectators in awe. Dare you go for the loop the loop?
