First aerobatic contest...

[Boss_BlueAngels]

Last weekend I attended Apple Cup 2008 in Ephrata, Washington. It's an annual aerobatic contest where aerobatic pilots from Oregon, California, Idaho, Washington and British Columbia come together to compete in aerbatics. I was unable to fly, due to mechanical problems with my instructors plane, but did the next best thing... photographed everyone else as they flew.

Aerobatics, for those who may not know, is a kind of flying that is similar to what you would see at an airshow with the planes doing flips, loops, rolls, flying upside down, and every other unusual attitude you can imagine.

This is my friends airplane, a Christen Eagle II

This is another friends plane, an Edge 540.

This owner came up from California in his Pitts S-1S Special.

An American classic, the Stearman biplane. It was a lot of fun watching this pilot fly the Sportsman catagory in this vintage aircraft used to train pilots during WWII.

Getting in the zone: This pilot visualizes his up coming aerobatic sequence by reading the figures on paper, and "hand flying" the routine by walking and using specific hand gestures to simulate moving the controls. He is the proud owner of that gorgeous Russian Yak-55M behind him.

I hope you enjoy the pics, it was a fantastic weekend and it was a blast to be able to meet so many amazing pilots. My goal is to fly for the next contest in Pendleton, Oregon next month.

 

[flying_kiwifruit]

Nice photos

 

[Megadylan]

awsome

 

[Megadylan]

seriously awsome,sorry for double post but i love planes

 

[Boss_BlueAngels]

Thank you, I'm glad you like them.... here are a few more!

^^This beautiful little red and white aircraft is a Super Decathlon and is very similar to the aerobatic aircraft I fly. The main difference is this one has 180 horsepower and the one I fly (green and white) has 150 horsepower.

^^This is a great little aerobatic airplane, the Pitts S-1 Special.

^^One of my personal favorites, the Extra 300L. Many great aerobatic and airshow pilots use this aircraft.

^^This airplane is known as a Wolf Pitts. There is a guy over in Oregon who designs specially made wings for the Pitts biplanes that gives them increased performance who is named Steve Wolf, thus the name.

 

[MarkEvan]

Your shots aways impress me Boss, I really like the angle on the Extra 300L.

 

[DRL]

I have 60+ hours of flying lessons but never got my license. I still love it and can feel the controls in my hands and feet. My first instructor told me I was a natural.
Love you photos.
Diana

 

[Boss_BlueAngels]

Mark - Thank you, I'm glad you like my pictures. I decided to have a little fun with that Extra 300L.

Diana- that's cool you have that much flight time. If you still have your logbook and ever wanted to finish up and get that license they're still applicable.


And just wait for next week... I'll have a load of pictures to post. I have my first real airshow of the season beginning on Friday with all of the performers (Thunderbirds, F/A-18F Super Hornet, F-15C Eagle, and the bases own C-17 Globemaster III's) practicing from noon to 5:00, followed by the aircraft arriving for static display. Which is at 47 right now and includes 2 F/A-22 Raptors, VC-22 Osprey, 4 F-16's, 3 A-10's, 4 F-15E's, and many, many more. The two types I'm mostly excited for are the Raptors and Osprey, as I've never seen either type in real life before. Also Saturdays show features a B-2 Sprit flyby (another airplane I've never seen in real life) and the show features the USAF Thunderbirds. I'm super-excited for that as I haven't seen the T-birds since 2005!