Flying with an Airshow Pilot

Rennie Price is a professional airshow pilot flying out of Aurora Airport about 30 minutes south of Portland, Oregon, where we live.   I had the great privilege of flying today with Rennie in his Sukhoi SU29, one of the world's premiere aerobatic performance aircraft.  It was a totally awesome experience.

Sukhoi  SU29

 

 

Retired from piloting Airbus A320 airliners, Rennie now splits his time between flying airshows in his Russian built Sukhoi and flying business clients in an Astra jet, and when he's not doing either of those things, he's an FAA flight examiner and instructor at the most advanced levels.  Rennie is exactly what you might expect of a pilot who has logged 23,000 hours of flying time. He has a warm, cheery personality, and seems eager to share the joy of flying with aviation buffs like me.

Rennie Price

We were fortunate to have a beautiful morning to fly. Sunny skies with lots of puffy cumulus clouds to dance around. Getting strapped into the passenger seat of the two place SU29 was a bit of a chore.  After dawning a parachute,  I climbed up on the wing, and settled into the front seat. It's a tight space. The harness that holds you in has shoulder and leg straps that link together with double waist belts.  It's a very snug fit, as it should be in an aircraft designed and built specifically for flying aerobatics.  Next came the helmet linked by intercom with Rennie, who was in the pilot's seat right behind me.

 

Fifteen minutes later, the Sukhoi lifted off from the Aurora airport runway and quickly gained altitude. We headed east toward Mount Hood.  Once we were clear of the airport traffic pattern,  Rennie allowed me to take control of this most nimble and responsive aircraft. I was feeling a unique blend of  exhilaration and apprehension.   I hadn't piloted a stick and rudder airplane since I was tooling around in a Citabria more than 30 years ago.

The Citabria is a docile plane, designed to do limited aerobatics like loops and rolls in a fun but very forgiving way.  Comparatively speaking, the Citabria is a frisky donkey and the Sukhoi is a triple crown worthy thoroughbred race horse.  The Sukhoi has a large radial engine and big control surfaces, making for quick and unambiguous response to movement of the stick and rudder.  

As we climbed to a safe altitude for aerobatics, Rennie urged me to do some tight turns around one puffy cloud then another.  What a thrill.   Then, after he demonstrated  a roll,  I took the stick and rolled the Sukhoi a couple of times myself.  My effort was clumsy and graceless at first, but it got better with Rennie's patient coaching.  I rolled left a couple of times then to the right a couple of times. Awesome fun.  At that point, I was feeling a bit queasy.  After taking a moment to settle myself, we tried a couple of loops. What a blast. Finally,  Rennie executed a hammerhead; a very cool maneuver where you point the nose straight up then kick in right rudder just before running out of airspeed.  It was wonderful fun. 

A few minutes later, we were back on the ground.  As it turns out, we were only in the air for about 30 minutes. But what a splendid time it was.  I couldn't have asked for a more accommodating and patient facilitator for this experience than Rennie Price. He is an aviator at the top of his profession. To be able to share this experience with him was a great privilege.

These days, flying is an expensive hobby.  I'm not sure what the future holds for me in this arena,  but I still have my pilot's license.  I probably need about 15-20 hours of dual flight time to regain my competence.  If the stars align right, and such a course becomes financially feasible,  I still have the hunger to fly.  My time with Rennie Price only confirmed that fact.

Here is a link for Rennie Price's pilot training and airshow website   http://www.hammerheadaerobatics.com/

Here is a link to a video that features Rennie performing in his Sukhoi SU29 at an airshow...  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjgiRFhYgXA