Did anyone feel 0 fear their first aerobatic flight?

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PrivatePilotStudy

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Yesterday I went up with my instructor in his Citabria. We did some tones of aerobatics most of which I was flying with him assisting. I expected some brown moments, I was super excited and not once felt scared, and even times wanted to push the plane even hard.

Anyone else have a similar experience?
 
Yea, but I was 15 at the time... Who has fear at that age?
 
Diana took me up at her farm 8 or 10 years ago. My first true aerobatic experience.

Fear? No.

Nausea? Yes!

The back of a Citabria is not a good place to first experience aerobatics. With my height, I couldn't see much so my gut felt the maneuvers before my eyes saw them. That wasn't good. I seriously doubt I would have had an issue in a low wing, canopied airplane or open cockpit.

Still a lot of fun though.
 
My first aerobatic flight was in the back seat of a T-6 (the cool old one).
I was sitting behind a man who holds a 0 (zero) license.
No fear.
I did some maneuvers and had fun, it was a blast. :)
 
Didn't feel fear, but am in the same boat with TimWinters about the nausea. The snap roll put my stomach in my throat, and then I got into an inverted spin at the very end which didn't help. Didn't lose it, but felt sick for about a day. Was an amazing time.
 
No fear nor sickness while getting tumbled in a Pitts. Pilot kept asking me if I was good. One of the best experiences of my life!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
Nope. No nausea either, but when I flew the maneuvers the acro pilot got nausea and we had to cut the ride short.
 
Fear? No but I did get queasy when we reached six G so that was the end of that. The only thing I feared was the harness holding me in.
 
Not sure that fear is the right word. I was just really excited, and because it was a good friend that took me up, I didn't want to disappoint him by getting sick, etc. Fortunately I didn't get sick, had a blast, and I can't wait to do it again sometime. I'd highly recommend it to anyone. :)
 
I've been teaching acro for many years. It's natural for pilots to feel a small amount of fear on their first acro flight lesson. Your entire flying career you've been taught not to bank/roll beyond x, and that's exactly what you're going to do on an acro flight. The fear is not rational if you understand aerodynamics and the limitations of the airplane... but people are often irrational. :-(

-RM
 
Long before I became a pilot, I was TDY at a recruiting station, and one of the airdales at the command wanted to know if I wanted a ride with him in the T-34B they kept nearby to keep the brown shoes current. After we got away from the airport, he asked me to cage the gyros and then tried to get me to toss lunch. No dice, I enjoyed every minute. After that he let me fly some and we did some local sight seeing. Nice flight.
 
Wow...I must be a real *****...I haven't done any aerobatics, but I think I would definitely feel some fear doing a loop or roll for the first time.
 
timwinters said:
Diana took me up at her farm 8 or 10 years ago. My first true aerobatic experience.

Fear? No.

Nausea? Yes!

The back of a Citabria is not a good place to first experience aerobatics. With my height, I couldn't see much so my gut felt the maneuvers before my eyes saw them. That wasn't good. I seriously doubt I would have had an issue in a low wing, canopied airplane or open cockpit.

Still a lot of fun though.
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I loved our flight together. :) The other day I ran across a picture of us getting ready to go up...glad I didn't make you throw up. :)
 
Me. Just airsick after awhile.

I've only once been afraid in an airplane and it was when I inadvertently entered a spin from a power on stall. Instructor on board let me do it (I wouldn't listen to his critique of my stalls) and we then went up in a spin-capable airplane and did a dozen. Now they're fun.
 
I haven't done any aerobatics, yet. But I do remember my first spins, in a glider. Not so much fear as disorientation. I was in the front (CFI in the back), so I had a good view of the ground through that bubble canopy. I do remember pushing on the rudder pedals with both feet that first time, as if they were brakes or something.
 
Did anyone feel 0 fear their first aerobatic flight?
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Me. But it was pretty mild acro in the back seat of a Citabria. Rolls and loops. Buzzing the river. Biggest problem was staying away from the stick, with my size and height it was difficult to stay out of the way of full control movement. My friend let me fly the approach but I was uncomfortable doing the landing from the back seat so I gave the airplane back to him.
 
There were some things I was okay with but he had to talk me into tail slides.... The thought of falling backwards to earth still makes my palms sweaty.
 
Probability states most folks deaths will be boring.

I don't fear things like aerobatics, or skydiving, not really.
Changing lanes, intersections, tacticaled out john Wayne's, encounters with small down docs, etc, that's a whole nother story.
 
I was probably a little nervous prior to the flight, but once you get into it, its just a lot of fun. Definitely nothing to be afraid of, at least at the introductory level.
 
Yeh man I was nervous. Front seat in an Extra 300L with a 20,000hr combat-experienced Hornet driver in the 2 hole, an aircraft with +10/-10g capability and yeah, I was nervous.

I am man enough to admit it. And let me tell you, after I got comfortable with staring the dirt in the face, I learned to love aerobatics and left the nerves behind.
 
No fear, no nausea for my first acro ride (in a Stearman)... but I was 16 and afraid of nothing at the time...

A year later, with a brand new PPL, I was back for some official dual instruction in the plane, yee hah!

Back then (1977) that Stearman rented for the princely sum of $50/hour. As a broke college student I couldn't afford enough hours for a solo checkout in it, though (5 or 10 IIRC).
 
Did it once in a Citabria. It didn't scare me. I had already done spins during training so it wasn't all completely new. On the way back to the airport we flew inverted for a few minutes. After getting back a friend looked at me and said "if someone poked you in the eye you'd bleed to death." It broke the tiny capillaries from the blood pressure in the head from being upside down for so long. Had a headache for the rest of the day
 
I'm freaking out even thinking about doing aerobatics but I'm still gonna do it one of these days.
 
eman1200 said:
I'm freaking out even thinking about doing aerobatics but I'm still gonna do it one of these days.
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You should! I highly recommend Air Combat USA, out of Mesa, AZ. They have a 45-minute aerobatic discovery flight in a 2-place Extra 300L. Their pilot will do every crazy maneuver in the book, then hand the controls over to you and coach you through any maneuver you want to try. I did it with a friend and had a blast...we were formation flying out to the practice area, which was a cool experience in itself.

I only wish I could have tried more maneuvers. After the pilot's demo, lunch was threatening to come back out in "grocery geyser" form...I was able to do a couple of aileron rolls and loops before I surrendered the controls and asked quietly for "straight and level, please." :eek::(:D
 
I had just gotten out of the race car when I started flying. My instructor was also an aerobatics instructor and military pilot. He thought he could put some fear into me, but I have had worse aerobatics in a car....
 
My first aero was also with Diana (at Gaston's); not at all afraid, but perhaps a bit hung over...
 
I've never had a fear of it if I know the pilot knows what the hell theyre doing and there is no chance the airplane will come apart.

Chip at gastons in his extra 300 was an example of a no fear aerobatic flight for me.

I have done aerobatics with some folks in their experimentals before. Some fear there because I wasn't convinced the airplane wasn't going to come apart and I wasn't convinced the pilot knew what they were doing.
 
I was a little nervous but not actually scared. The thing that bothered me most was when the pilot said "...if I say bail out, unhook the headset and harness and go." He didn't really take the time to explain how to use the chute or for that matter even which buckles were the harness and which were the chute. It was a good thing I didn't need it!
 
SoCal RV Flyer said:
I only wish I could have tried more maneuvers. After the pilot's demo, lunch was threatening to come back out in "grocery geyser" form...I was able to do a couple of aileron rolls and loops before I surrendered the controls and asked quietly for "straight and level, please." :eek::(:D
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Yeah, in the future, don't do that. If you're a pilot then you are less likely to be sick if you're doing the flying. Even straight and level. Sickness comes from a disconnect between what the eyes are seeing and the brain expects or feels. So if you level out, keep flying, and look as far into the horizon as you can you'll feel better. And get some fresh air moving.

Just my two cents...
 
I learned to fly too many years ago, in our family Champ. Since then I have been a civilian flight instructor- and have taught aerobatics in everything from C150 Aerobats to Extras to Stearman biplanes- a military flight instructor (faip)in T-37's and T-38's, and an F-15C instructor, and, during my 22 year airline career I owned a warbird/aerobatic school, where we taught everything from basic loops and rolls to competition-oriented acro, as well as ACM/BFM in the T-6's equipped with laser designators.
I my experience, new acro pilots tend to be more afraid of being sick than they are of dying in a fiery crash! I think pilots are pilots, no matter where you are- the worst thing that can happen to a fighter pilot is to die while looking uncool- this seems to apply to most civilian pilots as well.
I will throw in one caveat- I have had students exhibit real misgivings before their first acro flight in a Stearman, due to the open cockpit configuration. Oddly, though, once they had a flight or two under their belt, they all preferred the Stearman- not for its snappy flight controls, because they are anything but, but for the visceral experience, you feel very much a PART of the maneuvers when you can feel every bit of disturbed wake and smell your own exhaust when you fly- or fall- back through it.
 
I must confess that I have been bitten and I am starting to talk to friends about who will be cool enough to lend me their aerobatic-approved toy. So far no takers. But I might have to put a different spin on it. (Pun surely intended) :D
 
No fear for my first. T-37 ride at Reese. IP demo'd the maneuvers, I practiced.
 
Navy recruiter T-34 1990. I had no fear because I didn't realize we'd be doing aerobatics. An hour later I still had no fear, just a bad case of air sickness. :(
 
First was in a 99' Super D. It was spin training along with basic aerobatics (Loops, Rolls etc.) I had some fear leading up to it, but adrenaline kicked in once we strapped the chutes on and the rest was history. Truly a flight I will never forget.
 
My first was in an Extra 300. I hate inverted Gs. I had a curiosity, now I have no interest.
 
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