Congrats Diana

[ScottPA]

Has anyone made a thread regarding Diana's article in Sport Aviation? Maybe it was AOPA Flight Training. I am easily confused and get too many magazines. At any rate, thank you, Diana, you are a true inspiration.

 

[Diana]

Has anyone made a thread regarding Diana's article in Sport Aviation? Maybe it was AOPA Flight Training. I am easily confused and get too many magazines. At any rate, thank you, Diana, you are a true inspiration.

Thank you Scott, that's sweet. And thank you for starting this thread. I think I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to make mention in the Flight Training magazine. There were a few comments in this thread about the article.

What is really impressive about the aerobatic community is how willing more experienced and knowledgeable pilots are when it comes to helping out and mentoring others. For example, there are several pilots here on this forum who have been a tremendous help to me over the years...people like Chip Gibbons, Ken Ibold, Stephen Gray, Lance Fisher, and now Dudley. Wes Jones (who posts here now), Weston Liu, Dave Pilkington, Tom Parsons, John Smutney, and Rob Holland have been a tremendous help from the StudentPilot forum over the years. Many pilots from the Citabria forum, including Tom Beamer, Niccolai Murphy, Adam Cope, Paul Thomson, Marijke, and many others have been quite generous in sharing words of wisdom and encouragement. I just hope that I can be half as good at mentoring others as these fine pilots are. If my passenger can finish his/her aerobatic flight with me feeling good and wanting more, then I have accomplished what I set out to do. Hopefully they will fall in love with it.

Actually, I'm not a very good or accomplished aerobatic pilot, at all, but with the help of those people I've mentioned (and many more), I've become a safer pilot. And they are quick to remind me that it's supposed to be fun while they tirelessly and patiently offer words of support and encouragement. There is a special camaraderie amongst pilots, and it's also quite evident in the smaller world of aerobatic pilots. So, actually, the article was really about all of the above mentioned people more than me.

 

[gonvrtd]

Diana

Congrats on the article and I hope I get to read it soon. You mention many helpful and inspiring people but you are too humble and you belong in that list as well. Thanks to reading your posts and corresponding via email I have finally finished my tailwheel transition and begun taking aerobatic lessons. It has been a long wait but well worth it and I hope to be competeing in the future. Thanks, and congratulations on the article again.

Chris

 

[Diana]

Hey Chris! Haven't seen you here in awhile...nice to have you back.

Diana

Congrats on the article and I hope I get to read it soon.

Thanks! I'm attaching a scanned version here (thanks again Brian! ) and if you are a member of AOPA, it can be read on-line here.

You mention many helpful and inspiring people but you are too humble and you belong in that list as well. Thanks to reading your posts and corresponding via email I have finally finished my tailwheel transition and begun taking aerobatic lessons. It has been a long wait but well worth it and I hope to be competing in the future.

I'm excited for you that you are finally back to doing some aerobatics! How's it going? Didn't know you were thinking of competing...that's great! I hope you keep us posted here.

 

[TeenDoc]

Hi Diana,

Congratulations friend. Very nice article. Hoping everything is going well for you and Tom

Gil

 

[ScottPA]

I decided to get my tailwheel first after not flying for 8 years. I drove from North of Pittsburgh to Waynesville, OH (40I) and stayed in a hotel for 4 days. It was a great experience to return to flying in a J3 Cub with no electric. It was very difficult being away from my wife and kids for that long, though.

I paid for $1000 in block time which was only $900 and change with the 10% discount. They signed me off earlier than I planned and I used the extra money on an introductory flight in aerobatics in an 8KCAB Decathlon and an hour instruction in a PT17 Stearman.

I started flying when I was 12 years old and have always wanted to fly aerobatics. I used to drive to different contests when I was in High School to watch. The contests were always much more interesting to me than airshows since there were less people and knowing the pilots were trying to really fly the maneuvers as well as they could.

I was extremely nervous prior to my aerobatic flight. I had wanted to do it for as long as I could remember but was so scared I would not handle it well. In fact, there was a part of me that was hoping I would not enjoy it. Once we took off, every ounce of fear or trepidation left and it felt natural, if that is possible. Now I long to do it. I want to progress, to understand and become proficient in every maneuver. Simply, I want to be a better pilot, to continually challenge myself in a safe and cautious manner.

Flying, itself, has always been hard to come buy due to the cost, especially aerobatics. We have a very meager amount to put towards flying per month but now that I have joined a local flying club, I should be able to fly more for less. I have been referred to a guy named John Dye in Salem, OH who instructs in an 8KCAB for $100 wet plus $25 for instruction. They have a box right there on the field as well. It is about a 2 hour drive from here but only about a half hour flight. To fly would mean adding $66 per hour to that which is steep but doable with proper planning, I suppose.

John also has a Citabria that he teaches TW in for $90 per hour but I believe that he only teaches aerobatics in the Decathlon. I have two good friends that have 3 7ECA's between them. I have gone flying several times with one and really enjoyed it. Neither seems open to the idea of flying aerobatics in their airplanes. I have not asked them directly.

It is painfully slow going with money and now that the Winter is setting in but perhaps this will let me save some and fly a lot when the weather breaks.

 

[gonvrtd]

I'm excited for you that you are finally back to doing some aerobatics! How's it going? Didn't know you were thinking of competing...that's great! I hope you keep us posted here.

Diana

Nice article, thanks for posting the link! Thanks, I have a thread over on student pilot and then I got lazy and forgot to post over here Its going well so far, we started off doing a bunch of different spins and I started to feel a little iffy and I was frustrated since we had been doing quite a few spins during my tailwheel transition with out any ill effects at all. I didn't want to quit flying so we just changed it up and did some aileron rolls, loops, and a couple hammerheads and then called it quits. I wasn't sure if I'd be interested in competition either but after reading about your experiences and talking with my instructor and other people at the school I'm flying at who are very involved in competitions I really want to give it a try. It just seems like a great way to get out and meet people and better my abilities. I figure its like when I ski; if I'm skiing alone I tend to relax and cruise down the mountain but when I'm with a friend or two we push each other to ski harder and better, so I hope flying a contest will eventually do the same thing and just help me improve over the years. Realistically competition flying is probably a long ways away for me but I am definitely interested and I plan on trying it out someday, hopefully sooner than later.

 

[Paul Allen]

Congratulations Diana. Your the most visible woman pilot we have here on POA. You are a true inspiration to all pilots, men and woman. A great ambassador for general aviation.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

Nicely done Diana, and valuable to all pilots for its PR and fun reading.

 

[wabower]

Don't lay it on so thick, she'll start believing it.

Congratulations Diana. Your the most visible woman pilot we have here on POA. You are a true inspiration to all pilots, men and woman. A great ambassador for general aviation.

It's kinda like the congregation that gave the pastor a lapel pin engraved with "HUMILITY". They had to take it away from him when he started wearing it.

 

[Diana]

Thanks everyone for all of your positive comments (and you too Wayne! ).

Congratulations Diana. Your the most visible woman pilot we have here on POA. You are a true inspiration to all pilots, men and woman. A great ambassador for general aviation.

That's very sweet Paul. Being visible is sometimes a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Ken Ibold was instrumental in getting me started in being published, and I am most appreciative for his support, guidance, and wisdom.

Plus, a lot of this has to do with people like Chip, who has, over the years been an incredible and patient mentor who has had to endure many phone calls and emails over the years when I was frustrated or struggling with learning aerobatics. He deserves a medal for that. Chip is one of those people who wants no credit and works tirelessly (often in the background) mentoring and supporting other pilots in several areas of aviation. He is a role model in being an ambassador for general aviation.

I started flying when I was 12 years old and have always wanted to fly aerobatics. I used to drive to different contests when I was in High School to watch. The contests were always much more interesting to me than airshows since there were less people and knowing the pilots were trying to really fly the maneuvers as well as they could.

I was extremely nervous prior to my aerobatic flight. I had wanted to do it for as long as I could remember but was so scared I would not handle it well. In fact, there was a part of me that was hoping I would not enjoy it. Once we took off, every ounce of fear or trepidation left and it felt natural, if that is possible. Now I long to do it. I want to progress, to understand and become proficient in every maneuver. Simply, I want to be a better pilot, to continually challenge myself in a safe and cautious manner.

Flying, itself, has always been hard to come buy due to the cost, especially aerobatics.

It is painfully slow going with money and now that the Winter is setting in but perhaps this will let me save some and fly a lot when the weather breaks.

What a neat story Scott...I hope you continue to find a way to keep doing aerobatics. It can be frustrating when aerobatic airplanes and instructors are so far away. And it's hard to justify the expense sometimes, but it's certainly worth it if one can.

Diana

Nice article, thanks for posting the link! Thanks, I have a thread over on student pilot and then I got lazy and forgot to post over here Its going well so far, we started off doing a bunch of different spins and I started to feel a little iffy and I was frustrated since we had been doing quite a few spins during my tailwheel transition with out any ill effects at all. I didn't want to quit flying so we just changed it up and did some aileron rolls, loops, and a couple hammerheads and then called it quits. I wasn't sure if I'd be interested in competition either but after reading about your experiences and talking with my instructor and other people at the school I'm flying at who are very involved in competitions I really want to give it a try. It just seems like a great way to get out and meet people and better my abilities. I figure its like when I ski; if I'm skiing alone I tend to relax and cruise down the mountain but when I'm with a friend or two we push each other to ski harder and better, so I hope flying a contest will eventually do the same thing and just help me improve over the years. Realistically competition flying is probably a long ways away for me but I am definitely interested and I plan on trying it out someday, hopefully sooner than later.

I haven't been over to sp.com for awhile...I'll have to run look! How neat that you are thinking about competing! I hope you will keep us posted as to how that's going.