looking to fly aerobatics in an Extra 300

[rppearso]

My life dream is to fly aerobatics in an extra 300, I just want to see if there are any areobatic pilots on here from modest beginnings and how you overcame the financial challanges of accomplishing this goal like finding a hanger at an established airport that was not a bigillion dollars, finding a plane, financing, insurance, how much did you have to make what kind of unique life circumstances helped you out (hopefully one of thoes circumstances was not inhereting a bigillion dollars as that does not help me lol). I got my degree in chemical engineering and make near 6 figures but as I go online to find used extra 300's and hanger space I am finding it hard to make the math work without putting myself into my 40's.

 

I guess im just reaching for straws, maybe I should have become a doctor lol. The price tags for some of this stuff is just staggering, but I definitly want to fly an extra 300. Maybe this is a dream that will go with me to my grave, I hope there is some angle im not seeing other than just inhereting a crap ton of money.

 

 

[Guest Crezzi]

Since nobody matching your requirements has answered, I'll say Hi & chip in with my 2c worth. Michael Schumacher didn't start out in Formula 1 nor did Valentino Rossi begin in Moto GP - I'd guess the same applies to elite aerobatic pliots also.

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

[rppearso]

Good point but what ever plane it has to be capable of doing acrobatics, you cant start off doing acrobatics in a cessna 150. Someone posted before you and then deleted there post but they were mentioning a harmon rocket 3, its a kit plane so that might be a good starter plane but the specs did not mention its G force rating, im guessing I would have to have it X ray tested several times through out the construction. The difference between flying and driving is there is no room for something to go wrong in the air like there is on the ground, if your cheap starter car breaks down or is not performing right you just pull over not so in a plane, you die or narrowly avoid death and end up with crap in your pants when you crash into the trees or worse than death life long injurys that prevent you from ever flying again. I have known the cost of the extra for some time I guess it was just a slap in the face when I started looking at hangers, run ways etc and the prices were 2 and 3 times what I expected, maybe the economy has to take a little more of a crap to bring the inflated 6 figure or near 6 figure hanger space or paved air strip property down to reality, maybe I will have to physically move before I start this endevor of course I would have to be able to get a job somewhere where there was affordable hanger space for long term lease or sale.

 

 

[facthunter]

Option.

 

There are aerobatic variants of the 2 seat Cessna's. Consider an aerobatic Texas Taildragger or a Decathlon/Citabria, at down to earth prices. Don't pull the wings off them, by being rough, and have all the inspections done. nev

 

 

[rppearso]

I have heard of the citabria, can you snap roll a citabria? Do they have enough HP to pull you out of a bad stunt? I dont mind fronting the money for a used extra300, like I said were I got the slap in the face was the hangar fees/leases/etc it was almost as much as the plane, which is insane. I did find a paved airport community with raw land for sale but its like 90K for 1 acre of raw land with natural gas hook up and I would have to drill a well and septic if I put up a house, I could just put up a heavily insulated concreat pad pull barn for pretty cheap and put in a natuarl gas heater, between the property and hanger that will put me at like 100K so maybe I will get the land and hangar first and then start saving for the plane, if I can get a potential fatty raise in the next month or 2 it might be sooner than I thought. I am hoping the economy will pull the price of that land down as alot of people are not in a position to be buying special use realestate of the already small percentage of people that are even interested in that sort of thing, thats my hope anyways.

 

 

[facthunter]

"Flick" Roll.

 

There is a recommended maximum speed to perform a flick roll (as we call it). This is due to considerations relating to fuel tank seam splitting. They carry 134 litres of fuel in 2 aluminium tanks .The smaller engines restrict the type of display . There are different categories of competition for you to participate in, if that is the way you want to go.

 

If you want to start off at a more "high energy" level, the Pitts are not dear, and a lot stronger, and smaller (to fit in a hangar). Nev

 

 

[rppearso]

Good call on the pitts, I believe there is a particular model like a S2B or something and they are around 150K used I have thought about them, you think thats a better plane than an extra 300?

 

 

[facthunter]

Pass on that.

 

Do you need the best set of golf clubs when you first start playing Golf? I thought the 2-seater could be bought for less than that and they are TOUGH. Once you start flying seriously upside down, you don't want a high wing and You are going to spend money on motors. Biplanes are strong(er). Nev

 

 

[rppearso]

I dont half ass anything if I cant do it right I dont do it at all lol, thats just my personality, I am hoping that this life dream of myn can be done right, I know im going to eventually want something hot and fast so instead of trying to fiddle around with selling a plane I might as well just get the one I want right off the bat. Thats good info on the pitts, I heard they were squirly on landing but thats about it. My goal right now is to secure some land on a paved run way, I just made some massive student loan payments today so as soon as thoes are paid I am going to seriously look into that land, once I have a place to put it and a place to land and take off I can start getting serious. However if someone knows of something that is cheaper but performs just as well and is not frumpy like that harmon rocket 3 I mentioned above I would look into it, some of thoes pitts look really squirly as there fuselage is really short and on top of that it makes them look like crap but the S2B is hot lol.

 

I am curoius what sort of circumstances transpired in your life to put you in a situation to come up with the cash to make something like this happen (fluke raises at an already lucrative carrer (this the one im hoping for lol), inheritance, stock market, the sky is the limit), im doubting sponsorships exist for stuff like this unless you are prior military or something and some company wants to take a chance and buy you a plane, thats a super rare one off though and definitly not in my stars. I am also thinking about gold as well, they are saying it could go to 5K an oz of course that would be because the dollar went to nothing and an extra 300 would cost over 1 million dollars so I dont know if that is a good investment stradegy, other than some kind of world comming to an end thing which I am not going to get caught up in the hiseria as I have flying to plan lol.

 

 

[Mazda]

There are lots of options, from Decathlons to Extra 200s to various Pitts models, but whichever you choose I'd suggest finding a very good aerobatics instructor.

 

Can I ask how much tailwheel and aerobatics time you have at the moment?

 

By the way, even fighter pilots have started out by doing aerobatics in a Cessna 150 aerobat. Everyone has to start somewhere! :thumb_up:

 

 

[Tomo]

G'day mate, I don't do aero's so wouldn't have much of a clue... but to me it might pay to start off with something a little less 'stressful' maybe than a full hog stunt plane. Just my thoughts.

 

Pitt's are pretty affordable by the looks of things, Here is one for $69,995. And I know a fella who bought one for $45,000, in mint condition out of the states... it now lives up north Queensland somewhere.

 

 

[rppearso]

That is a nice little plane and I do believe a pitts S-2B is a full hog stunt plane, unless I got the designators messed up, there is one that Jon Melby flys that is hot and I think I saw his on the internet a few years ago for sale for 150K, it was the pitts special S1-11B that was a sexy air craft.

 

Yea fighter pilots train in all kinds of things at the tax payers expense, I am hoping to avoid having to sell planes as you are likely to loose money in that transaction plus with special use planes I would imagine its hard to find a buyer, when I do buy a plane I will likely have to fly it up from the lower 48 somewhere back to Alaska.

 

Right now I am soloed in a cessna 150 but do not quite have my licence yet, I will have to finish up my licnece before I can go down and pick up a plane but the next step is getting a place to put what ever it is I buy, racking up hours in a log book is the easy part. Its like a video game, playing the video game and working up to expert at what ever game you have is the easy part, mowing lawns to buy the gaming system and games is the hard part. Once I have the financing logging hours is a cake walk, I have no aerobatic training but there is an aerobatic instructor in alaska during the summer months again not a big deal if you have an extra 300 sitting in a hanger ready to go, heck it ought to be free between his cost to train and me giving him an opprotunity to fly in an extra 300 or pitts S1-11B so im not to worried about all that, the writen for my private I have taken but it expired but it was a cake walk, im a professional engineer so a 2 hour writen is a cake walk.

 

My biggest hurtle now is $$$$$ and im curious how others did it, how they modified there lives, how much money they make and how they made it all work out. I have a plan and its working but it would be nice to shave off some time as it would be nice to be sitting in full hog aerobatic plane before im 40.

 

Just FYI I wanted to be a fighter pilot but not quite make it so this is the next best thing. I did have an opprotunity to fly in a T-38 and that was a kick in the pants, I ended up throwing up at the end but I think that was a combination of the extreme weather I was not used to in Texas in the summer and the G forces, had it been a moderate climate like Alaska in the summer at a constant 70 F instead of 110 F I probably would have been ok.

 

I have to pull up that email Jon Melby sent me from when he came up here to the air show a few years ago I think he recommended an S2B as a starter im just really worried about resale when I finally am ready to get the one I really want.

 

 

[Yenn]

There should be plenty of planes available in the lower 48, but you need to get them to Alaska. Never having flown there I am only guessing, but I would have thought for a low time pilot, the trip would be a challenge, especially the weather. You will need a stable plane for that trip and to have an instrument rating would be a great help. Getting the rating would also improve your flying skills and not really detract from the time available for aerobatics.

 

My suggestion, get a good aerobatic able, but stable plane and an IFR before taking it to Alaska. Take it North and start the aerobatic training. Have a look at the RV series of aircraft. RV6 especially.

 

 

[Mazda]

OK, I have the picture, and the best advice I can give you is to get together with a professional aerobatics instructor so they can sort you out. It's a very long way from being solo in a C150 to being competent in aeros in a relatively high performance aircraft. You'll have some work to do.

 

Have you spoken to your current instructor? What is his or her view on this?

 

Take your time. It is better to be a solid, safe, competent aerobatic pilot in your 40s than to try to rush it through.

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

Just out of curiosity (and apologies if you've mentioned this in your posts)....but have you actually done an aeros trial flight?

 

I agree it looks like fantastic fun from down here but it probably feels a fair bit different up there (dealing with G-forces etc). I'm planning on getting an aeros endorsement when I eventually get my PPL so I understand the appeal.

 

Just wondering if you should have a trial to see how you like it before actually buying a plane... :)

 

 

[rppearso]

I actually went up in a T-38 and it was a blast, it was a military pilot flying and we did aeros for about an hour, at the end of that hour I ended up throwing up but I was able to control the plane and withstood a solid hour before hurling. I think I would have done much better had it not been 110F outside where as alaska summers are a solid 70F so I was already getting into the plane cooking lol. No matter what I want to fly so starting with some land on a paved strip and putting up a hangar will facilitate any plane then I can get serious.

 

Still curious about peoples life experiences and how they were able to do things financially through out there lives to get into full blown areos.