Red Bull Question

[Maynard]

Hey guys, I don't know much about getting into aerobatics, but it's always something I've wanted to do. I'm wondering how it works to get started, how many hours of training, is there a flight test afterwords, what do you do after you've got the rating. Also, curious how one gets from 200hrs cpl to red bull? Just looking for some insight for down the road. Thanks!

[AEROBAT]

There is no requirement for a rating to do acro. You need an aerobatic instructors rating to teach acro for pay. To do acro with a passenger I believe you have to show 10 hours acro in your log book. The Red Bull guys were by invitation only at first. I think one of the requirements was to have been on the National Aerobatics team. Transport allows people with an ACE card to issue waivers for low level acro.

If you are really interested in acro you should get some dual from a aerobatics instructor. It really isn't all that difficult but if you screw up there is a good chance of killing youself. Whatever you do though do your acro in an aerobatic certified aircraft.

[AEROBAT]

Go on the EAA's website and look up IAC clubs in your area. There is one in Alberta and most of the activity is at Rocky Mountain House.

[Hedley]

how one gets from 200hrs cpl to red bull?

You start by getting your surface (level one - unrestricted) ICAS card, which is held by only a tiny handful of people in Canada.

Then, you get some big sponsorship - think millions of dollars - then you try out for Red Bull at their qualifying camps, where they mostly just try to figure out if you're going to kill yourself the first time around the course.

Flicking through the channels this weekend, I saw the Red Bull race on TV, and a surprising number of highly experienced pilots were disqualified for low flying in the few minutes that I watched before I got bored and changed the channel. IIRC a Brazilian red bull pilot recently crashed.

This is not easy flying. You should be able to effortlessly be able to pull +10G's.

Aerobatics is very physical in nature. You simply wouldn't believe how violent it is, inside the cockpit, and while that's going on, at the same time you must precisely fly the aircraft below Clmax. As a rough rule of thumb, if you're going to fly serious aerobatics, you should be strong enough to benchpress your own weight and curl half your body weight.

It looks pretty and fun from the ground, but very very very very few people are willing to make the required sacrifice in terms of money and time to ever get any good at it. You're going to have to sacrifice a big piece of your life - are you willing to give up on your marriage?

Realistically speaking, unless you've got a big pile of cash in your bank account and a lot of spare time and a lot of motivation and great physical conditioning, it just isn't going to happen.

[cgzro]

The planes cost about 1/2 million. Probably put 75K a year into them, perhaps much more.
10G is pretty normal and takes several years of regular acro / working out to accumulate that kind of tollerance. Like most aerobatics, its a sport for teenagers but unfortunately you have to be old enough to pay for he plane and wise enough not to kill yourself which is a skill most teenagers don't posses

Peter

[cdnpilot77]

The planes cost about 1/2 million. Probably put 75K a year into them, perhaps much more.
10G is pretty normal and takes several years of regular acro / working out to accumulate that kind of tollerance. Like most aerobatics, its a sport for teenagers but unfortunately you have to be old enough to pay for he plane and wise enough not to kill yourself which is a skill most teenagers don't posses

Peter

Further to that, each pilot owns his airplane and has to pay his crew, travel, shipping the airplane etc. Every piece of equipment for the series and the airplanes are shipped by 747 and it takes 7 loads to move everything. The pilots must pay for their share of the cargo space to move their own equipment on these flights. There are big costs involved and big sponsorship is necessary.

As a side note, my wife and I spent the entire saturday at last years race in Windsor with Peter Besenyei and the owners of MXS Aircraft, and it was some of the most interesting conversation I have ever heard. Must of it surrounded the fact that Peter had been required to do a forced into a field near St. Thomas, in his MXR, which subsequently flipped during the landing. This was during a press flight. The amazing thing was, he didn't have a mark on him. MXS fixed his airplane and shipped it to Portugal in time for the next race.

[Jerz]

If you want to be cometitive, you need three aircraft - one on site, one in transit, and one to train on...In the past you had to have Unrestricted (surface) ICAS waiver and compete at national level in Unlimited. Then you had to be invited and go to Austria for a try out, pass and be accepted by the comiunity. There was too many candidates, so the requirements got higher - now you need to place in top 50% at World Aerobatic Championship.
However, it seems, that if your looks and demografics may help to sell Red Bull Vodkas to teenagers, the requirements may be waved...
We have our own ( Pete) flying for Red Bull (my hat is off to you Buddy, you made it), so yes it is possible. Several milion dollar sponsorship would help.