Kerry:
That sounds like the same flight I took in 1998. I got to fly the plane through a number of aerobatic maneuvers. Quite a thrill. Did they have your plane fitted with still and video cameras? Mine was.
Steve
No..it was a privately owned aircraft. I was walking the ramp on a Sunday at Kissimmee and the owner and I struck up a conversation at the airport while he was doing maintenance on the engine. When I told him I flew Stearmans out of the Washington MO FBO he invited me to go flying with him when he was finished. He didn't have to ask twice...!
I helped him put the cowl back on and next thing I knew I was putting on a parachute and being strapped into the front seat. He didn't even ask to see my license...But he had no video cameras. I guess they were not that common in 1995. That would have been nice but I was not about to complain. I offered to buy gas but he refused. As I recall there was a 2000 ft ceiling at the Orlando TCA so we flew South over the lakes until we had more room to play. Did several wing-overs, one loop and power on /power off stalls. I was surprised how fast that aircraft would spin right and try to go inverted in a power off stall. We flew over his grass airstrip at one point and he had two more SNJ's on the field. One he was restoring and one for parts.
After flying he commented when we landed that It was obvious I was a Stearman Pilot. I asked why and he said it was because I was "dancing on the rudder" during takeoffs and landings. He said most spam can pilots had dead feet...too slow to react on the rudder pedals.
Other than the initial taxi out, once we reached the active runway, he gave me full control of the aircraft with just verbal guidance until we were back down and on a taxiway. I did feel his feet on the rudders once during a touch and go when we had a sharp cross wind gust and I over corrected. Other than that it was like flying the aircraft solo.
What amazed me was that he put a total stranger into the front seat of a $150K retractable gear aircraft when the only controls for the landing gear were on the lower left side of the front cockpit. I don't think I would have had that much confidence in a stranger I had met only an hour before.
Bottom line...It was an experience I won't ever forget.
Almost as exciting as being one of four crew members aboard an S2 Grumman "Willy-Fudd" twin engine turbo prop making an arrested landing aboard carrier in Tonkin Gulf ... with one engine out...
