I just found this thread. Thanks Ron for starting the discussion. As you know, I was completely unaware of IAC and the possibility of doing aerobatics in my RV-8 until I stumbled upon your presentation at Oshkosh 3 years ago. For me, it was a game changer.
Motivated by your speech and slides, I started doing aerobatics on my own, and then showed up cold at my first contest 2 years ago. Believe it or not, my first time diving into the box was
the very first time I had seen an aerobatic box with markers on the ground. Despite my almost comical lack of experience, I had a wonderful time and met some of the friendliest and most supportive people I know in all of aviation!
You can read the article about it that I wrote for EAA
here.
I had a good first year in competition aerobatics. I won first place in the Southwest Regional Series in the Sportsman category. I also won the 2017 California Point Series first place trophy. I've now flown a total of 7 contests, and will probably fly another 5 this season, including Nationals.
My trusted Vans airplane turned out to be my "gateway drug" leading to further advancement in aerobatics. I sold my RV-8 and bought an Extra 330LX. I'm now flying in the Intermediate category, and plan to move up to Advanced later this year. I've trained with Rob Holland, Bill Stein and Sergei Boriak, as well as many other talented pilots in my local IAC Chapter 62. You could say that I've gone "all in".
So why do I do it? First, I LOVE challenging myself to fly every single figure in the book as perfectly as possible. After 15,000 hours in 36 different aircraft, the only place I still find difficult and exciting challenges is in aerobatics. It's physical, mental, emotional, and an even spiritual experience when I achieve that elusive perfect double vertical roll and "reach out and touch the face of God". It's even better when I fly an entire tank of fuel doing snap rolls for Sergei, and I finally do a perfect snap and hear a Russian accent on the radio saying "good Karl, now go land and think about it."
Second, I think I thrive on "pre-game jitters". Living on the edge of something competitive just makes me feel alive. I got to experience it when playing football in school and when going feet dry in combat in my F-16. But at this stage in life, the only times I can feel the same sense of purpose is when I'm risking embarrassment in front of a crowd and 5 judges.
I tell everyone that if I can do it, anybody can. Walking into Ron's Oshkosh presentation was a random event that changed my life. I said "what the heck, I'll give it a try". Since then, I've had some of the my best-ever experiences in aviation.