February 2013 - International Aerobatic Club

I felt like George Jetson yelling,“Jane, stop this crazy thing!” whilethe dog Astro ran him too fast onthe treadmill . . .22 Sport Aerobatics February 2013Villela was out to prove his expertisehere so this was no less than a 3g figure.After a few of these I had enjoyedall I could stand. I said, “Great, Villela,that’ll do.” No response. “Youcan stop now.” Another 3g pull immediatelyfollowed. “Villela, let’s moveon to aileron rolls.” No response.“STOP!” I yelled but there was no endin sight. Apparently we were going todo crazy-eights until we exhaustedthe last of the fuel. I was trapped inperpetual crazy-eight land.Luckily, Renato was near thehand-held radio. But Renato wasn’ta pilot, and most pilots can rememberthose early flying days when wewere trying to understand what wasbeing said on a radio. Scratchy andcoarse, the words are hard to understand.That they are coming acrossin a foreign language just adds to theconfusion. “Renato, tell your dad tostop.” Nothing. “Renato, come in Renato!”I felt like George Jetson yell-