February 2013 - International Aerobatic Club

The Winner‘s Propeller!Fly the Champions‘ Choice!like Patty Wagstaffas shown herewith herExtra 300S!!Time continues tofly by and the secondsare ticking off.What will you do?tragic results of a poor, an untimely, orno decision to bail out.The key to your survival is you madethe decision to bail out before you wereharmed physically, emotionally, ormaybe financially. The point is you survivedto make other decisions and beginthe process of bailing out all overagain. We all do this. Life is exciting, butit’s also interspersed with the occasionalneed to bail out. Hopefully you’ll learnfrom these mistakes and are able to keepyour feet firmly planted on the ground,or in your aircraft. A longtime and verysuccessful friend of mine said he mademany bad business decisions over theyears and bailed out of many before disasterstruck. He also said, “I seldommade the same mistake a second time.”Bailing out of your airplane is notunlike the aforementioned scenarios.It requires making a conscientious decisionto do so, before time runs out.The big difference, when flying youraircraft, is that you are not affordedthe luxury of discussing it with yourfamily, friends, and peers or mullingover it for a day or two. Time continuesto fly by and the seconds are tickingoff. What will you do?You need to make the correct decisionand make it now. I’ve discussedthis before in many of my articlesand at my seminars. You must have aplan. Bailing out might mean turningaround and heading back to the airportbecause the weather is deteriorating.Maybe getting to that destinationis not that important after all. Flyingto visit a friend for lunch or that longawaitedfishing trip can wait when theweather turns a little iffy. They’ll understand.Remember, planes do havea reverse. It’s called a 180-degree turn.Bailing out might mean that funnynoise you hear as you’re about to goover the mountains should be checkedout before going any further. It couldmean sitting on the ground whenyou’re not feeling so hot. It mightmean postponing your takeoff at anairport with a high density altitude.Maybe the snap roll on the 45 downlineis something you might considereliminating from your routine.The sad thing is we’ve all read articleswhere people should have bailedout earlier, but something cloudedtheir decision-making and they didn’t.As a DPRE (designated parachute riggerexaminer) for the FAA, I occasionallydo accident investigations andhave seen the results of people whoshould have bailed out earlier, but forwhatever reason didn’t.You don’t physically have to jumpfrom your aircraft to have a successfulbailout. You just have to rememberto take that first giant leap of faithand just say no! I will not continue withwhat I’m doing or plan on doing. This isespecially true if it involves a passenger,who has put his or her trust andlife in your hands. That aerobatic rideyou promised him or her can wait anotherday. A rain check can always becashed in later. A bad decision cannotalways be cashed in. It may becrashed in instead. When the hair onthe back of your neck starts to tingleand stand up, maybe you should considerbailing out.Fly safely, fly often, and don’t beafraid to bail out.If flying in the area, drop in andsay hello.Keep the questions coming: allen@silverparachutes.com.IACSuper DecathlonPitts Model 12Available for almost every aerobaticaircraft, for custom built airplanes likeLancair, Velocity, Glasair or RV and formore than 100 certified aircraft types.Order your custom designedpropeller today!MT-Propeller USA, Inc., FloridaPhone: (386) 736-7762Fax: (386) 736-7696e-mail: info@mt-propellerusa.comMT-PropellerHeadquarters GermanyPhone: +49-9429-94090Fax.: +49-9429-8432e-mail: sales@mt-propeller.comwww.mt-propeller.comStay connected with IAC’slatest member benefit, theworld of aerobatics on theWeb, in our e-newsletter!To subscribe:www.eaa.org/newsletterswww.iac.org 27