Cleared to go

Welcome to the very first entry of Inverted Journey.  The goal of the site is to bring you along for the ride as I push towards a career as an aerobatic competitor and airshow performer. 

My career is in its infancy.  In fact I wouldn’t even call it a career just yet.  It’s out there looming on the horizon but I’ve got a long, long way to go.  At some point I’m sure I’ll write about my backstory; what I’ve done so far and how I went about getting the training that I have received but I’ll save that for a rainy day (which at the moment seem to be a-plenty.) 

 So who am I?  Chris Porter.  Commercial Pilot.  Certified Flight Instructor.  Manager of a flight school.  Airshow hopeful.  Airshow determined.  I’m 28 years old.  I fly a 1997 American Champion Super Decathlon based out of T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, RI (KPVD).  I've wanted to be an airshow pilot for as long as I can remember and am putting it all on the line to get there.  

 For years now, I’ve been watching the likes of Sean D. Tucker, Mike Goulian, and Patty Wagstaff.  I’ve always asked myself “how did they get to be able to do that?”  Recently I found myself on the receiving end of that very same question when some students found out that I go out and fly aerobatics.  It took me by surprise.  I suppose sometimes you don’t realize just how far along you are until you start to get people coming up behind you in trail.  I won’t lie.  It felt pretty good.  Still, looking ahead at how far I have to go it can feel like an insurmountable task.  

I’m inviting you along for the ride to see the successes, potentially stunning failures and the financial, personal, professional and whatever other problems/decisions I am faced with along the way.  I have to add that this website will not be a “how to fly aerobatics” website.  There is no way someone can safely learn to do this stuff simply by reading or watching a video.  There is no substitute for good instruction so, and I’m sure this the first of many times I will say this but DO NOT try anything you see me do on this site without obtaining proper instruction from a qualified flight instructor in an airplane that is designed for aerobatics. 

So here we go.