Fulton County Acro Bounty

An hour and a half later, I popped the buckles off of my harness and climbed out of the airplane. My bare feet hit the ramp and sizzled from the heat. Parked next to me was a bright yellow Giles 202 with two pilots hanging on the airplane. I saw one point at my shoeless feet. “I’m not the barefoot bandit! I swear.”

Welcome to practice day kid. You’re gonna do alright.

Fulton County Airport is a picturesque one-runway airport a handful of miles north of Albany, NY. Tucked alongside the Mohawk River, Johnstown, NY is home not only to Fulton Airport (NY0) but also a fine town with the traditional offerings of homestyle eateries, and prepackaged, microwaved, artificial grub. The staff at Friendly’s must have a median height of 6 feet. I’m convinced the local high school girl’s basketball all work at the Johnstown, NY Friendly’s. We tipped well.

The airport hosted an aerobatic practice session. You show up with your airplane, your sequence and your humility and get critiqued from the ground as you flop around the sky over the airport. Unless you have someone spotting you from the ground you have idea if your loop is in fact round or if it looks like an egg. It is an indispensable asset.

I was the rookie. The other two pilots and two coaches have been around the sport for years and could fly circles around most of us with their eyes closed. It was a privilege to have their input.

Jim Wells of Ithaca, NY put out the open invite. It was his Giles I parked next to on the ramp. He had just picked up the Giles having upgraded from a Pitts S2B.

I had met Hans Bok before at Nantucket a few years back. His Sukhoi 29 sounds like a tractor on engine start; a beautiful, powerful, throaty tractor that bridges the gap between nostalgic radial engines and brute force

Hilton Tallman laughs more in one day than most people could hope to in a week. He knows everybody in the sport and I can bet that most people want to know Hilty. If you don’t, you are missing out.

Jim Ward just happened to be in the area. His Extra 300 lives in Washington state along with the rest of his livelihood. Jim offered some great words of encouragement throughout the day.

We each flew three times over the airport. This was my first time being critiqued; being in a waivered box; and flying acro over an airport solo. I had the time of my life. There is nothing that compares to the thrill of diving in to start a sequence. It is like plugging in your guitar when you get on stage, only at 180mph. I thought I knew what I was weak on and the day confirmed it. After trial and error and superb guidance from the troops on the ground my Immelman, and rolls on lines were getting much better by the time I had to head back to PVD.

Flying home I had the overwhelming feeling that I was finally participating in aerobatics. I made the turn from outside spectator and enthusiast to competitor. Enroute home, at 5,500 feet over New York State I finally started to feel as though everything I’ve been working towards and dreaming about is within my reach. The finish line has never been drawn and I don’t know that I ever want it to be, but I am finally in the race, and I am running towards it.

My first contest is Friday.