Flight days?

[r1zeek]

Been doing a bit of early planning for my birthday present and I noticed you can do stuff like go to a track day and drive cars etc.

I was wondering, is there a place where I can arrange to fly a plane, not actually fly it but me sit in the "back" whilst someone does loops, rolls etc?

Sensible price aswell, something under £200 preferably and somewhere down in the South East would also be nice but I don't mind travelling for a couple of hours.
Hope someone can help

[MA_Moby]

if you want a good aerobatic experience then ultimate high are worth a look, though it's quite pricey - based Goodwood I think

http://www.ultimatehigh.co.uk/

cheaper would be to go up in a Cessna 150/152 aerobat, quite a few places have these. Just look for flying schools in your area - quite a few will have an aerobatic aeroplane of some variety. Google it, or try this search engine - http://www.flyer.co.uk/directory/index.php

This company does various deals http://www.deltaaviation.co.uk/html/exp_aerobatics.html
it might be cheaper to contact the operator of the aircraft direct as this looks like a 3rd party agent.

[r1zeek]

Highly unlikely but is there anywhere that allows you to fly in old world war 2 birds (I know there weren't many 2 seaters though appart from the Il2)?
Appart from that the Tiger Moth looked brilliant

[MA_Moby]

the closest you'll get is Yak trainers

you can hire a two seater spitfire but for £1000's

[r1zeek]

Ok, that's out....

Tiger Moth looks brilliant, I don't think I could really stomach real aerobatics though :-/

[MA_Moby]

If you get motion sickness in cars and stuff, then the full on stuff with Ultimate High in their Extra 300's might not be for you.

But in the Tiger Moth the aeros are apparantly quite gentle, very low G force, so you should be fine anyway.

You don't know until you try so try

[Nick]

You'll only really unload on a neg G manouvre anyway. Firebird Aviation used to fly from Denham when I worked there, this chap called Brian Lecomber was their lead pilot and a superb aerobatic pilot. He took me up in the Pitts Special a few times and I only wanted to shower chunks in the neg G loop.... or the tail stall.... or the outside barrel roll.... erm, ok, so it was a few times, but all neg G stuff... the more usual inside lopps, spins, stalls and rolls were fine... even the inverted spin (which is very, VERY scary...).

ps. If you do go up, make sure you brace yourself if they do a snap roll. Smacking your head four times on the side of the canopy isnt funny... specially when the canopy latch whacks you under the jaw...

[Hat]

yes there is.. let me see if I can find it...

There used to be a number of incentives run ar work based around aeorbatics in ww2 planes... all to do with Gary Numan or something....

lemme look around

Gary Numan Quote

"I was an examiner for a few years for the Civil Aviation Authority, I did low-level aerobatics, I’ve flown World War II planes at air displays and round the world and I’m cleared down to 50 feet."

Edit: Can't find it.. but I know for deffo that at the right price you can be thrown round the sky in the back of a ww2 two seater... buty a word of warning.. the people that went on this day out suffered really badly from throwing up everywhere! ( nothing to do with the 8 pints of lager and the dodgy peanuit before hand!)

Another option that may be available is to fly with Carolyn Grace in her converted MkIX spit....

"Tr9 ML407 (G-LFIX)
Delivered to 33 MU in April 1944 as a single-seat Mk IX, it flew 176 operational sorties and over 200 combat hours, being heavily involved with D-day. It flew with 485, 341, 349, 308, 345, and 332 Squadrons. In June 1951 Vickers delivered it converted to Tr9 standard to the Irish Air Corps. In 1960, it was retired to instructional airframe status. In 1968 it joined the pool of airframes for the film The Battle of Britain, but was not used. It was eventually purchased by Nick Grace, and was restored to the air in April 1985. After the tragic death of her husband, Carolyn Grace learned to fly, and now display, the Spitfire. It is based at Duxford Aerodrome, Cambridgeshire, UK, and flies in its wartime colours as OU-V of 485 Squadron.. (10/02)
"

... now a two seater.

[MA_Moby]

I've heard that the Grace Spitfire costs £2,500 for 30 minutes! Well, it is a Spitfire.

Didn't Gary Numan used to fly a Harvard?

That's a point, there are a few Harvards still flying (WWII advanced trainer) - especially in Canada. There is this one at Shoreham - pricey though - nearly £500 for an hour! http://www.warbirdflying.com/

But as said before, the closest thing to a warbird for a reasonable price would be a Yak 18/52 or a Nanchang C6. There are lots of these knocking about in private hands and a few flying schools operate them. G-YAKO operates out of Norwich, though the school's website seems to have disappeared recently.