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Show 6A Lakeside Review South, Wednesday, October 17, 1984 CRAIG HOSKINGS often sees the horizon from a unique point of view while doing o J The compact red biplane buzzed over heads of spectators like an aggravated bee. With a tail of smoke, circling menacingly, it barrel rolled beyond visibility then circled back to the crowd along a Nampa, Idaho, airport runway. Craig Hosking, acrobatic pilot, pointed his flashy plane skyward; spiraling upward until the engine no longer pulled and before an astounded audience the Pitts S2B torqued backward, stalling in its own smoke. After falling more than 50 feet, Hosking cut the engines power and nosed the aerobatic airplane down for its next maneuver, a vertical roll up to a Hammerhead with a vertical roll down. - Not bad for someone who admittedly gets sick on amusement rides at Lagoon. With over 300 hours of aerobatic and 5,000 hours total flying time Hosking says of his experience, Its my job. aerobatic maneuvers. 0X0)10 Hosking, a hometown Bountiful boy, grew up around airplanes and helicopters at his fathers helicopter exploration business in Woods Cross. He could have flown solo at 12 years of age had he been allowed a license. But aerobatics is a new occupation to Hosking, who took his first aerobatic flight with a friend three years ago. Thats when I knew I had to get an airplane and fly that way, he says. He wanted a Pitts S2B, an airplane capable of flying unlimited aerobatics maneuvers. He knew he would be bored with the basic loops, slow rolls, and spins. I just know how I am, he says. After that first ride He started planning ways to get his own airplane, his wife Nikki says. I was more worried about the airplane falling apart than him doing anything stupid. After buying his airplane in December of 1983, Hosking spent a week in o Flori- da with Clint McHenry, a top world competition aerobatic pilot. His goal-- to compete on the national aerobatic circuit and perform in air shows. He learned two vital things in Florida: how to recover from a spin and to be smart enough to fly high enough. Since air shows are flown at lower altitudes than are competitions, some maneuvers swooping to only five feet above the ground, Clint made me promise to practice each maneuver 100 times and each sequence 50 times before flying low, Hosking says. He reminds others, Its critical that pilots know aerobatics should only be done in the right kind of airplane and that it should never be tried without instruction. After training in Florida, he went to work practicing and building air show and competition routines. With a pencil Hosking spent 30 hours figuring on paper a freestyle routine that would have a difficulty factor of 250K. taking maneuvers from the Aresti Catalog, 175 pages with a total of 6300 ma- and rolled and inverted (and a Lomcevak) neuvers and their difficulty factors. Freestyle routines can have a maximum of 20 maneuvers. On paper, a routine is a series of solid and dotted lines plotting paths through the sky. Dotted lines indicate the plane is upside down. Hosking is now working on a highest, unlimited competition routine, which appears on paper to be a scramble of dotted lines. This year, in his first year of aerobatics competitions, Hosking took first place in four out of his five competitions, all in the intermediate categorie. Air shows pay the way to competi-- ' tions held mostly out of state. So Hosking spends much time promoting his act, performing at air shows or rodeos or any celebration where his barnstorming brand of entertainment is welcome. In less than a year he has times, taking with performed twenty-fiv- e him Mrs. Hosking who sometimes narrates his program. At the Skypark Airport in Woods Cross, Hosking, who is certified to fly e airand instruct single and craft, helicopters, and instrument flying, teaches aerobatics in the Pitts S2B. The aerobatic trainer can perform any maneuver without risk of plane damage. It also has enough power to enter maneuvers from level cruise flight rather than from a necessary climb and dive for speed as must some other aerobatic dent can only stay up about 30 minutes. Its difficult to keep from getting air sick, it took me ten hours to get over it. Gradually, they will get used to it," says Hosking. Some aerobatic maneuvers such as the where the plane speeds along on its side a mere 20 feet above the ground, subject the pilot to six times the force of gravity. To prevent blood from rushing from his head and from blacking out, he must tense his stomach muscles while manipulating the controls. Hosking impressively closed his performance at the Idaho Airport Recognition Days Air Show, with a record breaking 26 consecutive barrel rolls, one for each year of his age, then safely landed and climbed out smiling, seemingly on a different kind of high. Hes never afraid, he says. The maneuvers are as precise and calculated as anything could ever be. When he does something, says his biggest fan, Mrs. Hosking, he goes all the way. knife-edg- e, multi-engin- Photos by Robert Regan Story by Cheryl Archibald planes. About five or six of his students are forming a club to get their own aerobatic airplane. A Pitts S2B costs $75,000, but a Citabrea aerobatic airplane is $15,000 to $20,000. The first time up, an aerobatics stu less--abo-- ut PILOTS NEED to speak with their hands to show their moves. IN r JUST A SECOND, one half of a barrel roll , takes Craig Hoskings from level flight to Inverted. " is so small and light one man can shuttle it around the taxiway. THE PLANE ' |