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This afternoon I’ll do something I didn’t know or think I would ever do.
I’ll be flying with World Advanced Aerobatic Champion pilot Rob Holland as he flips and dives high above Peoria.
When the announcement was made in our newsroom that he was looking for a reporter to fly with him, my cautious and slightly-scared-of-heights side hesitated. But then my carpe diem, do-it-or-regret-it side took over, like it usually does.
I’ll be boarding Holland’s MX2 monoplane built by MX Aircraft of North Carolina this afternoon about 4:30. If the weather poses a problem, the flight may be delayed until tomorrow morning.
The plane has more than 385 horsepower “powered by a Lycoming AEIO-540 Aerobatic Engine, and boasts a structural profile that can pull G-loads of plus/minus 16 G’s.”
I have no idea what any of that means. But it sounds cool.
“It means tighter turns and loops and a whole variety of maneuvers that will redefine the word ‘aerobatic,’” Holland said.
Tight turns and loops at high speed?
Bring it on.
Jennifer Freeman is a Washington resident and the editor of the Washington Times-Reporter.
This afternoon I’ll do something I didn’t know or think I would ever do.
I’ll be flying with World Advanced Aerobatic Champion pilot Rob Holland as he flips and dives high above Peoria.
When the announcement was made in our newsroom that he was looking for a reporter to fly with him, my cautious and slightly-scared-of-heights side hesitated. But then my carpe diem, do-it-or-regret-it side took over, like it usually does.
I’ll be boarding Holland’s MX2 monoplane built by MX Aircraft of North Carolina this afternoon about 4:30. If the weather poses a problem, the flight may be delayed until tomorrow morning.
The plane has more than 385 horsepower “powered by a Lycoming AEIO-540 Aerobatic Engine, and boasts a structural profile that can pull G-loads of plus/minus 16 G’s.”
I have no idea what any of that means. But it sounds cool.
“It means tighter turns and loops and a whole variety of maneuvers that will redefine the word ‘aerobatic,’” Holland said.
Tight turns and loops at high speed?
Bring it on.
Jennifer Freeman is a Washington resident and the editor of the Washington Times-Reporter.
