If anyone in Washington notices I seem to have an extra spring in my step today and that my words are flying out of my mouth at even higher than normal speed, it’s probably because I am still on an adrenaline high after flying with aerobatics pilot Rob Holland.
Holland is in town for the Prairie Air Show this weekend in Peoria, and he offered to fly a few reporters up in his Window World MX2 monoplane.
An 18-year veteran pilot, Holland, 36, spends summers performing aerobatics at air shows around the country. He has flown 162 different types of airplanes. In 2008, he became the World Advanced Aerobatic Champion and the U.S. National Unlimited Freestyle Champion.
This summer, he will fly in 24 air shows, including the Prairie Air Show this weekend and the Chicago Air and Water Show Aug. 14-15.
When Holland was young, his father took him to his first air show.
“That’s when I really fell in love with flying. From then on, all the model airplanes in my bedroom were hung upside down,” he said.
Those upside down airplanes are the indirect cause of the adrenaline still in my veins – OK, maybe it’s not possible that there’s still adrenaline in my veins, but if not, then the experience altered my brain somehow.
Holland’s Window World Mx2 plane is a stunt plane constructed of pre-impregnated epoxy carbon fiber composite material. It only weighs 1,240 pounds and has a 385 horsepower engine.
It almost looks like a toy, like a model airplane that could be hanging upside down in Holland’s bedroom in his home in Nashua, N.H.
Before climbing into the plane, Michael Ganor, who travels with Holland and acts as operations manager, strapped a parachute to my back and explained how to use it.
“Don’t worry, I have never used a parachute in 18 years of flying,” Holland said, watching me mimic pulling the cord straight out about five times.
“Wait, you’ve never used a parachute?” I asked him. “You’ve never gone sky diving?”
“No way. I’m not crazy,” was his response.
Well, I wasn’t so sure about that 15 minutes later high up in the air, when he said, “OK, here comes the tumble,” and suddenly all I saw was sky and ground whizzing by at different angles over and over. After listening to the recording from our headsets last night, I apologized to Holland for probably damaging his eardrums.
