December 5, 2004 - Loop and Roll
I have looped!  It was a Sunday morning and a good day for flying.  The weather was perfect:  sunny, cloudless, light winds and relatively warm.  Bruce and I headed east across the bay to Easton, got into the restaurant before a crowd arrived, and had a good breakfast (both of us for less than $10). 

Easton off our left wing.  There was a day when I thought this was a big, busy airport and stayed away from it.  I guess it is big as far as ground area and multiple runways.  But it isn't that busy. 

The mighty Citabria parked on the ramp in front of the terminal.  I'm surprised there aren't more planes here on such a good weekend flying day.
On crosswind after departure.  You can see a trailer park at the end of runway 22.  Wonder who was responsible for that great idea.
A good shot of the Easton terminal and ramp, left of center. 
Then we headed over to Ridgely. 

 
I dropped Bruce off, took all lose items off the plane, and strapped on the parachute.  I was definitely nervous.  But I had gotten training for this, had the parachute repacked, and all systems were go. 

I just decided to do it, and the nervousness disappeared.  The fuel tanks were 1/3 fuel, so the Citabria was light.  I climbed at over 1000 fpm to 5000 feet.  I did a few clearing turns.  Then I lowered the nose until I was doing about 140 mph.  I had planned to start with a wing over but then I just thought “let’s get this over with” and hauled back on the stick.  The Citabria zoomed skyward and had no problem in getting to the top of the loop.  At the top I pulled back on the power, eased pressure, then pulled back on the stick.  I started pulling G’s but I don’t think they went much above three.  I whooped as I leveled out!  The plane handled it well, no unusual noises or anything.  Yahoooo!   

I  did another loop, then two rolls.  The plane rolled sluggishly, but it did roll.  I did a couple of wingovers, then descended and landed.  One of the female Decathlon drivers – Sue – came up afterwards and thanked me for the airshow.  I think she runs the Women Fly business. 

The plane handled the G’s like a champ.  I felt really good about it. 

 
 
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