THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 28, 1995 TAG: 9504280526
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICHARD GRIMES, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
The key to surviving an aerobatic airplane ride with Ian Groom is all in what you don't do.
Don't eat a heavy breakfast on the morning of the flight. Don't grab the yoke that's bouncing between your legs, no matter how much you need something to hold onto. Don't forget which of the three quick-release handles belongs to your seatbelt and which belongs to your parachute. Above all, don't forget Groom's casually offered advice, which sounds something like this:
``If you look behind you and you notice the canopy's not there - and neither am I - it's probably a good idea to leave the plane.''
Hmmmmmm.
If you succeed in not doing all of tasks you're not supposed to do, you can relax while Groom puts the Russian-made Suhkoi-29 through 20 minutes of ``Immelman rolls,'' ``pulls to the vertical'' with ``multiple vertical rolls'' and seven G's worth of assorted other maneuvers. As a finale, you and Groom will perform a gyroscopic maneuver called a Lomcevak, which Groom modestly calls ``a departure from controlled flight.''
I won't say the ride was scary, but I could have gone swimming in my clothes - from the sweat. Groom, when I used the rear-view mirror that let me see the cockpit behind me, looked like he was delivering pizza. That will happen when you perform 70 times a year.
Groom will put on a similar show (but without a sweaty reporter) Saturday and Sunday at the Azalea Festival Air Show. Instead of using the Sukhoi-29, he will be using the single seat Eastman Kodak Sukhoi, the only Sukhoi-31 in this country.
``It's just the best acrobatic plane in the world,'' says Groom, who has been flying since he was 7 years old. He apparently believes in starting young.
``I took my son up,'' he says, ``and my wife nearly killed me.''
How old is your son? I asked.
``Twenty months.''
Groom is like that, self-assured, confident and an incredibly entertaining pilot. At one point, while we were out over the Chesapeake Bay, Groom cut in over the intercom to point out a palatial waterfront home.
``See that house with the pool?''
``Yep.''
``Let's simulate a dive-bombing run.''
The plane plunged into a steep dive, the house loomed into focus, and suddenly we pulled up, the G forces sitting on our heads like bags of concrete.
``We'd let bombs or missiles go right about there.''
I pictured happy, smiling, affluent people waving to our brightly painted plane, little realizing we had just bombed their pool.
After the ride, only one question was important. Had I kept cool under unfamiliar pressure? Would the pilots and public affairs officers ridicule me after I left?
``You kept your cool,'' Groom assured me. ``When we taxied in I gave a thumbs up to Buddy (the man who owns the SU-29). That means everything went all right and you didn't throw up or anything. Otherwise, I'd give this sign to Buddy. . . .''
He extended his hand and rocked it back and forth.
``That means `get out the rags.' '' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by BILL TIERNAN, Staff
Staff writer Richard Grimes, left, climbs into the cockpit of an
Suhkoi-29 with the help of Buddy Koehler, a pilot.
by CNB