Setting My Thoughts On The Pitts S2C (Flying Soon With Billy Werth)
Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 09:36PM 
Billy Werth from Grayout Aerosports and his awesome Pitts S2C (photos: facebook)
I'm just beginning to seek out the finer details of flying a Pitts S2C in preparation for going flying soon with Billy Werth from Grayout Aerosports in Indianapolis Indiana. His beautiful red-white-and-blue Pitts has recently been put back in the air after the typical winter tear-down for a hardworking aerobatic aircraft and there's a pretty good chance that my opportunity to give this hot and wild aircraft a try will come sometime next week.
I was extremely fortunate to have my dad teach me how to fly when I was just 13 (1974) in a Citabria 7KCAB that he had bought new in 1973. In the following 15 years I was able to build up quite a bit of time in a variety of fun and unusual aircraft, but the most recent 15 years of my life have been almost completely void of actual piloting opportunities. There's a range of reasons why, but especially these last three years (since AirPigz has been up) have been plagued by some pretty intense financial difficulties.
So anyway, you can imagine the excitement that's building at the prospect of strapping on a Pitts S2C with Billy in the back seat and seeing if I'm man enough to tame the beast! Actually, this is a good time to say that I don't think we're meant to tame an aircraft like this (or any aircraft for that matter) but rather our place is to work with the airplane balancing our skills against its capabilities... it's far more of a cooperative effort that leads to the greatest satisfaction and accomplishment in the sky. If you're really bent on showing the airplane who's boss, you're much more likely to end up licking your wounds.
Although it's been a long time since I've had my hands on a stick and throttle, I'm somewhat confident in the skills I still have. This is bolstered all the more by the opportunity I had last Sunday to fly with a new friend in his 1940 Taylorcraft. He let me make the takeoff and the landing and I was pleasantly surprised that I felt completely at home. In fact, I actually felt more competent than ever before because I'm a much more mature person than I used to be... and when that's added to the skills developed early in my life, I'm a more complete package as a pilot than ever before. No doubt tho, giving the Pitts a try will stretch all my skills significantly farther than ever before. I can hardly wait!
Reader Comments (3)
Flying with a light aerobatic biplane like Pitts S2C would be a sure fun! I can see that you've been good in flying aircraft since your younger years and that will be a sure advantage for you once you start flying with Pitts S2C. Have a great flight!
James David from Cessna 177 For Sale
Wishing you the best! Looks like a RIOT!!!
I haven't flown one yet but hear landings can be rather harry.