The Vanderhoof Air show is back and on Friday Jessica Williams from The River and I had the opportunity to take part in the media rides!
Let me preface this blog by saying I don’t do well with rides, but I love them. It is a real mental and physical struggle I deal with anytime I head to a carnival or exhibition with friends or family.
When I was asked a few weeks ago if I want to head up in a plane and do flips and turns and loops, I immediately said YES PLEASE! … but then I remembered I don’t do well with rides. I was not about to turn back though!
As we arrived at the Vanderhoof air port it was very cool seeing all of the classic looking planes, as well as the newer looking, sleeker planes, at least to an uneducated flyer like myself.
We engaged in conversation with Stefan Trischuk, our pilot for the day. He talked about his interest in flying, the farthest he had flown, as well as showing us some of his footage of him flying on youtube.
Now I never mentioned to Stefan my struggle with rides, especially as extreme as this, but he did throw out some tips in case that was an issue. Never look down and flex all the muscles you can to get the blood pumping!
Getting in to the plane was crazy, there was about 5 heavy duty buckles needing done as well as putting on a heavy parachute (that was a little intimidating, but I felt safe in the pilots guidance).
Being in a bigger plane you feel the acceleration of the plane, multiply that a few times over and that is what it is like being inside the small performance plane!
You get up in the air much quicker and seemingly go much faster in a small compact plane like these, and we were off into the airwaves.
Flight is an insane idea to me and it takes a special person to want to be a pilot as you have so much responsibility in the palm of your hand!
The first trick we did in the bi-plane was a loop in the sky, even typing about it is bringing back the memories of how cool it was, while also being a little terrifying!
We then performed a few spins in the plane, as the entire world spun, and we were told earlier that the plane can do a full 360 degree turn in less than a second, which of course means the plane could potentially do ten spins in ten seconds, absolute madness!
The last trick we did in the air was hang upside down for a few second, and I also learned that the engine had to be modified for the plane to fly effortlessly while upside down!
What an amazing opportunity it was to get up in that plane to see what it is like to be inside the flying machine while doing those amazing tricks! But for me, as previously mentioned, as someone who doesn’t do well with rides, that will be my first and it will also be my last time getting in a plane like that! It’s checked off any list I had, and I’m glad I did it! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is seeking intense adventure!