3:45 in the morning and I am woken up by the sun shining through the hotel room window in the 45° roof above my bed. 9:40pm you are still in daytime. After breakfast we head out to the training airfield 20min drive away to a little village called Matkópuszta. The aerobatic box is marked out in the farmer’s field right next to the airfield that has a grass runway more like those in the era before runway headings.
My coach is a short little Frenchman ex world champion affectionately named “Coco” officially Claude Bessiere (More about Claude Here) He has coached many pilots to world champion status and it’s an absolute honour to be in his presence. Coco does not allow you to fly less than 2 ½ hours after your previous flight and is very conscious about the pilot’s health.
Once in the air you receive continuous chatter from Coco on the radio and he is very strict, not allowing one deg off- line without letting you know about it. The French style of coaching aerobatic varies tremendously between different French coaches and most are excellent pilots but not everyone is a great teacher. Coco possesses both qualities.
The aircraft I fly is the Genevation Genpro. The aircraft is a tubular frame with composite carbon outer skins completing the fuselage. Lycoming Thunderbolt IO580 was the engine of choice with a MT- 4 blade to be replaced with the new 3 blade from Harzell by the time I am back again next week.
The Genpro is large aerobatic aircraft making it very visible for the judges. Technology used in the construction allowing the large aircraft to still have a modest weight of around the 600Kg is achieved by the Composite Carbon steel tubes.
The wing design is also altered from conventional allowing for extreme slow speed down to below 50kn. In the hand of the experienced monoplane pilot it is an absolute pleasure to fly and I found myself falling in love with it on the 1st day after 3 short flights.
My 800+ yak hours combined with 430+ slick540 have come in handy in flying the Genpro with clear understanding both ends of the speed spectrum. Although still new to this aircraft I find myself making friends very quickly a have high expectations with her.
Yak 52 Slick 540
The Airfield belongs to one of the top Hungarian aerobatic pilots, he recently purchased the airfield together with joining property with 8 chalets available for rental. Surrounding the airfield one will find fruit orchards and a lucerne field where the aerobatic box is marked out to international standards.
Aerobatic flights may start from 9am till 8pm with a break in the middle of the day from 12pm to 1:30pm allowing the local villagers and farms some piece and quite. I was fortunate enough to ferry the Genpro from Jakabszállás to Matkópuszta and that in itself was a great experience due to the grass runway that was not visible from the air until I banked 90 deg when the GPS confirmed I was overhead.
The flying schedule displaying and competing with the Genpro in the next 2 months starts with my next training camp in Hungary from 26 to the end of July. From there we head to Switzerland displaying at the Swiss Nationals, then on too Romania and the Czech Republic for a training camp with Coco in preparation for the European Unlimited competition and finally display at the NATO Airshow.
Busy time lies ahead and I look forward reporting back on our progress.
