Our Aircraft

Students fly two different aerobatic aircraft: an Air Wolf M-26 and a Zlin 242L.

Air Wolf

Both aircraft are Lycoming-powered, with FAA Standard Airworthiness Certificates in the Utility-Aerobatic Category, and built to military training requirements. Because the aircraft have tricycle gear and don’t require tailwheel experience, students can do all the flying. Flight instrumentation allows unusual-attitude practice in simulated IMC. The low wings permit tufting for airflow visualization—a valuable teaching tool. Because the aircraft have flaps, we can demonstrate downwash effects and the concept of crossover speed. The aircraft are responsive, fully aerobatic, and capable of maneuvers including outside loops, tail slides, and sustained inverted flight. They’re rugged, fun to fly, and have large, comfortable cockpits.

Zlin with wing tufts.

Far better than an Extra or a Pitts, the Air Wolf and Zlin also demonstrate the coupled responses in yaw and roll necessary for understanding upset recovery in most other aircraft types, including swept-wing. These responses are tuned out of aerobatic aircraft certified under the lateral stability exemption of FAR Part 23.177(c).

Flying more than one aircraft type during upset training reinforces the ability to transfer recovery techniques learned in one cockpit to another. Confidence in that ability is crucial to reaction time, and essential in a future upset emergency in your own aircraft. Spinning more than one aircraft allows comparison of departure and recovery characteristics.