The L39 "Albatross"
My next 2 flights were in the L29 Albatross, a single engine twin seat basic and advanced trainer. After switching from the pressure suit to the G-suit, I was back at the taxiway to go through my next flight profile with August Reinbach .
This was to be an introduction to aerobatics in a jet. Once again, safely strapped into my ejection seat we were off into the sky.
No sooner had we taken off than August invited me to take the stick. I followed the Moscow River for a while at 500 metres before climbing to 3,000 metres to start our fun.
August took back control of the plane and performed a split S maneuver and when completed, invited me to once again take the stick and perform the same maneuver. We did this for several more aerobatic maneuvers before it was time to land.
After a short smoko break for me and a fuel top up for the plane we were off again this time for some more difficult maneuvers. Back upto 300 metres and we were doing loops, rolls, tail slides each time August would perform it then I would take control of the plane and do it too. I’m sure he had his hand very close to the stick but as far as I was concerned, I was flying the plane. My G-suit would inflate to stop the blood rushing to my legs and deflate again and again. My admiration for combat pilots increased with every movement of the stick. At one point, we came out of a tail slide into a loop with an invert at the end. I would have sworn we had continued the roll into level flight but as were emerged from the cloud cover, I couldn’t believe we were still inverted. It was an eerie yet fantastic feeling.
After 40 minutes we were back on the ground where August praised my piloting skills, very kind of him and it was a great laugh but I was able assure him I was no combat pilot.
What a fantastic experience.
If only I had studied more at school!!!!
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