48 Profile: Paul Bennet KATHY MEXTED

Fasterand Louder Kreisha Ballantyne persuaded airshowman and warbird scared of spins and stalls, they tend to look down on aerobatics as though it exponent Paul Bennet to sit still long enough for an is wrong. “Aerobatics inspire a lot of people, but we’ve come across a few interview. Kathy Mexted wrote up the story on one of old pilots who think aeros put too Australia’s air show stalwarts. much stress on the airframe. “There are people you wouldn’t expect that absolutely hate spinning f you don’t go near another fly. The next day Paul was at Royal stupid risks. I’m competitive and ‘out but sometimes they’ve become so computer for the whole week, Newcastle Aero Club enquiring there’ and will try new things, but I good at knowing how to stay out of just log onto Paul Bennet’s about flying lessons. like to be in control. I don’t persist it, they don’t get close to it. Some website and have a look at the “From being a qualified boat builder with things I’m not good at.” of the country’s best warbird pilots short clip on his home page. It and shipwright, I’d moved into making With an aerobatic rating, the goal refuse to spin, and while I can’t say involves a low-flying Pitts and granite bench tops. I made some good is to compete. You start with rolls and that’s wrong, I can’t agree with it. In a high flying motorbike. money doing that, and then went once they’re mastered you follow with their minds, they’ll never get to the Flying was not a new idea to to Luskintyre building Tiger Moth loops, half cubans, wingovers, rolls- point of spinning, but in my case, I the young Paul Bennet who’s wings. Because of my skills, I was a fast off-the-top, spins and snap rolls. You feel the same about the Trojan. It’d father had a private licence worker. I can’t even remember how do each figure one at a time. take a lot to recover it. When you’re and who’s grandfather flew Tiger many Tiger wings I built. There were As an instructor, Paul likes to teach on top of an aeroplane though, it Moths in WWII. heaps, but there wasn’t enough money each manouvre separately, and doesn’t won’t get away on you like it will “My grandfather died young, in all that so I moved to Newcastle. like writing out an aerobatic rating when you are less experienced.” but I’ve still got his pilot’s licence. “I’d won the Australian sailing unless the student can spin, because Dad used to take us away for flying championship in Taree and ended up if the manouvre goes wrong, they’ve Flying is the Pitts holidays in privately hired aircraft in 16- and then 18-footers. That was got to be able to get out of the spin from Manning River Aero Club. I when I was getting going on the flying. in order to recover. Most of Paul’s flying has been in the grew up at Old Bar, midway between At the time, I was top of my game “I think it should be absolutely Pitts. He used it for his tailwheel Newcastle and Coffs Harbour on the and sponsored with sailing, but at the compulsory for instructors to teach endorsement and before he even got NSW coast,” Paul says. bottom and beginning with aviation.” spinning as part of the PPL syllabus. his PPL, he had won his first aerobatic “It was naturally assumed I’d The trouble is that many instructors competition, flying on a GFPT. He learn to fly, and at around 16 to 18, I Beginning aeros fear spinning and that fear is couldn’t fly to the comp; he could only knew I’d love to, but it always seemed transmitted to the students. There’s fly when he got there, so he went to so out of reach due to the family’s Paul gained his GFPT in a C152 and nothing unsafe about any of that stuff. Parkes and had to do three circuits financial position, so I concentrated his PPL in a C182 at Warnervale. That The first thing you should do with Phil Unicomb, his instructor. At on flying models with Dad.” first ride with Scott had cemented in a new aeroplane is practice stalls. least now with an RPL – Paul says – a When his good friend Scott Paul’s desire to pursue aerobatics and It’s something that is misconceived pilot can sign a Maintenance Release. Robinson, also a modeler, took Paul being at Luskintyre meant he could by 90% of pilots,” he says. You just can’t take the aeroplane for a ride in his Pitts, Scott packed drop tools and go flying with a fellow “Warbird pilots will tell you the outside the training area. a couple of toilet rolls into Paul’s aerobatic student when the time same about a Wirraway. The most “I’ve got an instructor rating on a PPL hands. The ensuing performance was right. Phil Unicomb was the beautiful handling aircraft in the cutting the toilet rolls and trying instructor in an S2a. world won’t do anything untoward Up they go: the Paul Bennet team to make the 21-year-old passenger “I’m described as cautiously unless you’re out of balance. I think if consisting of three variants of the sick, did nothing to ease his desire to adventurous,” says Paul. “I don’t take you look at those scared instructors, Pitts biplane.

AUSTRALIAN FLYING September – October 2015 australianflying.com.au 49

“I think it should be absolutely compulsory for instructors to teach spinning” DARREN MOTTRAM DARREN

September – October 2015 AUSTRALIAN FLYING 50 Profile: Paul Bennet australianflying.com.au

TOP TO BOTTOM: Paul’s air show contribution of both aerobatics and warbirds has been the highlight of many events around Australia. Paul’s Wolf Pitts stunned the crowd at Avalon this year, and rightly takes pride of place in the team hangar.

deal. I think you need a team to do aerobatics at the higher levels. In fact, I don’t know how you can do it if you don’t have a team and all talking the same language. I share all my knowledge with Glenn and it doesn’t matter who wins at a competition as long as I come first,” he says laughing. “It’s just rude to beat the boss!” Paul staunchly confirms the Wolf Pitts as the best aerobatic aircraft in the world. He bought his from

DARREN MOTTRAM DARREN America. It was an experimental factory build, built by Steve Wolf, Motivation who Paul claims to be a very good, expensive, craftsman, builder and Paul’s motivation is his incessant pilot who has been instructing all his need to keep busy. It would be an life. Paul has flown the Extra, Giles, understatement to say that he doesn’t Edge 540 and all the Pitts’ except the like sitting still. There is always more S1-11. Of the 20 or so S1-11’s in the practice to be done. world, there is only one in Australia; “You never have the perfect flight. the Super Stinker that belongs to You can land and say it’s one of the South Australian pilot Chris Sperou. best flights I’ve ever had, but we will always critique and go over every Biplane vs flight we do. I’m pretty hard on myself. I talk with Glenn Graham monoplane and Glenn Collins all the time and Why would Paul want a biplane NADENE BALLANTYNE I want them to tell me if what I’ve instead of a monoplane? Because just done is no good. At least every his biplane is a real show plane. “I’m competitive and ‘out week or two I still go and fly a comp And in a monoplane, there is a there’ and will try new things, sequence to keep the precision going huge amount of weight required for – even if I’m not competing. the spar to strengthen the single but I like to be in control.” “If I go practising out at Kurri wing, whereas a biplane uses the Kurri, which you can hear from here wing wires for strength. because of the Part 61. I’m a qualified between us. He picks things up pretty but you can’t see, I might come back “The Pitts tailplane is huge for instructor on every type that I fly, naturally, especially the formation and do some four-point rolls and a the size of the aeroplane. It’s got an such as tailwheel, constant speed aerobatics. Between the three of us vertical or something like that, just aerofoil tailplane instead of a tubular retractable, constant speed, aerobatic, we work at different ends of the scale, two mintues worth, so Glenn can one and is really light. When we take inverted spin recovery.” but as a group we’re amongst the most watch it and then we’ll talk about it. the bottom wing off I can pick that He can also instruct on the experienced aerobatic pilots around. “In the sky, I can’t always feel up in one hand, however the wing of warbirds that he’s rated on. He’s “In Unlimited Category, for the whether it’s wrong or right, and so an Edge 540 or MXS takes about not interested in ab initio training first flight of a comp, everyone flies I need the person on the ground to half a dozen people to carry it.” however; just in passing on his the same sequence. There’s another tell me what the problem is. I can fix Paul believes that Rob Holland, knowledge of advanced flying. you can design yourself from an Glenn’s routine instantly from the World Freestyle Champion, would “I wouldn’t say I’m as natural a pilot encyclopedia of figures. When you ground. He’s not quite so good at be the most innovative aerobatic as some other people are. I understand compare all our sequences, they’ll be doing it for me. Just before Avalon I pilot producing new figures. “He’s the engine and its needs and if I figure totally different but they all add up to had to get Phil and Glenn to come got a very rearward centre of out the best way of doing something, I the same degree of difficulty. My style and watch my routine and they gravity. It’s not a safe plane and can tell Phil and he’ll figure it out with is different to Glenn’s. Most people worked out where I was going wrong. you don’t want to let your mates fly me talking to him on the radio. will know I’m coming because I’ll “It’s a great set-up between the it, because they’ll end up finding “Glenn Collins is somewhere in always be faster and louder,” says Paul. three of us. It’s not a one man it difficult to get out of a spin. In

AUSTRALIAN FLYING September – October 2015 52 Profile: Paul Bennet

with the rearward CoG and the have used up all his safety margin. very large control surfaces and large Of course he’d not have been trying travel on the surfaces. something like that at 500 ft, but by “It’s not a machine for low-timers. doing that extra revolution certainly “I was flying along and yawing at a got his attention. “I didn’t spin and certain speed and about to attempt a recover the way I should have.” new manoeuvre called an ‘Endotumble’. Mental preparation is the hardest “I said, ‘right, I want to make it go thing to manage and is the most end over end this way’, so I’ll fly along important part of the whole air show and yaw left, use forward stick, make it business. It’s difficult to come back go down, stand back up, then fly away. from the wrong frame of mind and “So the first few of those, I ended up one of the key factors is the need to spinning it. They were incredibly violent arrive one day before the show. and a couple went inverted, which is “The most stressful part for me easy to come out of in the Wolf. is taking seven aircraft and having “Then I got one on a different to manage other pilots, and there’s KREISHA BALLANTYNE KREISHA angle and got it in an upright spin to always weather issues to deal with. ABOVE: Paul Bennet biplanes you cop a drag penalty and the left. It was no trouble because we You don’t get paid unless you get there with the “best aerobatic the drag penalty compresses the are always above 4000 feet.” so there’s already pressure on. You aircraft in the world”: sequence into a small area.” On this particular day however, can’t push that ‘get there-itis’ too far.” the Wolf Pitts. Paul was in the wrong frame of OPPOSITE PAGE: mind after a stressful morning. He Bennet watches as the Frame of mind Air shows folding wings on his conducted a pre-flight on the plane Grumman Avenger The Wolf Pitts is very unstable and and went flying while talking to “What we’re really trying to do is click into place. difficult to fly well; it has finger-tip Glenn on the radio. He went a whole bring air shows back in Australia. If control and deserves a lot of respect. revolution more than he’d planned – you look at the States, there’s always “The Wolf Pitts behaves totally which was a big issue for him because an air show and somewhere to fly. I different to all other Pitts Specials if he’d been at 500 ft AGL, he think the regulations here have slowed I have flown. Some of this is to do wouldn’t have hit the ground but he’d people down,” Bennet stresses.

Upgrade your professional qualification @ UNSW Aviation:

Programs in Aviation Management Postgraduate courses offered by distance education.

Bachelor of Aviation A three year degree with flying and management options.

Find out more: PLAN SMARTER, FLY SOONER www.aviation.unsw.edu.au Call: (02) 9385-6767 • Complete fl ight planning and navigation EFB • One month free trial • For all pilots, at all levels Take your career to a new height • Innovative • Customer focused

WWW.AVPLAN-EFB.COM • PHONE: 03 8370 3024 Never Stand Still Science School of Aviation Established 2011 CRICOS Provider Code: 00098G

AUSTRALIAN FLYING September – October 2015

AvPlan_AustFlying_QPage_FINAL.indd 1 1/07/2015 3:28 pm australianflying.com.au 53

“Those from years ago who “I don’t think we’re that far off as wanted to put on an airshow, I think there are new superior diesel engines would now believe there’s too many that might be a chance. Six hundred rules regarding insurance, approvals horsepower will be great, and have and such. They see it as all too hard. heaps of power. The future is about We’ve got the experience however, looking at models and transitioning a and there’s no doubt that it’s easier lot of that cool stuff to the real thing. for us to manage an airshow, given “Sean Tucker, Skip Stewart, Rob our experience.” Holland and myself can perform For a one-off air show committee the Forward Flipping manoeuvre. there are the tasks of satisfying the Everyone will be trying to do it shortly.

requirements of CASA. They ask STEVE HITCHEN “We’ve invented a few moves that for approval from the airport owner hadn’t really been reproduced, but and operator, paperwork for pilot’s “I had a professional risk assessor The future they’re probably aircraft-specific. licences, medicals, formation and help initially and we use that as a I’m always trying new things and aerobatic endorsements, approval template that we adjust for specific So, is there anything else that Paul I always take inspiration from for display sequences and then venues. Our paperwork is very good Bennet would like to fly that he others. I see it from the outside, each aeroplane needs to provide and streamlined now and CASA have hasn’t done yet? The answer is swift. and then I figure out how to do it a Certificate of Airworthiness, indicated that they wish everyone “I’d love to own a Spitfire and a better. Sometimes I draw them up – Certificate of Registration, could emulate our paperwork.” V12 Yak III. Everything else I have sometimes on the wall in the shower. Operating limitations, and a risk Paul would love to have an air has a round engine. I wouldn’t mind You don’t stop thinking about it. It’s assessment of how the event will run. show every weekend in which his a straight engine. The Yak III is a very hard to totally think about it, “As an example, they require one team would participate alongside poor man’s Spitfire … and they even when you go on holidays. risk assessment from me as to how groups such as the RAAF Roulettes. go like the clappers!” “You need to be reasonably fit to I’m going to perform in the Wolf “Reputation is everything in There are three-metre 150 cc compete in aerobatics, and match Pitts as a solo, another one as to how this industry. We know who is in powered model aeroplanes that fitness is the best. You need to keep I’ll perform as the Sky Aces, another it and who is experienced and we’d can hover. And that’s what the flying. I don’t sit still for very long. one for the Avenger etcetera and an love to be able to help towns to aerobatic pilots would all like to “Perhaps this interview is the overall assessment,” says Paul. bring back air shows.” be able to do in a real one. longest I’ve sat still. Ever.”

A lot’s happening at the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. We’re setting new directions, listening and communicating.

For an overview of key safety regulatory issues subscribe to the monthly CASA Briefing e-newsletterwww.casa.gov.au/casabriefing To stay up-to-date on aviation safety topics and regular news visit Flight Safety Australia at www.flightsafetyaustralia.com CASA is more than just the aviation safety regulator. We’re the source of quick, easy and essential news for everyone in Australian aviation.

follow us on casabriefing

September – October 2015 AUSTRALIAN FLYING