Seeing the World from an Unusual Attitude

by Nicholas Poucher

Back in October the Lakeland Aero Club took a trip up to the Sky Country Lodge in Alabama to receive upset and spin recovery training from Greg Koontz. Five of our members along with the President of the Aero Club made the ten-hour drive from Florida. We were planning to camp on Greg’s property, but ended up sleeping in the hangar due to weather. Each day for us started with a ground lesson from Greg on things such as how to “Tame a Taildragger”, spin recovery, and overviews of aerobatic maneuvers. After ground school in the morning we ate breakfast, then pushed the Super Decathlon out of the hangar. Our flights started with implementing the spin recovery training we went through on the ground, except this time we were in a fully developed spin looking straight at the ground with the VSI pegged to the bottom. This was the moment I realized how important this training actually was and how underprepared a pilot is for recovering from a spin, since most private pilots never actually have to experience one.

After we demonstrated that we could effectively recover from spins, we once again went straight into implementing what we learned on the ground and started flying aerobatic maneuvers. He quickly handed the controls over and let us fly aileron rolls, loops, and half Cuban eights. After we learned those maneuvers, Greg performed some of his more advanced aerobatics and let us enjoy the ride. Once back on the ground Mrs. Koontz had lunch waiting for us while the next person prepared for their flight. One of the perks of staying on a private strip is to be able to push the Cub out at the end of the day after we finished our training and do some low and slow flying over Alabama while dinner was being prepared. While the weather unfortunately deteriorated throughout the week we still helped set up for a fly-in and fundraiser that Greg was hosting to benefit the Lakeland Aero Club. Even though the fly-in got rained out we had the event as a drive-in and still had a remarkable turnout considering the weather. After getting to fly with Greg throughout the week and experience firsthand how great of a pilot Greg is, there was no better way to end the trip than being able to witness the FAA present Greg Koontz with the 50-year Master Pilot Award! On behalf of the Lakeland Aero Club, thank you Greg for opening your home to us and sharing some of your knowledge and expertise with us.