Learning to fly

[Tom]

I knoew many people on the forum are flight enthusiasts and I myself would love to learn to fly. Browsing through youtube today though I saw something which almost made me think twice. You think F1 drivers are good? These guys are pulling 9.6Gs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4PbIUTZwlg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYVpF2MGTf4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntVBN0W3fpA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Fjsc90364

http://redbullairrace.com/

[bettonracing]

... You think F1 drivers are good? These guys are pulling 9.6Gs!...

I don't want to turn this into a 'pilots vs F1 drivers' debate but pilots have G-suits, breathing exercises, short 'race distances' and a couple quick seconds of 'error-recovery-time' to 'insulate' their (mostly vertical) 9.6G's... F1 drivers don't have these 'luxuries'...

Not to take anything away from these pilots. It almost seems impossible to disorient them!

Regards,
Kurt

[Ciro Pabón]

That kind of acceleration cannot be directly compared with F1 g forces. Airplane pilots take almost vertical loads, because they bank the plane, while F1 drivers take mostly lateral ones.

[DaveKillens]

One of my heroes is Bob Hoover.

He may be in senior citizen category now, but that man could fly! Here's a clip of him pouring tea while rolling a plane.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp2Uc9XvmjY

[Tom]

That perfect barrell roll is awesome, where he's able to mantain constant centrifugal forces on the whole aircraft, I'd love to learn aerobatics, but I don't have the cash, yet.

I don't care what protection etc the air racers have, their vehicles are in my eyes far more advanced than F1 machines, there is no bitching between teams and pilots, no scandals, just pure flying skill and courage couped with a machine that cannot be allowed to fail.