Bob is absolutely one of the world's finest pilots, and probably the
smoothest aerobatic pilot I have ever known.
You are correct about the Shrike routine. It was indeed a study in EM
(energy management).
It's interesting to note for the group at large, that 500RA (Bob's Shrike)
was maintained by Byerly Aviation in Florida for the 20 years Bob had the
airplane.
Byerly made several modifications to the bird that made Bob's wonderful
routine possible.
500RA had an accumulator that stored hydraulic pressure that allowed Bob to
lower the gear inverted with both fans feathered, and also a special setup
for unfeathering both props. Bob would pull both fans back into feather
without having to idle back the throttles and mixtures. The restart was made
possible by micro-switches that triggered electric pumps that unfeathered
the props for him.
The accumulator also stored enough pressure to give Bob nosewheel steering
for his "dead stick landings".
Bob, by his very survival in the low altitude aerobatic environment for as
long as he was in it, and flying a variety of airplanes to boot, has
established himself as truly one of the world's all time best in the
business.
Bob was one of the initial charter members of the International Fighter
Pilots Fellowship that I founded in 1971. In every contact I have had with
him through the years, he has always been a gracious friend and a quiet
force in our community.
Dudley Henriques



"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...
Flyingmonk wrote:

After so many hours in the ultra sensitive R22, airplanes are a cinch.

Matt Whiting wrote:

The issue is energy management and the
source of energy can be airspeed or power.


Your statement above reminds me of that great video of Hoover doing
aerobatics in with power off. What a pilot huh?

Yes, absolutely. Bob was a joy to watch. He didn't believe all of this
crap about needing power to do stuff, even in fairly high performance
airplanes. He just went out and did it. Energy is energy, doesn't matter
if it is provided by the engine(s) or by airspeed or by altitude. All can
be used to achieve the desired outcome.


Matt