Assuming you're in the US, there's no such thing as an aerobatic
endorsement. Believe it or not, the day you get your PPL you
can go out and tailslide into an inverted flat spin in complete,
if evanescent, legality. (Well, there's always 91.13, but I guess that
if you make it back it wasn't reckless). That said, it would be
pretty dumb, indeed it would be extremely dumb to even try
acro without an experienced acro instructor beside/behind
you.

The most important thing is to find the right instructor - good
acro instructors are fairly rare, I'm extremely lucky to have
found one locally. If you can find one, go for it - it's tremendous
fun and extremely satisfying. Don't be surprised if you can't
do it for very long at a time.

I've done acro in a Decathlon and a Grob. The Grob was OK
(apart from the ever-present smell of avgas, which is a known
problem with them), the Decathlon is MUCH more fun. I
plan to try a Pitts and/or Extra this summer. I've not flown
the Aerobat (although my school has one).

For the basics, anything will be fine. A constant-speed prop
makes things MUCH easier though as you essentially don't
touch the power which means (a) a lot less messing around at
times when you're pretty busy anyway and (b) you lose less
altitude in the manouvers. I can get a lot more done in the
Decathlon than in the Grob simply because I spend almost
no time climbing - I climb to 6000' on my way to the practice
area, by the time I'm done I'm down to about 4000', having
expressly climbed maybe a couple of times. If I have any
altitude left at the end I spin it off which is good practice.

The tailwheel thing (which IS an endorsement) is kind of a pain,
especially wheel landings, but an awful lot of fun planes
are taildraggers so it's more when than if, imo. The Citabria
(and Decathlon) is especially fiendish because of the
bounce-o-matic spring steel gear.

My advice is, get started in the Aerobat, but expect to transition
to something faster (forwards and rotationally) once you've
mastered the basics.

John

"Anthony Hewitt." wrote in message
...
Good afternoon all.

Im seriously contemplating beginning an aerobatics endorsement.

I have been flying for 2 years and want to "add".

I have done plenty of research and have narrowed it down to a number of
aeroplanes:

The Zlin (sp?)
The Citabria
The Cessna aerobat.

I know the Decathlon and Zlin are faster and more manueverable but they
are
also significantly more expensive for lessons (and I dont like the idea of
learning to fly a tailwheel unless its essential).

Question is, does the Cessna provide enough enjoyment ( I know it loops,
but...) or is it really a Clayton's aerobatics aircraft. Basically, will I
have enough fun in it to get by? Im interested in those whove flown some
of
these and what their thoughts were.

Thanks and regards,
AH.