Feature

Stunt pilot teaches others to dive

by Mare Davis
The Review

Victoria Flying Club instructor
Andy Robin knows how to fly
airplanes.

He also knows how to roll them,
dive them, loop them and turn
them upside down and inside out
— 4,000 feet above the ground.

A private and commercial flying
instructor at the Victoria Flying
Club at the Victoria Airport, Robin
has also been certified to teach
aerobatics since January.

“It’s a real fun challenge to fly
aerobatics. It improves your overall
confidence when you can take the
machine towards its performance
limits,” Robin said.

“It also sometimes breaks the
monotony of day to day flying —
not that I ever find flying really
bonnes = =

His love of daredevil flying has
cared him the prestigious status
of being one of only 37 acrobatics
certified instructors in Canada.

Three-quarters of a mile above
the ground, Robin knows what it’s
like to make 180-degree vertical
turns and other hair-raising
maneuvers while being squished
down in his seat by five umes the
force of gravity.

“You feel your knees sag and
your arms become very heavy. You
can definitely feel the G-force. It’s

a wierd, sensation.”
However, it was only four years

ago that Robin first handled a
joystick as he set out to earn his
private pilot’s license.

Soon after getting his wings, he
undertook the “ambitious” step of
learning to be a stunt pilot under
the tutelage of veteran flying ace
Jack Kaiser, now manager of the
Victoria Flying Club.

Having already earned impres-
sive flying credentials, Robin now
hopes to further upgrade his skills
so that some day he may become
an airline pilot.

Meanwhile, he’s content to
impart his expertise to other
would-be commercial and recrea-
tional aviators.

In the case of teaching others to
become barnstorming daredevils,
Robin insists on a routine that
would raise the eyebrows of many
civilian pilots — strapping on a
parachute.

“Its a safety measure that gives
you another option when you're
often pushing the plane near the
edge.

“But I leave myself lots of
altitude so if a maneuver is bun-
gled, there’s always time Lo
recover.”

Robin notes with a smile that
he’s never had to consider using
the parachute and he doesn’t
worry about the day he might have
10.

The trusty steel and aluminum-
tubed steed of the skies the brave
knight performs his harum-skarem
antics in 1s a Cessna 150 Aerobat.

Powered by a Lycombing four-
cylinder 100 horsepower engine,
the propeller-driven aircraft can
outpace many sports cars with its
top speed of 130 mph.

YOU COULD LOSE YOUR
fx HOUSE

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IF YOU DRINK AND DRIVE

DRINKING DRIVING @
COUNTERATIACK:

And the spectacle of this mod-
erm day barnstormer performing
barrel rolls and gut-wrenching
loops 4,000 feet above the safety
of terra firma is truly a sight to
behold.

Peninsula residents will have a

chance to be dazzled and delighted

by Robin’s gravity-defying stunts
at the 1991 Victoria Airshow, Aug.
5.

Also performing at the airshow
will be the 1988 North American
aerobatics champion Sean Tucker,
as well as “wingwalker” Johnny

WITH HIS PARACHUTE tightly strapped on in case of an
emergency, Victoria Flying Club stunt pilot Andy Robin
Climbs aboard a modified Cessna aircraft in preparation for

Kazian.

some Garedevil barnstorming antics.

TheReview Wednesday, March 20,1991 — A18

House break-in

About a week after a similar
daylight break-in on Rodolph
Road, a house in the 6800-block
Woodward Drive was burglarized,
police said.

A laundry room window was
used to enter the house, sometime

SOFT WOODS *

@K.D. KNOTTY PINE
S4S (surfaced 4 sides)
1x12...............65@1in. ft.

@K.D. CLEAR CEDAR

between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Friday. Rough

A camera, a black leather jacket 1X6..............9103/lin. ft.
and jewelry that included brace- A i
lets, earrings and rings were stolen. WE DELIVER
Total estimated value is $1,000, PHO Vi WIND
police said. : ARDWOOD

Those with information are 5 Uz30
asked to call CrimeStoppers or [Me}e\e 00} te fiat ty)

Central Saanich police.

PATRICK SWAYZE DEMIMOORE WHOOP! GOLDBERG

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ON VIDEOCASSETIE
ALSO AVAILABLE ON LASERDISG

TIA & Copysght © 1991 py Paramount Pictures. Al Rughis Reserved.

3
PG-=13!

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