April 2016 – Pilkington's World of Aerobatics

April 26, 2016

Stay in Control: Incipient Spins

Note: this article was updated on 19/6/19 mainly to reflect the changes with the FAA’s Airplane Flying Handbook revision of 2016. I avoid discussing…

April 21, 2016

Stay in Control: Fully Developed Spins

From the 1944 book, Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying by Wolfgang Langewiesche: “Almost all fatal flying accidents are caused by…

David J Pilkington FRAeS

started flying in 1966 and commenced aerobatics a few years later. He was twice Australian Advanced Aerobatic Champion. He specialises in aerobatic instruction and is a Flight Examiner for spin and aerobatic instructors.

Over the years he has owned a variety of aerobatic aircraft – Airtourer, Decathlon, Laser, Pitts S-2A and most recently a Super Decathlon and Pitts S-2C.

David has been a flight instructor since 1995 and prior to that was approved to teach advanced aerobatics and test for low level aerobatic approvals.

In 2011, David was awarded the Paul Tissandier Diploma by the FAI for his services to sport aerobatics over many years. David has a Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering from RMIT and a Master of Science from Cranfield University in the UK. His early career was in aircraft aerodynamic design, flight & wind tunnel testing, flight performance, handling qualities and flight loads including work with the NASA Spin Research Center.

He was Vice President, Engineering and Test Pilot at Aviat Aircraft, Inc (USA) in the mid-nineties then Chief Engineer – Air Vehicles at ASTA Components (Boeing Australia) prior to joining GKN Aerospace Engineering Services in 2001.