Uncategorized – Pilkington's World of Aerobatics

May 20, 2024

CASA and LOC-I

From a recent CASA magazine article https://www.flightsafetyaustralia.com/…/aviate…/“Kreisha Ballantyne takes a look at the effectiveness of aviation safety awareness campaigns in Australia and overseas.Some days…

May 20, 2024

Rich Stowell and UPRT in Australia

https://www.australianflying.com.au/latest/conference-set-to-address-uprt-instruction gives a good introduction to this topical subject.Incidentally, I see many photos and videos of aircraft doing aerobatics in formation with other aircraft…

May 20, 2024

Stall Training

For a very long time, until about 2020, CASA mandated incipient spin training as part of the basic training for RPL or PPL. They…

January 24, 2024

Spin References

We will soon have an Australian edition of Rich Stowell’s excellent book Stall/Spin Awareness – every pilot, especially flight instructors should read the relevant…

December 15, 2023

Flight Instructors Protect Thyself

This coroner’s report on the accident to Martinus Van Hattem is essential reading for aerobatic flight instructors. There are four main lessons for us in this:…

August 28, 2022

Flight Instructor Gr1 Extended Privileges

Read the proposal by CASA online here. It seems like a good idea as it is simply a streamlining of the process that I…

August 15, 2022

Spin Training Issues

From the Facebook page of the Australian Transport Safety Board: “The ATSB is advising aerobatic pilots and instructors of the limitations of the Meuller/Beggs…

August 31, 2016

Loops, Voices and the Fear of Death

This short story by Richard Bach written back when I started flying aerobatics has stuck with me for many years – it is available…

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.