It's been said that attitude determines altitude … but in the case of aerobatic pilot Dave Watson, it's truly the other way around. “We do everything at altitude - the practising … getting used to doing the manoeuvres.
It's been said that attitude determines altitude … but in the case of aerobatic pilot Dave Watson, it's truly the other way around.
“We do everything at altitude - the practising … getting used to doing the manoeuvres. We practise at high altitude: 2,000 to 4,000 feet. You need to know what you can do and what you can't do … (because with) the air show altitude, the planes themselves don't get two, three hundred feet from the ground, ” Watson said this week.
“It's all about altitude. ”
In the North American air show circuit, Watson and his brother Drew are known as Yellow Thunder - an aerobatic and formation flying duo who sit in the cockpit of two brightly-coloured Harvard airplanes.
“It's got character. It's like the airplane version of a Harley - it's got a really deep throaty sound, ” Watson said of the 1930s-era Royal Canadian Air Force advanced training aircraft.
“A new pilot would start out in something small like a Tiger Moth or Chipmunk, then they would graduate to the Harvard, which was bigger with more horsepower. Once they mastered that, they would go directly into a front line fighter or move over into multi-engine to train for bombers. ”
That kind of rich history surrounds both Watson and his Harvard, which belonged to his father before he took over the cockpit 32 years ago.
The pilot performed at air shows solo for years before his younger brother, Drew, was certified and joined him in 2006 with his own Harvard - which happened to originally share the same hangar as their dad's plane.
The Watsons have since taken their act to the skies across North America, and they are a feature act - and one of the only Alberta-based teams - who will perform at the Wings Over Springbank Air Show on July 29 and 30.
Watson said performing aerobatics and formation flying with his brother has given them both an added sense of confidence that not all pilot partners experience.
“It's pretty cool, ” he said. “We fly a very tight formation … It (gives) us a slight extra edge - there's an ultimate level of trust that you have when you fly formation. That level of trust is a lot easier to get from a brother than from somebody else. ”
In their routine, the brothers turn their 4,100-pound, 42-foot wingspan warbirds on their heads, among other tricky tests of the plane's potential. Watson said it's what he loves most about aerobatic flight.
“I always thought it was a good way to get to know your airplane better is to fly it at the edge of the envelope. If you stay within those limits, you can do a lot of stuff, ” he said, adding he hopes spectators and fans who see their show come away with a better appreciation of the capabilities of flight and the pilots who do it.
“It's what I like to call aerial ballet - it's slow, methodical, deliberate movements. Everything is smooth and it actually needs to be smooth, ” he said. “To somebody that hasn't seen an airplane that big go upside-down, it's quite exciting. ”
Wings Over Springbank producer Sarah vanGilst said the thrill of the Yellow Thunder show is just one of the acts, static displays and interactive experiences - including the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, the CF-18 demonstration team, a B25 Bomber, and even a Lamborghini - she hopes will be memorable for the thousands of fans who attend the air show at the end of the month.
“We have jets, we have antique vintage aircraft … we try to find a bit of a balance of all that to make it a really interesting afternoon, ” she said.
“We always try to make sure somebody gets that moment that you remember, ‘That was so cool. ”
