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37-524: The Flying Lions Aerobatic Team is a South African formation aerobatic team. They fly a four-ship aerobatic display using North American Harvard aircraft. The team operates five aircraft but only uses four in their display, leaving the fifth to be used as a backup. The Flying Lions have been in operation since 1999 when Arnie Meneghelli acquired the Harvard aircraft that the South African Air Force

74-427: A chief judge may concurrently serve as a grading judge. Corner judges (also called boundary judges or line judges ) may also be used and are positioned at the edge of the buffer zones, 50 metres (160 ft) along each axis beyond marked corners of the aerobatic box. They monitor and record each excursion beyond the buffer zone; the competitor earns a penalty for each such excursion. Each corner judge guards 2 of

111-411: A competition in a category of his or her choice, which defines the level of difficulty of the aerobatic sequences to be flown. Within each category, a pilot flies one or more flight programs . Each flight receives a total score from the judges; ranking each pilot's combined total scores for all flight programs within each category determines that category's winner. Five power categories are flown in

148-544: A complete aerobatic sequence for entertainment or competition. Aerobatic flying requires a broader set of piloting skills and exposes the aircraft to greater structural stress than for normal flight. In some countries, the pilot must wear a parachute when performing aerobatics. Aerobatic training enhances a pilot's ability to recover from unusual flight conditions, and thus is an element of many flight safety training programs for pilots. While many pilots fly aerobatics for recreation, some choose to fly in aerobatic competitions ,

185-473: A judged sport. In the early days of flying, some pilots used their aircraft as part of a flying circus to entertain. Maneuvers were flown for artistic reasons or to draw gasps from onlookers. In due course some of these maneuvers were found to allow aircraft to gain tactical advantage during aerial combat or dogfights between fighter aircraft. Aerobatic aircraft fall into two categories—specialist aerobatic, and aerobatic capable. Specialist designs such as

222-403: A numerical mark in steps of 0.5 between 0 and 10. Under FAI and some national aero clubs' rules, the judge may also assign a mark of "Hard Zero" to indicate that the wrong figure was flown, or a "Perception Zero" if a mandatory though subtle element of the figure is perceived to have been missing. At the conclusion of each flight, the grading judge assigns a Presentation or Positioning mark based on

259-410: A sequence. Its length and width are each 1,000 metres (3,280 ft). Its height varies based on whether FAI, national aero club or local rules apply to the competition. White ground markers at each corner of the box make it visible to the pilot from the air. For most categories, penalties are assessed for flight outside the aerobatic box. The box has two axes, the identification of which is based on

296-544: Is also the leader of the Gabriel Wings Aerobatic Team. Arnie Meneghelli is the number 2 pilot and the owner of the Flying Lions Aerobatic Team. He has flown many aircraft types including Extras , Pitts and Zlins . Meneghelli also flies as the right wingman of the Gabriel Wings Aerobatic Team. Ellis Levin is the son of Scully Levin and the number 3 pilot of the Flying Lions Aerobatic Team. He

333-460: Is also the left wingman of the Gabriel Wings Aerobatic Team. Steward Lithgow is the number 5 pilot of the Flying Lions Aerobatic Team. He was part of the team that landed an SAA Boeing 747 at Rand Airport and he was one of the pilots that participated in the 2004 presidential flypast. The Team is currently sponsored by Eqstra Holdings Ltd. Past sponsors include: Academy Brushware, Air BP , Castrol , Cell C , Nissan , and Peugeot . In 2006,

370-635: Is always declared by contest officials to be along the X-Axis. This, however, does not always reflect reality, and generally during the course of a sequence the competitor will drift either toward or away from the judging line. The competitor can extend or shorten maneuvers flown along the Y-Axis to obtain the desired positioning. The box floor is as high as 460 metres (1,510 ft) above ground level (AGL) for Primary level competitors and as low as 100 metres (328 ft) AGL for Unlimited level competitors. The box ceiling

407-425: Is as high as 1,000 metres (3,280 ft) above its floor. Before a category starts, a competitor will mark the box by flying along its boundaries at its floor. This allows the judges to visualize the box in the sky and prepares them to adjudge an aircraft flying below the box floor. At a groundspeed of 300 kilometres per hour (190 mph) the pilot has 12 seconds from entering the box on the one side before exiting

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444-600: Is currently flying Airbus aircraft with South African Airways. He also flies as a soloist for the Gabriel Wings Aerobatic Team and is the wingman of the Mazda Zoom Zoom aerobatic team. Sean Thackwray is the number 4 pilot of the Flying Lions Aerobatic Team. He was born into a military family and flew Impalas , Mirages and Cheetahs in the South African Air Force. In the past he flew for Cathay Pacific Airlines and currently flies with South African Airways. He

481-489: Is due to the ability to limit blood pooling for positive g maneuvers, but it is generally accepted that +9 g for more than a few seconds will lead to loss of consciousness (also known as GLOC ). Aerobatics are most likely to be seen at public airshows in the form of stunt flying. Aerobatic competitions usually do not attract large crowds of spectators since the manoeuvers are flown at safe altitudes to avoid accidents. Competition aerobatics An aerobatic competition

518-403: Is often responsible for sequencing competitors into the aerobatic box, identifying and resolving judging and safety issues, reviewing the judges marking sheets, assessing penalties, monitoring the aerobatic box for traffic conflicts, conducting briefings for pilots and judging line personnel, and certifying scores. A chief judge is typically assisted by 2 or more individuals. In some competitions,

555-579: Is sanctioned by a national aero club, its designee, or in the case of international competitions, by CIVA, the Commission Internationale de Voltige Aerienne, which is a constituent body of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). The sanctioning body establishes the rules that apply to the competition, including entry qualifications for all participants, operating procedures, and judging criteria. A pilot enters

592-401: Is the international governing body for all airborne sports. Its Commission Internationale de Voltige Aerienne (CIVA) governs competition aerobatics. While FAI itself oversees international competitions, it recognizes national aero clubs to regulate competition aerobatics locally. A national aero club often delegates this responsibility to an affiliate organization focused on aerobatics. In

629-634: The Farnborough Airshow in September 1957. Aerobatics are taught to military fighter pilots as a means of developing flying skills and for tactical use in combat. Many aerobatic manoeuvres were indeed developed in military conflicts, e.g. the Immelmann turn or Split S . Aerobatics and formation flying is not limited solely to fixed-wing aircraft; the British Army , Royal Navy , Spanish Air Force and

666-538: The Indian Air Force , among others, have helicopter display teams. All aerobatic manoeuvres demand training and practice to avoid accidents . Accidents due to aerobatic manoeuvres are very rare in competition aerobatics; most of them happen when performing formation flying or stunt flying at very low levels at airshows or air racing . Low-level aerobatics are extremely demanding and airshow pilots must demonstrate their ability before being allowed to gradually reduce

703-523: The MBB Bo 105 , are capable of limited aerobatic manoeuvres . An example of a fully aerobatic helicopter, capable of performing loops and rolls, is the Westland Lynx . Most aerobatic manoeuvres involve rotation of the aircraft about its longitudinal (roll) axis or lateral (pitch) axis. Other maneuvers, such as a spin , displace the aircraft about its vertical (yaw) axis. Manoeuvres are often combined to form

740-912: The Pitts Special , the Extra 200 and 300 , and the Sukhoi Su-26 M and Sukhoi Su-29 aim for ultimate aerobatic performance. This comes at the expense of general purpose use such as touring, or ease of non aerobatic handling such as landing. At a more basic level, aerobatic capable aircraft, such as the Cessna 152 Aerobat or the R2160 Acrobin , can be dual purpose—equipped to carrying passengers and luggage, as well as being capable of basic aerobatic figures. Flight formation aerobatics are flown by teams of up to sixteen aircraft, although most teams fly between four and ten aircraft. Some are state funded to reflect pride in

777-462: The U.S. (and other countries that adopt the BAeA model). They vary by difficulty of the individual aerobatic maneuvers they contain, as well as the combination of those maneuvers within the sequence. In order of increasing difficulty, the power categories are: Some aero clubs include a Classic category for airplanes without inverted fuel and oil systems. The sequences flown are similar to those flown in

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814-412: The armed forces while others are commercially sponsored. Coloured smoke trails may be emitted to emphasise the patterns flown and/or the colours of a national flag. Aerobatic maneuvers flown in a jet-powered aircraft are limited in scope as they cannot take advantage of the gyroscopic forces that a propeller driven aircraft can exploit. Jet-powered aircraft also tend to fly much faster, which increases

851-408: The 4 lines that define the box. In most competitions, 2 corner judges are used, located at opposing corners. Two judges guard each line; they must agree that a competitor has crossed a boundary in order for the competitor earn a penalty. In FAI championships more accurate electronic feedback systems are required to provide a constant measurement of the aircraft position, and hence its excursions beyond

888-619: The Flying Lions Aerobatic Team performed a water-skiing stunt with their aircraft in the Klipdrift Dam near Johannesburg . The pilots flew low over the dam and reduced their altitude until their aircraft's wheels were about four millimetres into the water, the deepest they could safely go. The stunt was approved by the South African Civil Aviation Authority . The pilots who took part in this stunt were Scully Levin, Arnie Meneghelli, Stewart Lithgow and Ellis Levin. The stunt

925-710: The Olympic games, and are governed by the FAI Aerobatics Commission (CIVA) Competitions start at Primary, or Graduate level (in UK "Beginners") and proceed in complexity through Sportsman (in UK "Standard"), Intermediate and Advanced, with Unlimited being the top competition level. Experienced aerobatic pilots have been measured to pull ±5 g for short periods while unlimited pilots can perform more extreme maneuvers and experience higher g levels -possibly up to +8/−6 g. The limits for positive g are higher than for negative g and this

962-455: The Sportsman category. A one-design Yak-52 class exists in many countries which is flown in conjunction with the intermediate class. Four glider categories are: Categories flown in a competition are announced in advance. Within each category, each pilot flies one or more flight programs. They are: The aerobatic box is a volume of airspace in which the aircraft must remain while performing

999-416: The aerobatic box. Here is a précis of the principal "faults" that you should look for and the number of marks to deduct whilst you are applying standard CIVA rules of critique to sequence programmes at all levels. Several of the aforementioned concepts are shown in the 1980 film Cloud Dancer , whose technical advisor and chief pilot was the former world champion aerobatic pilot Tom Poberezny . The FAI

1036-434: The aircraft. Due to safety concerns, the smoke is not a result of combustion but is produced by the vaporization of fog oil into a fine aerosol , achieved either by injecting the oil into the hot engine exhaust or by the use of a dedicated device that can be fitted in any position on the aircraft. The first military aerobatic team to use smoke at will during displays was Fleet Air Arm 702 Squadron " The Black Cats " at

1073-416: The box on the other. Each category within a competition may have between 3 and 9 grading judges , each of whom is accredited by the contest's sanctioning body. They are positioned between 150 and 250 metres (490 and 820 ft) back from the edge of the box, at the center of the X-Axis and facing that axis. Each grading judge is assisted by an assistant judge , who reads Aresti notation and verbalizes to

1110-414: The buffer zone if these occur; if such equipment is not available this task is confined to the judge's position grade. Deadline judges may be positioned along a deadline, if one has been established by the contest's sanctioning body. They monitor and record each infringement of the deadline. The competitor earns a penalty for each such infringement, that penalty being more severe than an excursion out of

1147-422: The competitor's placement of figures within the aerobatic box throughout the sequence. A grading judge also determines if the competitor has flown below the floor of the box or above its ceiling. Each grading judge is further charged with assessing whether a competitor is flying safely and advocating for the competitor's disqualification if not. A chief judge oversees the operation of the judging line. He or she

Flying Lions Aerobatic Team - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-438: The grading judge each figure to be flown, and if possible also a recorder (also called a writer or scribe ), who records the judges marks and comments, commentary and ancillary information on a competitor's score sheet. For some flight programs, a single individual may serve concurrently as assistant judge and recorder. A grading judge assesses the quality of each figure flown according to well-defined criteria and assigns it

1221-460: The height at which they may fly their show. In the EU, flying aerobatics requires special training and a rating. In Canada, no licence is required to perform aerobatics, but to carry passengers during aerobatics a pilot must have at least 10 hours dual flight instruction of aerobatic manoeuvres, or 20 hours of total aerobatic experience. Aerobatic flying competitions are a worldwide phenomenon, rather like

1258-556: The location of the judges. The X-Axis (called the A-Axis by some aero clubs), runs across the line of sight of the judges. It is along this axis that most figures are usually flown. In some contests a center line is marked along the middle of the X-Axis. The Y-Axis (called the B-Axis by some aero clubs) runs perpendicular to the X-Axis, toward and away from the judges. This axis is used for cross-box position correction. The official wind direction

1295-416: The size of the figures and the length of time the pilot has to withstand increased g-forces. Jet aerobatic teams often fly in formations, which further restricts the maneuvers that can be safely flown. Aerobatics done at low levels and for an audience is called "stunt flying". To enhance the show effect of aerobatic manoeuvres, smoke is sometimes generated; the smoke allows viewers to see the path travelled by

1332-569: Was decommissioning. The Flying Lions participate at many major airshows around South Africa during the airshow season. Scully Levin is the team leader of the Flying Lions Aerobatic Team. He was born in Polokwane in 1946. He joined South African Airways in 1971 at the age of 25 and flew one of their aircraft in a three-ship formation at the inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki . After reaching SAA's mandatory retirement age, he joined Mango Airlines . He has over 27,000 hours of flight experience. Levin

1369-419: Was photographed by photographer, Frans Dely. Aerobatic Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gliders for training, recreation, entertainment, and sport. Additionally, some helicopters , such as

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