7 people attended the first Aerobatic Camp conducted at North Texas Regional-Rene’ Dugas, Jaret Burgess, Mike Winterboer, John Hale, Mark Wagoner, Gary James and Bo Kalabus. It was taught by Curt Richmond and assisted by Mike Gallaway.
Everyone enjoyed Curt Richmond’s Aerobatics Course. All of the pilots were exposed to the camaraderie, the challenge of organizing flights to meet the needs of the course and to the other flyers techniques. Safety briefings and expectations were given prior to the flights.
The Tower personnel at North Texas Regional were extremely accommodating working with the pilots both individually and as a group flying directly above the airport environment in the BOX. This allowed the judges and the tower not only to see every move from the ground, tower and the parking area, but allowing them the ability to facilitate a recovery both quickly and safely if any problems were to develop.
Here are a few reviews:
The flights were very productive and we were actively critiqued in our figures and presentation. The expert commentary by Curt and the judging by Curt and Mike Galloway was very helpful and will change the way each of us flies. We all learned a lot while watching each other perform and improve. We were individually critiqued and received suggestions to improve our figures. Anyone considering competing should try to make one or more of these camps. Rene’
Acro camp was outstanding experience and I had a lot of fun! Curt is an outstanding mentor and is professional in his approach. Curt really took his time with us: seeing how we scored at prior contests(if we had flown any), designing/tweaking freestyle routines, and of course the coaching and critique. It was also great to have a world class judge in Spanky judging us in addition to Curt. Not having much competition experience, I have always been a bit on edge at a contest. At camp as my confidence began to grow, I noticed I was more relaxed in the box and was able to just fly and I flew better as a result. Our group got along really well and was just the right size. Staying in Sherman was perfect because much was learned during the dinner and cocktail time and it was good fellowship. This experience was totally worth the money and I would eagerly do it again–and I wasn’t the only one that felt that way. Jaret
This was my first aerobatic camp and I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I did experience was much greater than I was hoping for. Curt set us all up for success by establishing a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere right from the start. Curt laid out the schedule of events and the learning objectives in a simple format so we always knew what we were doing and what was coming next. Curt was available to us for as long as we wanted to keep working.
Curt and Spanky’s coaching were spot on. After flying a sequence they quickly broke down where I was having problems and then we worked on individual figures until the problems were corrected. This process left me with sight pictures so I could repeat the desired path, or at least recognize when I flying the figure incorrectly.
The entire 3 days were just awesome! We all had great fun and fellowship while everyone was visibly improving. We not only improved our aerobatic skillset, we were able to meet old friends and make some new ones. To help put a measurement on the effect of the camp to me personally, on day 1 we all flew a scored 2021 Sportsman Known sequence. My average score from Curt and Spanky was 80.65. On day 3 we did the same thing and my average score was 101.625! I can not imagine any other type of training that could be effective!
I am super humbled and appreciative for Curt and Spanky making this effort to help us new guys. I will sign up for another camp whenever Curt puts on another one. Mike
When Curt said he was going to have an aerobatic camp I said “count me in”. He indicated that he wanted to limit it to 6 students. When I saw the amount of time he spent with each student one on one I understood why he wanted to keep it small. No matter what your skill level was or what sequence you were working on he offered his experience and skills in a non-rushed conversation and ending each classroom discussion with “is everyone getting what they want out of this camp, does anyone have any questions”? I’m looking forward to attending the next one. Thanks Curt! John
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