Aerobatic Flight in Airlie Beach, Australia

When people ask me what’s the most adrenaline experience I’ve had in my life, this is my answer: the Aerobatic Flight I did in Airlie Beach in December 2019!

I was laying down at the beach, enjoying Christmas in the hot weather in Australia, super relaxed. All of a sudden I heard a loud noise coming from right above my head. I put my sunglasses on, looked at the sky and saw this small plane doing some insane manoeuvres! And then it was upside down and flew like that for about 20 seconds!

I looked around and literally everyone at the beach was staring at that daredevil plane. Insane! It entertained us with this show for about 15 mins and then it disappeared! “How crazy should be for the people inside?” and “How can I do that?” I kept asking myself. With that in mind I went back to my hostel and asked the receptionist if she knew anything about it. She gave me this flyer.

Damn, 350 AUD for a mental flight, very expensive for someone backpacking for a long time, on a tight budget ! I kept thinking about it all day, and eventually I realized I had to go for it! Never I saw anything like that before, so that would be my Christmas present!

I got a little discount from a friend who worked as a travel agent and I reserved a spot for 320 AUD. Super excited, the next morning I took a bus to the small Whitsunday Airport ready for my bucket list flight!

Aerobatic Flight on a Yakovlev Yak-52

I met the pilot, Nick, crazy Australian dude who gave me such a strong handshake, showing he was confident enough to fly upside down on that tiny plane!

We went through safety procedures, signed a bunch of documents and finally jumped on board!

We fly on a Yakovlev Yak-52, a Soviet aircraft, which has 2 seats, for the pilot and a passenger. I had all the controls to fly as well but he made clear I didn’t have to touch anything!

All geared up, we took off. We could talk on the mic and he said: “You’ll never gonna forget about this, trust me!”.
And he was damn right!

Aerobatic Flight Airlie Beach: mental experience

After 5 minutes of a regular flight (which was already quite scary as I had never been on such small aircraft), he asked me if I was ready to start. I guess so…

Engine at top speed, we reach 300 km/h and we go vertical. We do a loop, then another, and another. I couldn’t really understand what was happening and I felt I couldn’t move my jaw from the high speed.

For a sec I thought I would pass out, but then Nick goes back to a cruising position and tells me if I was ok. Yeah I am! “Perfect, because now we just warmed up. Are you ready for the real stuff?” he asked me.

And so I had the craziest 5 minutes of my life, with some of the most insane manoeuvres you can think of.

List of the manoeuvres we did:

Barrel roll – Aileron roll – Loop – Half loop roll off the top – Cuban 8 – Reverse half Cuban – Inverted – Humpty – Hammerhead – Shark tooth – Slow roll – 4 point roll – Stall.

During the stall I really thought we were about to crash… but Nick had everything under control and right before we hit the ground he pulled the cloche! And the 10 seconds we flew upside down seemed to last 2 hours!

Video of the Aerobatic Flight in Airlie Beach

Unfortunately the Go-Pro stopped working at some point so I only have a video of the beginning and of one last upside part in the end.

On the way back we opened the plane windows and could breathe some fresh air. What an experience! My legs were shaking and my eyes crying. I will never forget that!

Nick made a comparison between doing an aerobatic flight and skydiving. He explained me that the free fall when skydiving lasts much less time, and you go at a lower speed. Hence he concluded that the aerobatic flight is a much more intense, unforgettable and adrenaline adventure!

We landed, I thanked Nick for the insane adventure and I ran to the toilet… yeah I ate too much pasta before so I kinda vomited it all! It took me half an hour to get back fairly alright, but what a bucket list experience it was!

Tips for travelling in Australia

I did this aerobatic flight during my backpacking trip in Australia. I travelled down under for 2 months and I had a fantastic time! Check the article to know more about how to travel through amazing country, with a cool vibe, great cities and awesome adventures in the nature.

And again, if you ever find yourselves in Airlie Beach, do the aerobatic flight! You won’t regret it! Just a little suggestion, don’t eat anything before the flight!

This is the company I flew with: CQ Adventure Flights.

Other adventures in the sky

If you go crazy about adventures in the sky, check out some other experiences I had around the world:

–Flying on a ski plane and landing on a glacier in New Zealand.

–The Angel Flight across the Lucanian Dolomites in Italy.

-Being on a hot air balloon above the Laotian mountains in Vang Vieng.

-Flying on a sea plane in Denmark.

-Being inside the cockpit during an international flight from Kiribati to Tuvalu.

-Bungee jumping in Copenhagen and the highest canyon swing in the world in Queenstown.

–Paragliding in North Macedonia and Hang gliding in Byron Bay.

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