Aerobatics G-BFHP

On the 19th of May i turned up to Barton for my lunch. Just as i was about to leave i saw Neil Kent one of the shareholders in Bartons Citabria G-BFHP. Neil asked if i wanted to do some aerobatics and i jumped to the chance. I got my headset out of the car and made my way over to the aircraft. G-HP had already been checked and was ready to go. I got myself in to the backseat and Neil in to the front we strapped ourselves in and shut the door and was ready to start the engine.

 Neil turned the master on put the mixture to full turned the mags on a quick prime and pressed the starter the old lady fired up like a dream! We turned on the avionics and tuned in to Bartons Frequency on 120.250 MHZ and Neil called for taxi. Neil took the brakes off add a little power and we taxied on down to Alpha 3 taking the shortcut across the 32 numbers. We turned her in to wind and started the power checks . T's + P's were in the green and we were good to go. Neil called ready for departure and we lined up on 27R. We stopped on the runway did the usual checks no lights from the tower, climb out clear, engine T's + P's good and off we go. Full power added and she began to gain airspeed, at around 30knots the nose lowered and we leaped off the deck. We started the climb out when we got to 500ft Neil lifted the left wing and had a look and then we turned crosswind!
Neil told Barton we were leaving the ATZ to the north and we made our way over to Chorley Lakes. We climbed up to 3000ft just under the airspace restrictions.

 Neil made a few clearing turns before we started our aerobatics to check the area was clear. Neil said " Dan we are going to start of with a few gentle maneuvers". He then dipped the nose down gained 140knots and then pulled the stick back and before i knew it we were entering a loop! As i looked through the window at the top of the Aircraft i spotted the ground just coming in to view and then we pulled out! (video below)

Neil the started to dip the nose again for a stall turn. This meant looking for 120 Knots pulling the nose up till the aircraft was in to the stall applying left or right rudder and then plummet towards the ground!  Neil still did'nt manage to make me sick!

We then started to try barrel rolls Neil again pitched the nose down to 140knots and then leveled out and then pitched ever so slightly and put in full left aileron and full left rudder and we entered the roll.

After doing 45 mintues we decided to head back over to Barton after doing a once round the mast. Neil called for rejoin and we decided to join downwind as we had both been over the airfield hundreds of times so we definatley knew what it looked like!

We established late downwind and Neil did the checks we turned base leg and then on to final! This was key opportunity for me as i am a Salford Reds fan i got chance to have a look at the new stadium being built just to south of the airfield! Im pleased to say it coming on really well!
 Neil started to side slip the aircraft to get some of the height and speed off and we did a fantastic 3point landing on to the numbers! 
This is one of the best flight this year and i am sure there will be plenty more to come! Big thanks to Neil!