Flying an airplane is a challenge.
It tests your personality.
It tests your limits.
You learn more about being a pilot than anything else.—Michael Goulian
The Pitts Special in its original configuration
Source: AOPA
Opinion
With the loss of the Super Decathlon, aircraft meant solely for the performance art of aerobatics, competition and the limitless exploitation of the air were no more within Infinite Flight, as it was replaced by another STOL platform that probably lacks the aerobatic capabilities of the Decathlon and leans more towards the bush pilot or straight and level VFR.
With that said, hardcore aerobatics and expressions of freedom should not be limited to just fighters like the F-22. I see us one day flying an aircraft that makes flying the most fun it could be. With that I present the Pitts Special.
Not only will this aircraft be a fantastic addition to #MakeGeneralAviationGreatAgain movement, it will allow people to see what flying is as an art and not just for the purpose of getting from Point A to Point B. I should mention, this aircraft is already featured in several flight sims as a default aircraft. This is a plane that embodies flying! It is what makes a flight sim ever more closer to experiencing the thrills of flying.
Background
The Pitts Special was first brought forth in 1944 by Curtis Pitts, a self-taught aircraft designer. It would just a few years later become a smash-hit in the aerobatic industry, when Betty Skelton won the US female aerobatic championship 3 times consecutively in 1948, 1949 and 1950. Her plane, a Pitts S-1, now hangs in the Smithsonian at the entrance, inverted. The Pitts has made several aerobatic champions in the decades after it was built. Aerobatic revolutions were sparked. Even the Christen Eagle, another aerobatic biplane inspired by the Pitts, was notable for winning the US the world aerobatic championship in 1972 and coining a new maneuver called the Torque Roll (rolling while hovering or tail sliding, all done through engine-prop torque).
Even today over 75 years later, the Pitts remains a venerable air show performer and competitor. Evolutions in aerodynamics and engines have shaped the Pitts platform into aircraft that you many have seen flying in air shows today or in the past couple decades. Sean D. Tucker in the Oracle Challenger III, Skip Stewart in Prometheus, or the late Jim Leroy’s Bulldog. In 2014, Pitts Pilot Spencer Suderman set the world record for the most inverted flat spins from 23,000 feet, at 91.
The Pitts Experience
Its masters have love/hate relationships with it. The slingshot acceleration on takeoff, the perfect responsiveness and control harmonies make it a pilot’s plane. You can do anything you want with a Pitts, even if it means “breaking” physics. Thanks to a huge prop wash effect (you can observe this effect on a smaller scale on the XCub), it has the ability to perform aerobatics post-stall, such as the Double Hammerhead (a vertical 540° turn), the Front-Flip or the Lomcevak (inside tumbling mainly using rudder and downward elevator). It is a very unique plane to land given that it is a tail-dragger and a very sensitive aircraft. It’s one plane that could very much improve your airmanship. The aircraft itself can be thought of a more spiritual being than just a mode of transport. It has the real “plane personification” feel. Need more options for the way you want to fly? The Pitts is for you.
Crew: one (a two-seat option is possible.)
Length: 18 ft 9 in (5.72 m)
Upper wingspan: 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)
Lower wingspan: 19 ft 0 in (5.79 m)
Height: 6 ft 7 1⁄2 in (2.019 m)
Wing area: 125.0 sq ft (11.61 m2)
Empty weight: 1,150 lb (522 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 1,625 lb (737 kg)
Fuel capacity: 29 US gal (24 imp gal; 110 L)
Powerplant: Textron-Lycoming AEIO-540-D4A5 air-cooled flat-six engine, 260 hp (190 kW)
Note: Powerplants on modified Pitts aircraft like the Oracle Challenger III can go up to 400 horsepower.
- Cruise speed: 152 kn (175 mph, 282 km/h) (max. cruise)
- Stall speed: 52 kn (60 mph, 96 km/h)
- VNE: 182 kn (209 mph, 337 km/h)
- Range: 277 nmi (319 mi, 513 km) (55% power)
- Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)
- Rate of climb: 2,700 ft/min (14 m/s)
Note: Modified/modernized Pitts aircraft such as the Oracle Challenger III can have top speeds of 260kts and climb rates of 4000fpm. These aircraft also use 3-bladed higher performance propellers than the two-bladed props on most unmodified Pitts aircraft, allowing for higher speed and prop wash effect.
Update Features
Functional cockpit
High Resolution Textures
Two Variants: Classic Pitts for non-pro users, and a Modified/Modern Pitts (use Skip Stewart’s Prometheus or the Oracle Challenger as a reference) for Pro Subscribers
Realistic Flight Model that mirrors characteristics of actual Pitts aircraft
At Least 10 Liveries including notable performers
Smoke System
New Prop/Engine Sounds
Quick Switch Camera Function in the cockpit to allow pilots to look to the side at the horizontal alignment indicator easily
Pitts Specials in Action
Sean D Tucker in the Challenger III
Skip Stewart in Prometheus
Jim Leroy’s Bulldog
Thanks for your vote! Discussion in the reply section is highly encouraged.
