Red Barron - Joy Flight

At a conference last year the owner of our company, Adam, won a Red Barron joy flight at a charity auction. Today he cashed in the voucher and went up for almost an hour. After arriving at 9am we were sent into a waiting room for the pilot to come out.

Jarod Parker was the pilot for today and when he came out to meet us he explained everything to us in detail.
Wasn't long before it was time for Adam to go up. I was very lucky to be able to go out airside and get some photos, not only of the Alpha 2160 they were going up in, but I had the opportunity to grab a few photos of their other aircraft.


Time to buckle and go through the safety aspects of the aircraft.

STICK & RUBBER AVIATION PTY LTD
ALPHA AVIATION R2160 VH-ZXY (CN 160A-07009)

They got airborne off 11R at 10.12am and headed out for the city and the harbour, I found out on the return unfortunately due to bad weather in the area they went out over the blue mountains.

They land at 11.01am

The aircraft is fitted with two Go Pro's - front and rear, after the flight we went back into the waiting room and watched the whole flight on video. Adam was smiling from hear to hear and loved every minute of the flight. It started with some basic manoeuvres- like loops, barrel rolls, wingovers and hammer head turns. After checking on his passenger, Jarod put all these elements together into an adrenaline inducing sequence. Just watching on the video really got me excited and made me want to go up and experience this for myself.

ALPHA 2160A

The 2160A is the new version of the classic Robin 2160 which ceased production almost a decade ago. The Alpha 2160A is a low wing monoplane, with two seats and a big bubble canopy providing exceptional all round visibility. It has an excellent power to weight ratio and the crisp handling of a sports car. The Alpha 160A is powered by a 160HP engine, cruises at 120kts and climbs at 1100 ft/min. It is capable of all standard aerobatic manoeuvres and is the most utilised spin training aircraft in Australia. It is without a doubt the best basic and aerobatic training aircraft in Australia.

The Robin 2160 is available for mild aerobatic adventure flights.

Engine: Lycoming 0-320-D2A (160hp)

Top Seed: 178kts

Cruise Speed: 120kts

Geforce Limits: +6.0g / -3.0g

ABOUT RED BARON

In Australia, the first Red Baron, David Voight, took to the skies in a Tiger Moth in June 1983. For the next nine years, Red Baron’s Tiger Moth was a familiar sight over Sydney Harbour. In August 1992 the Tiger Moth was retired and replaced by a Pitts Special S2A aerobatic biplane. The Pitts was painted in identical colours to the Tiger Moth, so the transition passed virtually unnoticed except to aircraft aficionados. Under new management in 1994, Red Baron’s fleet expanded, as did the range of scenic flights and thrill-seeker flights on offer. In May 2005 Red Baron once again changed hands and today flies from Red Baron HQ at Bankstown Airport over Sydney Harbour, the northern beaches and the Blue Mountains. If you are seriously after some adrenaline fun, you must give these flights ago. 

https://www.redbaron.com.au/

(Just want to confirm this is not a paid story)