Submitted by an instructor of flying things including paramotors and aerobatic airplanes.
Most expert pilots are humble masters of their craft, not prone to arrogance, as this demonstrates. Oh so refreshing.
I’ll protect his identity but this humorous observation left me in stitches and I think many will enjoy it. When you read it, know that one pilot’s “not sucking” is another pilot’s “expert.”
Note: an Extra is a highly maneuverable aerobatic airplane, R/C is radio control.
He writes (I paraphrase a bit):
I was out in the Extra the other day, doing aileron rolls. In R/C airplanes it was pretty simple, just jam the stick over and then let go when it’s done. Not so, the Extra!
The problem is that, when it gets 3/4 of the way around, you’re knife-edge and need to stomp on rudder lest the nose drop. Otherwise it’s not an “axial” roll, it’s a corkscrew. So you’ve got to kick in rudder that is precisely timed then take it back out again. And you’ve got to work the elevator throughout the roll as well.
Turns out it is MUCH more involved than the R/C!!!! And, I suck at it, which is good, because my favorite part of anything is going from when I suck, to when I stop sucking. It’s not as much fun for me in the portion from “stop sucking to expert”. I don’t really have the patience to ever become “expert” on anything, I just like to get good enough to stop sucking, and then the fun kinda’ goes out.