The following was written by Randy from Dallas, Georgia — a frequent visitor to The Fun Times Guide, who is also an avid seeker of all things FUN …Enjoy the ride!
Care to take an open cockpit aerobatic flight in a 1940’s-era Navy bi-plane?
Come along as you join me taking flight out of Kennesaw, Georgia’s very own Cobb County Airport in a vintage bi-plane that wreaks of a by-gone era when dogfights were the norm in air-to-air combat during WWII.
Onboard With Bi-Plane Adventures
Hop on board!…
Our trusted pilot and owner, Lee Kruger, has over 16,000 flight hours in over 75 aircraft — including over 2800 hours in his N3N-3 bi-plane.
Bi-Plane Adventures, Inc. maintains a perfect safety record with over 5,000 rides given since 1996. Quite an accomplishment, and quite frankly it puts me a little more at ease with what’s in store.
I arrived at my scheduled appointment on a crisp, clear day in the first days of autumn. Lee greets my wife and I, gives us a pre-flight orientation, and finds out what in the world would want to make someone with very little flying experience take an aerobatic open cockpit ride in his bi-plane. The answer is very simple: A thrill of a lifetime!
I convinced him that I wanted to go through with it even after he described the aerobatics that we were about to go through and the positive and negative G’s that I would be experiencing.
When we walk onto the tarmac, Lee is very careful to show me how to climb in and how to strap down. He hands over a headset so that we can communicate during the flight — so I’ll know when we’re going to be round and round or straight up and then straight down. It’s at this point that he also mentions where the barf bag is and to feel free to use it if the urge comes on.
…And We’re Off!
We take off into the wild blue yonder (well, over the highways and office parks anyway) and head to our destination a few miles north where the FAA has approved aerobatic flights of this nature.
When we reach our destination, Lee starts out with a simple, tight spin. No problem. He then gets some speed up and does a loop-de-loop. Fantastic! He then goes for a barrel roll. Wow!!
Next is one of the main reasons I chose the Old Timer w/Aerobatics flight plan… Lee gets a lot of speed up this time and then we go ballistic, come almost to a complete stop, twist around and then shoot straight towards “terra firma”. Now this is living!!!
We then proceed to do a few more of the same and Lee hands over the controls. What?! Never flown before? No problem. Lee talks you through it and before you know it you’re flyin’ high like a pro, albeit, you’re not doing anything but easy left and right turns but you’re doing what you’ve always dreamed of with not a care in the world.
Unfortunately, it’s time to come back down to Earth — figuratively and literally — so Lee takes over and gets us back to the airport and makes a seemingly effortless touch down.
Now that’s what I call a great day!
Turn Your Dream Into A Reality
About that day I decided to take an aerobatic ride in a bi-plane…
I’ve always had a taste for (mild) adventure but one day I saw this yellow bi-plane flying over our house low and slow. “Pretty cool looking and even cooler to be in the cockpit,” I thought.
Several days passed, and my wife and I were running errands that bring us by Cobb County Airport. I looked over and saw the very same bi-plane sitting on the tarmac and also happened to notice a sign advertising bi-plane rides. Apparently, I got rather excited about the prospect of giving them a call because Sandy (knowing when to take a hint) bought a gift certificate for a bi-plane flight for my Father’s Day gift.
I looked into it and saw that they offered different flight plans based on how long your flight would be and what it would include. They had a flight plan called the Old Timer with Aerobatics. SIGN ME UP!
I’m a big fan of roller coasters (that’s all I do when I go to an amusement park) so this was going to be one giant leap above that.
If you have a taste for mild adventure and want to spice it up a bit, and are lucky enough to have a pilot offering open cockpit bi-plane rides in your area, I suggest you try it. You will not be disappointed.
- Here’s a link to Lee’s company, Bi-Plane Adventures, if you decide to make an appointment to go for the ride of your life… or just to learn more about bi-plane rides in general.
- View more photos taken during Bi-Plane Adventures flights.
Thanks to Jim and Lynnette for letting me take this opportunity to tell you about a great experience I had back in 1999.
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As a lifelong traveler, I like to help people find unique ways to do things that will save time & money — so I write about “outside the box” Travel Hacks that most wouldn’t think of.
I’m SUPER organized and I love to pack! I’ve lived in 6 different states (Florida, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas) and have visited every other state in the U.S. — except Hawaii. (Can you say bucket list?) I’ve been on several different cruises, airplanes, and boats in my life and I currently enjoy the outdoors by bicycling, motorcycling, Jeeping, RVing, camping, or just walking my dogs.
My favorite “hobby” is riding on the back of our Harley-Davidson Road Glide traveling cross country — which we usually do at least once each year. We even rode from Tennessee to Alaska once!
When I’m not on the road, you will find me at the corner of Good News & Fun Times as publisher of The Fun Times Guide (32 fun & helpful websites).
