Radka Machova

Radka Machova turned 64 on 14 January 2013. She looks much younger than that. With her team of skilled aerobatic pilots in four high performance Zlin 50XL aircraft, she pulls G forces that would make most people pass out. Tight formations with less than 1.5 metres between aircraft and polished air displays put the Flying Bulls Aerobatic Team in a league of its own. In a field dominated by men, Radka stands out, and all the more so because she is the formation lead. Since 2002 she has flown more than 400 performances in 32 countries. The Flying Engineer asked her 31 questions about her flying life.

Memorable moments

Asked for the one moment that stands out in 64 years, she said she could not pick just one. She still remembers her first parachute jump, her first solo flight and her first solo aerobatic flight. She also remembers her first loop as leader of the formation and her first FAI Grand Prix competition at Motegi, Japan, in 2002, where she was very nervous about how it would go.

Why nervous? Motegi 2002 was her first competition as team leader. The other pilots were more experienced than she was. She had started training for the lead position only in spring 2002, so there was very little time. A competition or display flight, she said, is far more nerve racking than a training flight.

Hours and beginnings

After 42 years of flying, her total was 1,120 hours. Outside the Flying Bulls she flew only as a hobby private pilot. As a young girl she built flying model kits and dreamed of being a pilot or an astronaut.

Her first aerobatic manoeuvre was a loop, and she called the feeling wonderful: flying upside down with the earth above you. She got her first taste of aerobatics during basic flight training, then attended an aerobatics course and joined the Czech National Aerobatics Team. Jiri Saller, who flies the left wing of the formation, took the same path.

Licences and the charter company

Radka holds a Commercial Pilot Licence with a single engine rating only. She flies all types of Zlin aircraft, piston Cessna aircraft, the Socata TB 10 and an ultralight. She has never flown as a business pilot.

After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, when the Czech political system changed, she had more opportunities in aviation. She became Managing Director of the first business jet charter company in the new Czech Republic, Aerocharter Prague. She ran the personnel, commercial, marketing, navigation and finance sides herself, with a secretary and hired pilots, and at times acted as technical director too. Pilots came from across Europe and America. The fleet ranged from the Cessna 500 line to the Falcon 10, Beechcraft 90 to Beechcraft 200, the Cessna Caravan and the Gulfstream 1. Each type had its own maintenance programme, maintenance centre and pilot training, which she called a very hard job and a very good experience.

The Zlin 50LX and other aircraft

Her favourites are the Zlin Trener series. The Zlin Trener Z 126 was her first aeroplane. Among newer designs she likes the German built XtremeAir Sbach 342. Besides the Zlin 50 she has flown the Zlin 526 and has a little experience on Extra aircraft and the Sbach.

She described the Zlin 50 as a well behaved aeroplane with pleasing looks. Next to an Extra or an Xtreme, she said, it comes across as a lovely, non aggressive machine. Every time she sits in it she feels good and safe.

Before a show

Practice before a display follows three steps. First, a ground briefing: wind, visibility, cloud base, obstacles, the centre of the display area and any restrictions. Second, the direction of the performance, walked through on the ground. Third, a flying practice of one full display plus some of the harder manoeuvres, depending on weather and time. Sometimes, because of timing, there is no practice at all.

What runs through her head before a display? Only the display. She watches the timing, weather, wind, clouds, air temperature and the avionics in front of her. There is no room for anything else, and the same applies when she opens full throttle for takeoff.

Her favourite moment in the air is when the wheels leave the ground. She agrees that great flyers dissolve the line between pilot and machine: you have to feel the aeroplane as a close friend, not just a machine.

Tail draggers

She sees little difference between a tail dragger and a tricycle gear aircraft. The only difficulty is on the ground, where the forward view is limited or blocked, so you taxi in a weaving line. In her view a special qualification should not be needed, but the rules require it.

Formation flying

How does the lead avoid running away from the other three aircraft? She flies at only 75 to 80 percent power, leaving a reserve for the others, and her colleagues constantly work the power and use the three bladed propeller as an air brake.

Aerobatic skill is not measured in hours, she said. A single aerobatic practice lasts at most 15 minutes, because after that the pilot is too tired to perform well, so hours build slowly. Formation flying needs solid flight experience, aerobatic experience and good character. It is about team cooperation, with no room for trouble. She could not say how many hours it takes to get there, nor how long it takes to adapt to a new type, since each aircraft has its own handling and entry speeds.

• Typical separation in tight formation: about 1.5 to 3 metres, sometimes less.
• G loads during a display: plus and minus 5 G, sometimes more, but never beyond 6.5 G.

Under positive G the blood flows to the legs; under negative G it rushes to the head. Through a sequence the load keeps switching between the two. A pilot can briefly lose peripheral vision, giving tunnel vision, or at times all vision. Military pilots wear anti G suits for this. Aerobatic pilots do not, and must use their stomach muscles to control the blood flow.

The key to a good formation, she said, is aerobatic experience, thorough practice, a sense of responsibility and 100 percent confidence in the skill of every team member. Radio talk is kept short: the type and direction of the next manoeuvre, plus calls to the controller or display director.

Two kinds of flying

Comparing aerobatics with running an air charter business, she said her kind of flying is nicer because the pilots are like birds. Commercial flying is also nice, but the transport pilot does not feel like a bird: the aeroplane is too big and the pilot is not alone.

To stay fit she laughs, smiles, eats and sleeps, and she cycles, skis, swims and scuba dives, among other things. Asked what defines her, she called herself a normal woman with plenty of not quite normal hobbies.

Advice to the young

Dreams matter, she said. Follow them to reach your goal. Her childhood dream of flying led her to model aircraft and aviation books, then to the Aviation Department of the University of Transport, where she earned her Private Pilot Licence. Her first job after graduating was at Prague Ruzyne Airport. Through the aero club she flew as a private pilot, then as an aerobatic pilot, and in time as part of the team. All of it, she said, was a childhood dream coming true.

The monkey in the cockpit

A stuffed monkey rides in the cockpit at every display. He is the team mascot, and his seat is in the right wing aircraft, registration OK-XRB.

As told to The Flying Engineer.