Page 24 - World Airshow News Final

...A WACO WItH AN AttItuDE.

After climbing to over 6,000 feet, Lindemann flat spins back
down so he can keep the power up and avoid shock cooling the
big Pratt & Whitney radial (photo by Jim Froneberger).

to reduce the number of onboard batteries from eight to just
three. It takes a lot of battery power to start the jet engine, but
with the new batteries, Jarrod can now start the jet without the
APU that they had to use before.
For his aerobatic routine, Jarrod is trying to make it his
own, tweaking some of the maneuvers his predecessors had
flown. He says he is adding a few more gyroscopic type ma-
neuvers, but one of his favorites is still the quadruple Immel-
mann – four Immelmanns flown sequentially in the vertical.
When the ceiling allows, he can top out at around 6,000 feet
AGL. The biggest “wow factor” with the Jet Waco, though,
may be its vertical penetration ability.
“If I pull up and peg it out, I can probably get 18,000 to
19,000 feet per minute of climb,” explains Jarrod. “The higher
you go, the airspeed bleeds a little bit, but it feels like in a cou-
ple blinks of the eye you’re at 10,000 feet. It’s like the Energizer
Bunny – it just keeps going and going!”
Jarrod says he doesn’t really know how far in the vertical
the plane could go without stopping.
“You’d get to 12,000 feet and you’d start to need oxygen,
so I haven’t put a mask or tank on, but it would go there,” he
laughs. “The hardest part is getting it back down. It takes you
forever, and you don’t want to shock cool the radial. That’s why
when I go to 6,000 feet during a routine, I flat spin down. That
way, I can keep power on the radial and grind it back down a
little bit.”
REDEfININg AVIAtION DREAMS
Jarrod calls his airshow business RAD Aerosports. RAD
stands for Redefining Aviation Dreams. While he hopes one
day to secure a sponsorship that would allow him to acquire a
certified Extra 300 or Gamebird to use for media or sponsor
rides, he already has a program he calls RAD Riders that is
targeted at veterans.
“We’re partnering with veteran organizations to give vet-
erans airplane rides and raise awareness,” explains Jarrod.
“Sometimes I’ll have the Stearman available or a two-seat
Pitts, but we’ve also used Cessna Skylanes or a Cessna 206 –
anything we can get our hands on really.”
While veterans are the immediate focus of RAD Riders,
Jarrod has even bigger plans for RAD Aerosports. He says
he has some new ideas he is not ready to talk about yet, but
he wants his fans to know that he is working on some “really
unique and cool stuff.”
“The Waco is an airplane that really makes people stop,
look, and think,” concludes Jarrod. “It’s so unique, and it just
shows what you can do and the endless possibilities when you
think outside of the box to inspire the younger generation.”

www.airshowmag.com 24 The Final Issue