I'm a Commercial ASEL pilot working on my CFI and I want to begin exploring the world of flying beyond keeping the dirty side down and the shiny side up. As a self proclaimed nerd and a bookworm, I've already done some reading about aerobatics. I've read Kershner's "Basic Aerobatic Manual" and Szurovy and Goulian's "Basic Aerobatics", but know that book knowledge only goes so far. Just last week I had the chance to take an intro acro flight in a Great Lakes at Chandler Air Service in Chandler, Arizona. I loved it and I'm trying to figure how to work aerobatics into my flight training over the next few months.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'll take this moment to say that I am a college student studying Aerospace Engineering at NC State University (Go Wolfpack!!). I usually reserve the summers to focus on flight and ground training. I finished my Commercial over Spring Break this year and will hopefully complete my CFI over this coming summer.

I am particularly interested both in competition and performance aerobatics. I'd love to get any advice about how to break into the competition or performance world. To the best of my knowledge, my home airport (KRDU) doesn't have any aerobatic aircraft with the FBOs or flight schools on the field. I'm curious how others have done it. Is it feasible to even begin to learn and practice aerobatics if the only aerobatic aircraft you have access to is a 30-45 minute drive away? Any advice in general would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!