Acro in a Swift

[flyhound]

Help: I am shopping for a plane. I can only afford 1 plane and I want it to do many things. I used to own a piece of a Pitts S2A and competed in sportsman and intermediate IAC aerobatics. I'm not interested in competition anymore, but I do want to do gentlemanly acro from time to time. I also want a cross country machine that my wife will enjoy flying in for trips to the beach or to see family. She likes to be engaged in the flight by setting radios and working the GPS, so tandem seating isn't an option. I see videos on the web about aerobatic teams using the Globe Swift, but I haven't found any information about whether those old planes are actually approved for acro. Are they? Were the original design load limits within the standard acro g-loading envelope? If not, can anyone suggest other 2 seat side by side acro capable planes?

flyhound

[Clark Savage Jr]

If my ancient memory isn't faulty, the legality of aerobatics in an aircraft such as the Swift is dependent on the original date of manufacture. If it was manufactured (and a type certificate issued) prior to June, 1946, it falls under the old CAA regulations and aerobatics may be legally performed. If after that date, then it falls under the newer classifications of Standard, Utility or Aerobatic and the limitations of those classifications apply.

As to whether the airframe is capable of such maneuvers, that is another story and one which I cannot answer.

I might suggest that a CAP-10 would meet your requirements of a side-by-side aerobatic cross-country aircraft.

Rich Shankland
Emeraude CP-323A
Gig Harbor, WA

[Bill Greenwood]

I can tell you from experience that a Swift will do nice acro, at least a roll.
About 30 years ago I was a new pilot and looking for my first airplane. I wanted something fun, more than a 172 or such, but only could spend about $25,000.
A Swift is really pretty and looked cool. I found a couple in Trade APlane. I went to Hooks airport in N Houston to see my first one, and found the ugly side of human nature. The plane looked ok, but the owner had neglected to tell me it was not legally airworthy, was out of annual. It supposedly had just had an annual and the A & P would sign it off soon when he got back from a trip. I never saw it fly and of course did not give any money to the owner.
I then went to look at one in Phoenix. It looked pretty good, and ran, but really had almost no brakes. As we taxied out for the demo flight, the owner said you really did not need brakes in a Swift anyway. It was spirited and cool to fly. As we cruise along, with me flying, he asked if I had ever done an aileron roll. When I said "No, I hadn't" (really didn't know how to do one) the owner told me to put the control all the way over to the side and hold it. I did and right away we rolled over and back upright. He said, as for me ever having done a roll,"Well, you have now".
Anyway I decided that a decent Swift, complete with brakes and airworthy was outside of my budget, and I bought a Mooney M20C, nice little plane.
If you get a Swift,there are some very nice ones around, don't get one of the neglected ones.

There was an acro Team for a number of years that I think flew Swifts, maybe Team America?, don't know much more about them as it has been perhaps 15 years.

[Hal Bryan]

There was a team called Swift Magic - I was aware of them but never saw them perform:



If you Google them, you'll find lots of pages from this site that don't appear to be linked directly:

http://www.neurobellum.com/magicteam.htm

[Yellow Peril]

What's wrong with a RV6or7? Will do any aerobatics a Swift can do, no retractable gear, 200mph cruise, 51mph stall speed and a docile airplane. A lot have full IFR glass panels with autopilot for cross countries.

[Bill Greenwood]

Hal, you are right about Swift Magic team. I recall Team America in SF 260s, but could not remember the Swift team name. I have seen the Swift team fly several times, as at Sun N Fun, seems like a good act, no hammerheads or such.