I was fortunate enough yesterday to be invited to have a go in a Mk3 Jet Provost.
After 30 years of flying the small stuff I had never even sat in a Jet.
It was a fantastic experience. The ‘small’ JP is a real pussycat, effectively a ‘Piston’ Provost with a jet and tricycle gear.
To a ‘fixed gear fixed prop’ hobby pilot the plethora of dials, knobs and levers was quite daunting but all began to make sense after a good brief and some hands-on air time.
The thing loops and rolls beautifully – delightful ailerons and generally very sweet handling.
Whilst expensive to operate, my mount was a syndicated machine. It appears that fractional ownership is the only way to go with these things.
After a 50 minute chock to chock flight we had guzzled 420 litres of fuel – enough probably to keep a small house warm for most of the Winter.
If any of you out there get the opportunity, grab it! My only caution to the non-pilots is to keep the aerobatics to a minimum if you want to hang on to your lunch. The loops are big and the G sustained for longer as a consequence.
Anybody got a Hunter that wants some talking ballast who is happy to pay for the fuel? I am told that the Hunter is the machine.
HP
JP is indeed fun to fly, did a few hours in a T5 back in 1991. You’ll love the Hunter….especially fun with powered controls unpowered or in an inverted spin
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