The 2022 British Aerobatic Championships at Advanced and Unlimited levels have been won by two pilots flying an Extra NG (G-NGTC).
Tom Cassells, who owns the aircraft, has taken the coveted Neil Williams trophy at Unlimited, while the Advanced trophy was awarded to David Thomson.
Four times British Unlimited champion and former British Aerobatic Team member, Tom Cassells started flying the NG in 2021 and has already amassed 200 hours in it flying solo aerobatics, air displays and providing dual instruction at the highest levels. He claims the aircraft is ‘simply phenomenal’.
“What other aircraft can fly a full sequence of unlimited aerobatics with two people on board? It makes it invaluable as a training tool for an instructor like me. I can demonstrate complex techniques to students in a way that just isn’t possible with ground coaching alone. It really is a game changer.”
But for both Cassells and Thomson, the NG has really proved its worth in a competition environment, with judges and fellow pilots all claiming that the aircraft presents exceptionally well in the air. Its deeper fuselage and clean lines help to define its side profile in vertical and diagonal lines while its greater dimensions, compared to the average single seater, give it better stand out for judges on the ground.
Both pilots have been unbeaten flying the NG in domestic competitions this year, scooping no less than five championship trophies between them.
But when the contest is over, flying home in the NG is an absolute pleasure, says Cassells:
“The level of comfort is unlike any aerobatic aircraft I have ever flown before. It is so well sealed that you could drop a feather in the cockpit while cruising at 160 knots and it would gently fall to the floor. This also means that noise levels for the pilot are kept to a minimum, reducing fatigue both while flying aerobatics and on longer transit flights.”
The UK is the first country to see the Extra NG flying aerobatics competitively and with such a positive start for this, the latest in a long line of thoroughbred aerobatic aircraft from the Extra stable, it is thought that it will increasingly become the competition mount of choice for pilots at the highest levels of the sport.
