Aero-News Network
August 7, 2006
Daniel Webster College Grad Flying Against World’s Best
Aerobats In Poland
With
an accumulation of more than 7,500 hours in over 142 types of aircraft,
Daniel Webster College graduate Rob Holland, who owns and operates Aerial
Advantage Aviation in Nashua, is in Poland to participate in the 2006
Advanced World Aerobatic Championships.
No stranger to competition, Rob has a plethora of first
place and other awards in aerobatic competitions under his belt, is a
two-time member of the U.S. Advanced Aerobatic Team, and was the
top-placing US pilot at the 2004 Championships held in Sweden, placing
10th over-all in the world.
So what about the 2006 Championship beginning August 3rd
in Poland? “I hope to do better,” he said. (Remember he came in 10th in
the world and first among US pilots in the same competition in 2004.)
There are three components to the competition, the qualifier, which is the
"Known" portion, where pilots perform a routine they know about in
advance, The "Free" and the "Unknown" portion, where, each pilot has only
18 hours to learn what they have to do for this routine they are flying
for the first time. “That’s the most fun,” said Rob, “and what separates
everyone.”
The actual flying will take place over Radom, Poland,
southeast of Warsaw in a cube of airspace that is only 3300-ft wide,
3300-ft deep, has a bottom at 660-ft and a top at 3500-ft. It is known as
the aerobatic "Box." About two dozen teams of some 85 pilots compete, many
from countries who consider aerobatic competition a full-time government
job.
“It is tough to compete against those pilots,” concedes
Rob, “for those of us who consider aerobatics as a hobby and hold down a
full-time job.
Rob has been involved in many areas of aviation,
including flight instruction, commuter airline flying, corporate flying,
and aerial advertising. He is an ATP-rated professional (airline transport
pilot) and holds a glider rating. Additionally, he is also an
FAA-designated Aviation Safety Counselor.
Over the years, Holland has flight instructed, towed
banners, ferried aircraft throughout the country, flown cooperate in a
Pilatus PC-12, flown for commuters in a Jetstream 31, and currently
performs at air shows around the country. This year he will have
participated in 22 air shows.
His high-intensity aerobatics that push the limit for
both the pilot and the machine have led to countless awards, including
being named the New England Aerobatic Competitor of the Year for 2002,
2003, and 2004. He won the “Pitts Trophy” twice and was the Northeast
Advanced Aerobatic Champion for 2003, 2004, and 2005. Rob holds a Level 1
Unrestricted Aerobatic Low Level Waiver, one of only about a hundred in
the country for air shows, and lays claim to being the youngest Wing
Walker Pilot in North America in 2005, receiving his waiver at only 30
years of age. He is now 32.
For Rob, aerobatics represents total freedom. “There’s
nothing like it. You get to see the world from a view that most people
never get to see.” More importantly, unlike what many people think, aerial
aerobatics is a disciplined sport where you always know the outcome. “I
enjoy the discipline of it. It’s not stunt flying; you practice a maneuver
and practice how to get out of a bad situation, should that happen.”
His advice to anyone interested in aerobatic flying is
to find a good, qualified instructor, even if you just want to “try it
out.” “You become more confident, have better ‘situational awareness’, and
are a better overall pilot.”
It was in April 2002 that Rob and fellow DWC grad Kathy
Hogan-Bouchie ’96 founded Aerial Advantage Aviation, a safety-oriented
flight school whose mission is to help make pilots safer, more confident
and higher-skilled through superior education and training. Aerial
Advantage Aviation specializes in aerobatic instruction, emergency
upset-spin recognition and recovery training, Tailwheel Transition
Training and Competition Aerobatic preparation — all with a strong
emphasis on safety in everything that’s done.
A Nashua resident, Rob’s interest in aviation and
aerobatics started back when he was a youngster in Norton, Mass., when his
dad brought him to his first air show. Flying since age 18, he graduated
from Daniel Webster in 1997 with baccalaureate degrees both in Aviation
Management and Aviation Flight Operations.
Founded in 1965 as the New England Aeronautical
Institute, Daniel Webster is a student-focused independent college whose
nationally ranked degree programs in aviation (professional pilot,
aviation management and air traffic management) are well complemented by
its innovative programs in business and management, computer science and
information technology, aeronautical and mechanical engineering, sport
management, and social and behavioral sciences. Daniel Webster College's
flight training program (professional pilot) is approved under the
guidelines of federal Aviation Regulation Parts 141 and 61, and all
instructors are Certified Flight Instructors. DWC's air traffic management
major is one of only 13 academic programs recognized by the FAA as part of
its Collegiate Training Initiative.
