FELICITATION: Tamás Nádas being felicitated for his aerobatic show by Abdul Aziz al Naimi, Director of Aviation.
By Aney Mathew
In an amazing display of skill and courage, world aerobatic champion Tamás Nádas wowed spectators at the seventh Al Khor Fly-In, performing daring aerobatics with his aircraft. All eyes were glued to the sky as Tamás performed incredible mid-air manoeuvres for about 15 minutes, as he rolled, looped, spun, nose-dived, flew belly up, performed free fall manoeuvres and even flew straight up like a rocket.
The performance called for such gravity-defying skills, that he would have made a bird sit up and take notice!
Tamás Nádas from Hungary, who is the reigning world aerobatic champion, holds several titles including the European Championship and four National Championships.
Incidentally, through this performance at the Al Khor Fly-In, Tamás has earned the unique distinction of being the pioneer for such an aerobatic performance in Qatar. This is also the first time Tamás has ever performed in this region.
“This is a fantastic show. I am very happy to have been invited”, he said expressing his pleasure at performing for the occasion.
Community caught up with Tamás Nádas, for a closer glimpse of the man behind the daring mid-air feats. Looking completely calm and composed within just a few minutes of his dare-devil performance, he was ready to take on questions on his favourite subject.
“Initially, I had absolutely no interest in flying at all. My first experience with flying was in 1998, when I was 28 and I has just gone along with friend for a joy ride. That was the turning point — the experience had such an impact on me that I was totally hooked. I enrolled for flying lessons right away and after 30 days had earned my own licence. However, just straight-forward flying wasn’t satisfactory enough, so I went on to learning aerobatic manoeuvres and stunts. This is where my passion lies.”
“During those days, in Hungary there were no instructors or planes available for aerobatic flying. So I had to enlist the assistance of retired military pilots,” he said.
But as was evident from his show in Doha, it appeared he may have done more than just follow the manual.
“The single biggest challenge was that some of the stunts that I now perform were not taught to me by any instructor — they are all self-taught. I had to risk my life as I tried some of these challenging figures. There have been several occasions when I felt I was going straight down, but thankfully I would somehow regain control at the last minute”, Tamás said.
Talking about his progress in aerobatic flying and air racing, Tamás explained, “I completed my aerobatics training in 2001. Initially, I owned simpler planes and began by entertaining crowds during national events and enjoyed the experience. The turnaround came in 2007, when I got my Extra 300 LP, an expensive aircraft dedicated to aerobatics. This enabled me to become a worthy opponent in major competitions.
“In 2009 May, all the hard work and training finally began to pay off: I was placed second for the Karlovy Vary CAP in the Czech Republic. In July of the same year, I took first place at the Hungarian Aerobatics Championship.”
Just watching Tamás’ aerial stunts can be head spinning, so how does it actually feel to perform them?
“Well, the first time I tried spins and rolls, I did not feel good. As a matter of fact, I felt sick. However, with practice things got better and today, I actually enjoy the feeling,” he admitted.
“Captain Tamás Nádas is tremendously brave. The gyroscopic moves that he performs are made possible only when you position the aircraft in such a way that it cannot fly, and then it is from this position that he manoeuvres the plane to achieve the amazing stunts that we see. This calls for complete dedication and practice. Tamás is extremely physically and mentally fit. He swims and runs on a daily basis. He goes through special training to cope with the extreme challenges his mind has to take during his performances. On the night before his competition, sometimes even weeks before the major events, there is a specialist who works with him, helping him to focus his mind to endure the G-force and extreme pressure”, pointed out Laszlo Toth, Director of Mac Aerobatic team for Westland Morgan, as he helped with interpretation, when Tames switched to Hungarian, while elucidating his experiences.
“Oh yes, there’s a lot of practice involved. When the weather conditions are good, I practice three to four times a week. The actual practice in the air is just 15 minutes, but the entire process takes about two and a half hours.
“Before I actually fly, I need to recall all the moves of the aerobatic formation in my head, while synchronising the move with by body. This is referred to as ‘dancing the aerobatic formation’ and is done standing on the ground. After about an hour of dancing, I fly my plane for about 15 minutes, performing all the aerobatic movements that I had just practised; that’s as much as a person can take. Once I land, I have a session with my coach who points out to me any inaccuracies he may have noticed, regarding the angle of the tilt or the speed of the roll and so on”, he mentioned calling attention to the intense training programme involved.
“When I first began my aviation career, my mother was naturally very concerned; she was quite alarmed with my decision to pursue aerobatics. I have an 18-year-old daughter, she sings beautifully but her interest with respect to aviation is limited to posting pictures of flying on facebook”, revealed Tamás with a smile as he chatted about his family.
Commenting on the success of the event, Saad Hakim, Director of Sales and Marketing in Westland Morgan, the company that brought the World Champion to the region said, “Tamás Nádas is now considered the ‘Schumacher of the sky’. He has a huge fan base in Europe. We wanted to introduce him to the Middle East where we are sure he will have a good fan-following, who will enjoy and follow his gravity-defying shows. The Al Khor Fly-In event in Qatar has been the best place to start”.
