Tag Archives: Pitts special

Local Pitts Has a Good Approach to Pattern Work

It is not a regular occurrence, but several times I have been at Boeing Field when a local Pitts Special is doing pattern work.  Most times I have been a long way from it so not able to try and get any useful shots.  That changed a little while back when I was near the terminal building.  The pilot flies patterns with a steep climb out, a downwind leg and a steep curving descent to land followed by powering up and flying low to gain speed before repeating the process.  I decided to give some low shutter speeds a good to see how things looked.

Is This Pitts Special?

But of course it is!  This Pitts lives at Arlington and I got to get some time watching its owner doing some pattern work.  He ran it up near where I was prior to getting airborne and then proceeded to fly around the circuit for a while.  Generally the approaches were a continuous turning descent which made for some top side views.  Of course, the Pitts is not a large plane so, even with a long lens, it was still a bit small in the viewfinder but enough to get some reasonable shots.