Dancing among the clouds

EPHRATA — It's the rhythm and flow of the figures that Mike Mulcahy of Desert Aire loves about flying aerobatics.

"I'm not a wild and crazy guy, by any means," Mulcahy states with a serious tone. "It's a disciplined thing that we (in the aerobatics community) do."

Mulcahy's passion for perfection led him to his first win in this year's aerobatic competition, The Apple Cup held at the Ephrata Municipal Airport.

"It's a lot of fun to be on top," he said smiling. "When you don't win you are looking at what you could do better, or where did I lose this point. All the sudden you don't have to do any of that. The other guys can worry about what points they lost."

Mulcahy first found an interest for flying in 1967 while in Yakima. He started taking lessons from a gentleman named Charles McAllister, who is also the namesake for the Yakima Air Terminal/McAllister Field.

"He was 65 years old at the time, and spry as all get out," he chuckled.

Mulcahy's mentor also had the privilege of having his official license signed by Orville Wright of the Wright brothers.

"So I guess I'm just one generation away from the beginning of it all," said Mulcahy.

After flying off and on until the 1990's, Mulcahy decided he needed to have more fun flying. "At first the idea was to get upside down a little bit, do a roll or a loop," recalled Mulcahy.

After receiving formal aerobatic training in Arizona, Mulcahy started competing in 2000. He needing something "more agile" for aerobatics, so Mulcahy purchased a factory built 1982 Pitts Special.

"I had to satisfy myself that it was safe to begin with," said Mulcahy.

Now Mulcahy's favorite figure to fly is a hammer head. A maneuver where the plane flies a vertical line upward until it stops, pivots and comes down in the same line.

Mulcahy competes in two competitions a year; the Apple Cup in Ephrata and the Beaver State Championship in Pendleton, Ore. He prefers to stay close to home and doesn't travel great distances to compete.

"This is just one of the many things in my life, and I don't go overboard with it," states Mulcahy.

Fortunately the Ephrata Municipal Airport is one of the few airports in the state that has an aerobatic box. An aerobatic box is a block of air that is 3,300 feet long by 3,300 feet wide.

Pilots are challenged to perform their routines within the lateral and vertical limits of the box during a competition.

Competitions consist of five levels in which Mulcahy participates in the intermediate level.

"I don't have the showoff syndrome. I don't think that's a good thing to have," said Mulcahy.

When it comes to competition time, each pilot performs three sequences: a known sequence, a free program and an unknown sequence. A sequence is a series of figures the pilots try to paint for the judges below. Sequences consist of loops, rolls and several other maneuvers. Each performance lasts up to 51/2 minutes.

"It seems to go very fast when you're flying it. Very fast. It's over before it started," explains Mulcahy.

Practice helped Mulcahy improve his skills and build up his tolerance to G-forces. "Twenty to 25 minutes is about all I can handle."

Muscle memory is another reason Mulcahy spends time in the air.

"Once you get to the point where you can fly the figures from basic muscle memory … then your mind is available to think about other things like, where am I in the box? What am I going to do two figures from now, am I too high or too low in a figure?"

Mulcahy participated in eight seasons of aerobatics and is planning a couple more. Before ending his aerobatic career Mulcahy plans to attend nationals in Denison, Texas.

"I was thinking about giving it up this year, but I decided to fly. It's basically day to day. I'm closer to the end than I am to the beginning," smiles Mulcahy, "I'm blessed with good health, a lot of good friends, and I've been able to do a lot of neat things," he said.