Photo by Edward Lea
Jason Flood, 21 who crashed his plane last year, poses in front of his airplane in Hammonton, New Jersey
~
By WALLACE McKELVEY, Press of Atlantic City
Jason Flood finished second this weekend in the Wildwoods AcroBlast competition, the 21-year-old pilot’s first since a near-fatal banner plane crash last August.
“To come back with no practice in 11 months and come in second, that’s pretty awesome,” he said Monday.
Flood, of Franklin Township, Gloucester County, finished second out of nine competitors in the intermediate category. The AcroBlast was held at the Cape May County Airport in the Erma section of Lower Township.
The Aug. 2, 2011, crash left the young pilot with numerous broken bones, a crushed lower spine, a torn aorta and extensive internal bleeding.
Will Morey, whose Morey’s Piers sponsored the competition, said Flood’s performance was exceptional. His story of resilience made it a special event, he said.
“It was an aerobatic competition and a celebration of Jason’s return, not only to aviation but to his life,” Morey said.
The event tested competitors’ ability to complete three sets of maneuvers: one known months in advance, one handed out the night before and a third chosen by the pilot. Any deviation from the pre-approved flights was counted against the pilot’s score.
While Flood was in first place after Saturday’s competition, points deducted from Sunday’s flight — he came in fourth place on the final flight — kept him from the top spot. That was still good enough for second place on the final leaderboard.
Flood said he received zero points for one of his figures Sunday, but he recovered and finished the rest of the maneuvers.
“Luckily, I kept a cool head and didn’t worry about it then and there,” he said. “I could’ve zeroed the entire flight if I didn’t keep my composure.”
Morey said it’s one thing for a pilot to recover from the injuries Flood suffered, but another to go on to compete at this level.
“Aerobatic flying looks graceful from the ground, but there’s a lot of (gravitational) forces and strenuous activity involved,” he said. “It’s phenomenal he had the physical stamina to be able to get back into that airplane and compete as well as he did. It’s nothing short of amazing.”
That kind of endurance is the result of incredible focus, Morey said.
“It was clear to me afterward that the flight took a bit of a toll on him,” he said. “I don’t know how much reserve power he had left, but he was able to stay focused and do a great job.”
Flood said the three-day competition was physically taxing but personally rewarding.
“The air temperature was 90-something, but inside the cockpit itself it was 100 degrees,” he said. “When the flight was over, it was like getting out of a swimming pool — I was drenched in sweat.”
After each day’s competition, Flood said he used a friend’s air mattress to take naps in the shade.
“People would make fun of me lying down,” he said. “But I had to get off my feet and give my ankles a break.”
Based on his performance this weekend, Flood is hopeful for the future. He already has an airshow performance scheduled this August, with two more competitions later this year.
“Before the accident, this was about how well I flew,” he said. “I need practice, but that’s real easy to fix.”
Source: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com
