Rad, this is a very interesting rabbit hole for me I stumbled upon today. Keen to combine my programming and poker knowledge for some minor profit and fun mroe than anything else.
wish I could contribute. i got my wings (just a PPL) 4 years ago and the craziest two manoeuvres I've ever flown were: 1. a recovery from a spin. 2. turning back to my local airfield because my 2-year old son was puking like crazy in the back... now all these blackbird stories make me really, really jealous.
Might I suggest a glider rating? My opinion, and yours of course may vary, is that it's vastly more interesting and exciting.
There's nothing quite like pounding along at ridgetop level, two hundred feet off the trees, going 120kts with everything bouncing around the cockpit. Or sitting in perfectly still air at 12,000ft, climbing effortlessly, watching airliners wander through below.
And there's also an intro to aerobatics. It is not that dangerous (when done with an instructor) and you'll be amazed how much it will expand your envelope and your understanding of possible modes of flying.
I was watching Dogfights off of YouTube, and saw that one F4 Phantom pilot had developed a technique of purposely "departing" his Phantom from controlled flight as a radical airbrake to force Migs to overshoot, and actually got to use it in combat. And it worked!
I run a consultancy so its easier but we pay hourly and provide benefits (payroll taxes, health, 401k). People can work whatever hours they want and from where ever they just keep the team updated and request a workload consistent with their expected hours. I have team members who work 50 hours a week and some who work 20 hours.
