14-year-old pilot competes in National Aerobatics

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This article was published 22/08/2023 (699 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Adam Peters flew into Steinbach from St Andrews for this interview and to get a few practice runs in ahead of his turn at the Canadian National Aerobatic Championships last weekend. He had to fly – the 14-year-old can’t get his driver’s licence for another two years.

“Traffic was light,” joked the young pilot, who said the flight took about 20 minutes.

Having just finished Grade 8, Adam is now focused on getting comfortable with his new plane before competing in his second aerobatic competition. He started flight training at Harv’s Air in Steinbach when he was 12, so of course he has moved up from the primary level and will be competing against his fellow airmen in the sportsman level.

Adam did his first solo flight two months ago. He does still need to use cushions to get a boost in his seat so he can see properly out the windows and past the propeller of his two-seater RV-8, though.

All the amazing dedication to this incredibly unique hobby started as an interest in the Second World War, specifically its aviation history.

“I loved the mechanics and engineering of airplanes. How can this, like, chunk of metal just fly? It doesn’t make any sense. How can this thing that’s heavier than air fly through the air?” said the very keen aviation student.

So he went to his dad Brian, who thought it might be tricky to get him into flying. Turns out, it is not so tricky after all.

“It turned out you can fly airplanes when you’re 12 years old. Not by yourself yet, but you can start your training,” said Adam.

That is when he arrived at Harv’s Air.

“I convinced my dad to put me in a Discovery flight, and the rest is history,” he said.

Chief flight instructor at Harv’s Air in Steinbach Luke Penner said he wishes all new students were at Adam’s level.

“Fourteen years old, it’s just totally unheard of,” said Penner.

He explains that while Adam can’t get his pilot licence yet, that is no barrier to flying solo at 14.

“He’s got no passenger. Every flight that he does is supervised by a supervising instructor. So yeah, you can do it legally,” explained Penner.

But he heaped praise for Adam’s maturity that helped him focus on such a challenging task.

“He is wise beyond his years,” said Penner.

And remember, Adam does not just take off and land, which would be complicated enough. Aerobatic flying involves flying loops and other complicated maneuvers akin to those Second World War dogfights that first piqued Adam’s interest in aviation.

“There are two maneuvers that I really love: the spin and the hammerhead,” said Adam.

After a bit of thought, he said the hammerhead is his favourite.

“So what it is, is a vertical upline and then you kick the rudder over and the plane kind of flips over like this. And then straight down and you come up. It’s pretty fun,” said Adam, using his hand to demonstrate all the flipping around that he does with a metal machine in the sky.

He admits it took some practice before he got over the nerves, but now it is all positive adrenaline.

Those first aerobatic flights came after he was a veteran pilot at 13. It started as a joke from his instructor. Of course Adam had to look into it.

Luckily his dad believed building that kind of muscle memory would make Adam a safer flyer if anything that required quick reactions with only seconds to spare were to happen.

“My mom made him also start his training because she didn’t want me flying without him flying with me. But now she doesn’t want him flying without me flying with him,” smiled Adam.

His dad and grandpa are helping Adam put together a four-seater R-10 plane in a hangar at St Andrews now. He sees it as an opportunity to understand all the pieces of the air machine he pilots.

Adam knows he is lucky to have the opportunity to apply all his skill and dedication to such a pricey endeavor. It is why he hopes to give back.

He has started a YouTube channel depicting some of the wild rides he goes on, and the training that goes into it.

The channel is called Turned N Banked.

“I’m really fortunate that I have parents that can get me into this, and are really supportive of this. But some people don’t have the means to get into aviation, and my whole goal with Turned N Banked is I’m trying to use it as a platform to show that I’m a young person in aviation, and I’m going to use the funds that I generate from that channel to help me put it into more young people getting into aviation,” explained Adam.

He is now looking for sponsors.

Once he gets other kids into flying, he hopes it will start a chain reaction of more young pilots making more videos, making more money to make more young pilots.

And what do his classmates think of this one-of-a-kind hobby?

“It’s just a thing that I do,” shrugged Adam.