Q: Tell us first a little about Birrfeld airfield where we are today

Some of the planes here belong to flying clubs, like Birrfeld Flugschule (flying school), some belong to private clubs, and there are glider and aerobatics clubs here too. A small club may have one or two small airplanes, and its members pay a yearly subscription. You can also take lessons and learn to fly here as a beginner.

Q: Tell us about yourself and your flying history…

I started as a sixteen-year old flying small planes for the military. They paid for my education, although I learned to fly at a private flying school, not at a military airfield. First I flew gliders, then small motored planes and I was also a technician on Pilatus aircraft. Then I left the military pilot program when we were down to the last 20 guys. To be honest my motivation wasn’t there any more, as when you are a military pilot you only really get to fly about 100 hours per year. That’s not a lot and I really like to fly.

I then had the possibility of joining Swiss as a commercial passenger jet pilot, which I started at the age of 24. Compared to the 100 hours per year the military offers, I probably fly around 15 hours a week now across my job with Swiss, as PIC (Pilot in Command) of an Antonov 2, and my private aerobatic flying. As a commercial pilot in Switzerland, you cannot fly more than 900 hours per year; that’s the legal limit.

Q: When did you start acrobatic flying?

I started around two years ago in 2009. It was always a dream of mine. The flying is actually a little like flying military aircraft because the planes have such good performance and agility.

Two years ago then I started my acrobatic training. This takes place, obviously, in a different plane. When training this is a two-seater. Most of this training I did here at Birrfeld, but I also did part of it in the States, at Vero Beach in Florida, where it is a little cheaper. Then I went ahead and started flying by myself.

Q: What specific planes do you use for acrobatic flying?

The planes I fly are made here in Switzerland by Max Vogelsang under the MSW brand. Max uses an experimental design and designs and tests the aircraft himself. The two-seater plane I take passengers in for example is called the MSW Votec 322; the number stands for 320 horsepower with two seats.

This type of plane is a little different to a standard flat aircraft, in that instead of having the nose gear in the front and the main gear behind the center of gravity, the Votec has a small wheel in the rear and the gear in front of the center of gravity. That gives you a tricky nose-up position for ground operations like taxiing, take-off and landing, so you need skill and experience to be a ‘taildragger’ kind of pilot, so you can fly this kind of plane that carries itself higher at the front, rather than being level.

Q: Do you usually fly from Birrfeld or from other airfields too?

We normally start from here and try to find an airspace that is free. Or we might sometimes go to another nearby airport and meet some friends there. In Switzerland, like in America, there are a lot of small airports that are nice to fly around. This means that you can fly and be at another airport in just 10 or 15 minutes, where you can meet friends and fly together. We also sometimes fly in formation.

Q: Do you take part in events like air shows too?

MSW Aviation does yes. This year there will be such an event here in Birrfeld called the Pistenfest or the ‘Runway Party’. That’s going to be one of the biggest. Last year there was the Sion Air Show in Southern Switzerland. There are lots of nice airshows, especially for aerobatic pilots, over in Germany too. These are all usually solo displays where MSW’s founder Max Vogelsang or his son Urs use the smoke and set the display to music. I am currently training for the next Swiss Aerobatic Championship.

Q: How does acrobatic flying in such small planes differ to that of your day job flying passenger jets?

In life as a commercial pilot your job is simply flying from point A to point B. You have autopilot and a lot of procedures, and coffees, so most of the time it is not too exciting. The most interesting parts are takeoff and landing, especially the landing. This for me is the best and most challenging part, as obviously you have to stick to the runway and fully concentrate to get the plane down safely. It’s always a challenge to make a smooth landing.

With acrobatic flying however you are really flying. It’s also a physical challenge during long G-force figures and maneuvers such as loops, steep turns and snap rolls. When you’re doing a loop, you have a lot of pressure on the body; for four seconds you might get up to six, seven, even eight G’s of pressure. That’s the hardest part. If you do smaller figures, like a snap roll, you might have one second of very hard pressure, but you don’t feel that so much.

Q: How much technology do you have to help you fly in an acrobatic plane?

It’s really like a Formula 1 car. You have a carbon fiber cockpit that includes only the most important instruments. There is no autopilot for example. The whole machine is built to be very light. That’s the big advantage of such an aircraft. You don’t use an artificial horizon, because you look outside 100% of the time. With the airline’s aircraft, you use IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), which means using instruments so 90% of your view is of the inside of the cockpit, where you observe all the instruments. For the other 10%, for takeoff and landing, you look directly outside through the windows. This is the biggest difference in how you fly.

Q: When it comes to communicating in and from the cockpit, with this type of small plane, who are you communicating with and what equipment do you use to do this?

When flying with the airline most of your communication, probably half, is with the air traffic controller in the tower. The other half is with your colleague in the cockpit, via the internal intercom. By contrast, when flying light aerobatic aircraft like the Votec, if you fly solo you will only talk to the controller - for takeoff and landing - and maybe to cross some particular airspaces.

If you are in a two-seater, like the one I use for acrobatic passenger flights, then you regularly use the intercom as you need to inform your passenger what maneuvers are coming up. You might say for example, “Next we’ll be doing a loop, just stay relaxed”. This type of communication is really important as in most cases a passenger has never flown in such a plane and it’s really important to announce what you will do before you do it.

Q: What do you look for in a pilot headset?

Durability and long-life quality are really important. When flying acrobatically it is crucial that the headset stays where it should be. This is not always the case with some models. When you make a loop and you are inverted, heading downwards, you have to check the airspace ahead of you, which means looking upwards. At this point a headset can often move towards the back of the head, slipping off the ears. In the past when I wore an ear-seal or ear-muff style headset, I would fly with my right hand while using my left to hold my headset on my head. Now with the Phonak FreeCom 7000 I use, I don’t need to think about my headset at all.

Durability is also important during commercial airline flights too because radio headsets are usually used by many different pilots. They stay with the plane so as with most public things people don’t treat them as carefully as they would their own personal products.

Q: Did you experience any other problems with traditional pilot headsets?

Yes. During a long flight or after a day of several shorter flights, my ears would hurt from the pressure of the ear muffs pushing down on them.

Q: When you first used the Phonak FreeCom headset, what difference did you notice?

I tried the FreeCom in acrobatic aircraft and it’s there that I really saw the big advantage of this type of custom-molded in-ear headset. It’s perfect for that kind of flying – it’s really light, it’s comfortable and it just doesn’t move. There is nothing like it.

Q: What about from a noise point of view? How well does the FreeCom protect you against loud noise when you fly?

Its ear shells fit my ears perfectly so I hear the sound of the engine but only in the background and not too loud. The system seems to have a very good filter to filter loud noises out, so my radio communication with the control tower is excellent; I hear very well. From a radio transmission standpoint I have had cockpit colleagues and passengers tell me they can hear me much more clearly with FreeCom than when I am using a standard headset. So the benefit is not just for me, my headset choice also benefits others.

Q: The FreeCom system features custom-molded in-ear shells. How did you find this customization process?

The fitting process was easy. A Phonak representative came and spent maybe five minutes taking my ear impressions by inserting some safe foam inside the ears, which then goes hard to make a mold. The shells I then got back from Phonak should last ten years, and I can swap these between different FreeCom systems if I want.

Thanks very much for your time today Michael.

You’re welcome!

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To book an aerobatic flight experience with Michael, click here.
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