Fly Like a Girl!

By Editor | March 24, 2026 |

Fly Like a Girl!

The upside-down life of Britt Lincoln

Britt Lincoln is frequently seen piloting aircrafts at Big South Fork Air Park, where she is among a slew of pilots who draw awe from spectators, but it’s clear she has fans wherever she goes. When she’s not in Scott County, she’s amassing a crew of admirers in the field of aviation. Lincoln was recently featured in EAA Sports Aviation Magazine, who has graciously allowed SCN to republish their story in full. We are happy to share Part II of the Montana native’s story this week.

Fly Like a Girl – Part 2
Continued from last Weeks Issue of Scott County News.

By Jim Busha

The Extra Edge

“My airplane is an Extra 330SCX, a high-performance aerobatic monoplane built in Germany. I often describe it as ‘a lion on a leash,’” Britt said. “It feels like I’m strapping myself onto a rocket ship.”
Because it is not certified in the United States, it is registered as experimental exhibition. Britt’s Extra is a single-seat, low-wing aerobatic monoplane with carbon fiber wings, tail, control surfaces, pushrods, and empennage structure, along with a steel-tube, carbon, and fabric-covered fuselage.
“We have ‘tuned’ the ailerons a bit and have my airplane at a roll rate of a blistering 420 degrees per second in aileron rolls and over 500 degrees per second in snap rolls,” she said. “The airplane is rated to +10/-10g’s. After a competition flight, my g-meter typically reads around +10/-8g’s.”
The Extra is powered by a six-cylinder Lycoming AEIO-580 producing roughly 330 hp. It has inverted fuel and oil systems that allow the aircraft to maintain indefinite inverted flight — at least until the fuel runs dry. There are two “acro” fuel tanks between the pilot and firewall holding just under 27 gallons. Each wing also contains a fuel tank holding about 16 gallons, though you cannot fly aerobatics with fuel in the wings. Britt’s airplane also has a smoke tank beneath the two acro tanks that holds 5 gallons of smoke oil.
“During aerobatics, I run the airplane full rich, burning about 34 gph,” Britt said. “In cruise, she burns approximately 17 gph at 23 squared. I’m currently running a three-bladed MTV-9-B-C 198 propeller. The instrumentation in my airplane is basic. I have a mechanical airspeed indicator, altimeter, fuel gauges, a JPI engine monitor, and an old Garmin 255XL, although some exciting upgrades are currently in the works.”
When Britt flies, she wears a Softie Wedge 180 parachute with an aerobatic harness specifically designed with a crossover style that keeps connecting hardware away from her hips and legs, which would otherwise pinch during high-g maneuvers.
Because Britt is on the petite side (5 feet, 5 inches and 120 pounds), she has struggled to fit properly in standard aerobatic seats. Even though the Extra has an adjustable seat and rudder pedals, she needs additional “filler” behind her back.
“I could not reach full forward-left stick, the left-forward corner, which is required for a positive snap roll,” Britt said. “My arm reach simply isn’t long enough. For about the first year, I flew the airplane with layers of cut-up yoga mats duct-taped together behind me. But even the firmest yoga mat compresses under a 10g maneuver, and during hard negative-g pushes, both the parachute and the yoga mat would shift or ride up. That can be distracting when you’re pointed straight at the ground at 200 knots and 800 feet, pushing out to inverted level flight.”
With help from coach Craig Gifford, mentor Rob Holland, and friends at Full Stop Aviation in Union City, Tennessee, Britt had a custom-molded foam seat poured like those used by professional race car drivers.
“It’s molded to my body and parachute and fits inside a standard Extra seat,” Britt said. We also built a lip at the top of the seat to keep my parachute in place during hard negative-g pushes.”

Aerobatic Elegance

Everything about Britt’s aerobatic flying is carefully and meticulously planned.
“There is never a flight that is unprepared or a time when I simply take off and perform stunts,” Britt said. “I strongly dislike the term ‘stunt pilot.’ To me, it diminishes the incredible amount of work, effort, and discipline that goes into aerobatic flying, and it carries a negative connotation — one of recklessness and lack of safety. While competition and air show flying differ in many ways, they also share parallels. Both are extremely disciplined. Competition is about flying with absolute precision while making it look beautiful. Air show flying focuses more on entertainment and incorporates maneuvers that may look ‘out of control’ to an untrained eye but are fully controlled by the pilot.”
When Britt prepares to fly a sequence, one of the first things she does is analyze it for any “underwater stones,” or elements that may catch an inexperienced or unprepared pilot off guard. That might include altitude-losing figures, energy-draining figures, or elements where precise speed control is essential, such as a P-loop with a snap roll on the vertical downline.
“I identify where the lowest altitude will occur in the sequence and determine what altitude I want at that point — typically at the bottom of the aerobatic box,” Britt said. “I then work backward, figure by figure, calculating altitude gain or loss, and keep a running total to determine the safe starting altitude. I then set altitude gates, floors, and speed targets for key figures and write them on my sequence card.”
Britt then studies the forecast winds at various altitudes, ideally in 500-foot increments. Dramatic shifts — calm on the surface, 15 knots at 2,000 feet, and 35 knots at 3,000 feet — can drastically alter her plan and presentation.
“That information, combined with my planned altitude profile, significantly affects how I plan to fly the sequence,” Britt said. “I then determine where I want to place each figure within the aerobatic box. This varies greatly with atmospheric conditions. I can fly the same sequence under different weather and have two completely different plans.”
A standard competition aerobatic box is approximately 3,300 feet by 3,300 feet. Air show boxes vary widely depending on the location and crowd size. For Britt, a perfect competition flight stays within a width of 2,500 feet (not using the last 400 feet on either side) and is between 850 and 1,800 feet away from the judges. Britt aims to use only about one-third of the box.
Once she has planned altitudes, speeds, and positioning, she determines roll directions for all rolls, snap rolls, and spins and marks them on her card.
“Once the card is marked, I walk the sequence several times on the ground,” Britt said. “You might have seen aerobatic pilots doing this. It looks like we are pacing in a small area, waving our arms, spinning, or twirling around. We look like uncoordinated, slightly dizzy ballerina wannabes. I visualize every moment: the taxi, takeoff, time in the hold, the dive into the box, each figure, what I will feel, see, and hear, and how the wind will affect positioning. I plan and visualize the perfectly executed flight.”
Marking a sequence card is a personal thing. Everyone develops a system that works for them. Britt uses a combination of writing and colors. Each color means something specific and helps her read the card quickly during an aerobatic flight.
“G-tolerance is very perishable, especially negative g-tolerance,” Britt said. “Even one week without training noticeably reduces it. I work out daily, which keeps me in shape and improves endurance during flights and long training camps. The better shape I’m in, the quicker I recover between flights and the more productive I am, especially on days when I fly two or three practice flights. The best way to build g-tolerance is to ease into it at the beginning of the season, laying the foundation and starting with around +6/-4g’s and gradually working up from there over the course of several weeks.”

Fly Like a Girl – Part 3
Continued In Next Weeks Issue of
Scott County News.
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