Call Reporter Joseph B. Nadeau, left, manages to wave while flying upside down with Lt. Col. John Klatt, a member of the Minnesota National Guard, during aerobatic maneuvers over Jamestown during preview flights of the R.I. National Guard annual Open House and Air Show, which opens today at 9 a.m. at Quonset Airport in North Kingstown. Call Photo/Ernest A. Brown

NORTH KINGSTOWN -- I knew I was heading for a different kind of plane ride when Major John Klatt’s crew chief brought over a parachute.

Anyone flying in a plane doing aerobatic maneuvers needs to wear a parachute and I would be no exception.
But there is more to flying aerobatics than just needing a parachute. It also requires a very sturdy but light plane and a powerful, high-octane gas engine.
You also need a very, very, and I will repeat it, very good pilot.
That is exactly who I had to take me up in the 300SL stunt plane I flew in over Narragansett Bay this week.
I took the ride in the stunt plane as the Rhode Island National Guard Open House and Air Show got ready for Saturday and Sunday’s wide-ranging aeronautic demonstrations and the sun finally broke our month-long bout of rainy weather.
Klatt, 43, not only performs in air shows around the country in a high-powered Staudacher stunt plane, he is also an F-16 fighter pilot with the Minnesota Air National Guard and flies with 148th Fighter Wing in Duluth. A pilot with more than 2,000 hours flying the F-16, Klatt just returned from his third tour of duty flying missions over Iraq.
After I had the parachute firmly in place, I next had to get strapped into the two-seat 300SL demonstration plane Klatt would pilot during our sampling of his air show stunts.
The check out occurring before Klatt kicked over the engine included how to release the four-point cockpit restraints and if necessary, carry out a right-handed pull of the ripcord.
A set of headphones in the front seat allowed me to hear Klatt’s exchanges with the Quonset Airport tower and also the pilot of an open-door chase plane carrying the rest of Klatt’s show crew and Staff Photographer Ernest A. Brown.
Klatt will be performing with a list of other aerobatic acts during a show also featuring the jet-powered U.S. Navy Blue Angels and the Canadian Snowbirds demonstration teams. 
The power and lightness of the propeller driven 300SL was apparent as soon as Klatt revved up the engine and we began to speed down the old Quonset Naval Air Station runaway in front of the viewing areas set up for the weekend show.
In a snap of Klatt’s hand on the stick (the flight control moving in unison with an untended second stick in front of me) the 300SL leaped off the deck and we began a steady, floating climb above 5,000 feet where the fun would begin.
After advising the chase plane of our flight intentions, Klatt carried out a slow roll and short inverted flight to check that I was firmly held to my seat. The bay’s cerulean blue waters loomed overhead, or below, depending on your point of view, and the emerald shore of Jamestown moved past to the left as we coasted toward Beavertail and its square grey lighthouse.
After popping right side up, Klatt carried out a few more checks, snap rolls that stopped us at each quarter of the clock and back to level, and then asked if I was ready for a round of full-fledged aerobatics.
The propeller of the plane just in front of me made a perfectly round and transparent disk against the bay and sky as we continued south and started with a series of full-fledged aerobatics off Bonnet Shores. It would be easier to describe what followed if I had been standing with my feet firmly on the ground, head craned upward, as most people view aerobatics at air shows.
Strapped in as I was, I could generally make out that there was sky and sun in front of me as the nose pointed up and then quickly the bay and the sweep of the Jamestown bridge for a second and then that really big cigarette boat leaving a long wide wake as it headed north up the West Passage.
The g-forces came at the bottom of the loop and I didn’t think I could sit any farther down into my seat until the force pushed me there.
Klatt also executed a hammer turn where he used the power of the engine to carry the plane straight up until we stopped, seemingly frozen behind the whirling propeller, until the plane fell back on its tail and roared straight down toward the bay. It is surprising how clearly things like channel markers or the stone and concrete base of long ago lost mid-bay light house stand out when you are heading directly toward them.
The pull out brought another crushing blow of g-force but Klatt wasn’t finished even after that.
We flew through a whirling spiral of rolls and then even more bruising loops that had me alternating between hanging from the restraints, watching the bay, and being plowed back into my seat as the set up for the next feat of flight.
Somewhere along the routine, I lost track of the chase plane and when Klatt announced matter-of-factly in typical pilot demeanor “that’s the ride,” I was happy to relax my grip on the support struts to either side of the cockpit canopy and enjoy the view as we headed back up the bay toward Quonset.
The plane made a smooth touch down on the tarmac and we were soon taxing past a large dark gray B-1 Bomber that had just arrived to take its place with the show’s assorted parked military aircraft.
Klatt actually developed his own love of flying when his father, Robert, an aircraft mechanic, took him to air shows while he was growing up.
“I was a kid and it really had an impact on me,” he said after we were back on the ground and out of our parachutes.
He carried that love into his early flight training through private plane lessons his father helped him pay for and became a private pilot as he graduated from the University of Minnesota.
He became a flight instructor himself and while looking for a job in aviation settled on the Air National Guard as a way to get himself one of the best flying jobs in the world.
After learning to fly large C-130 transports, the same plane the Rhode Island Air National Guard flies routinely out of Quonset, Klatt made the switch to jet fighters and the F-16 he flies for the 148th.
For fun on weekends, Klatt flies his stunt plane at about 15 air shows a year.
Asked which aircraft was his favorite, Klatt said he had to say the Air National Guard’s F-16 with all its power and supersonic speed.
“It’s pretty hard to beat,” Klatt said. “You get to fly a fully-fueled high tech aircraft maintained by the very best maintenance personnel. It really is pretty hard to beat.”
Flying for the military, of course, takes professionalism and requires pilots to work hard at everything they do. But Klatt said it can be as enjoyable as aerobatic flying in air shows.
“I just enjoy flying and I’m lucky that I can do both,” he said. 

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Gates at Quonset Point in North Kingstown will open at 9 a.m. Saturday and the shows will begin at 10 a.m. on both days.
 The U.S. Navy Blue Angels and the Canadian military Snowbirds will perform on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
This year’s show also will feature parachute demonstrations by the Black Daggers special forces jump team, and individual aerobatics flight demonstrations by Sean D. Tucker, Michael Goulian, John Klatt and Ed Hamill.
The show will also offer attendees an in-flight view of the Air Force’s state-of-the-art F-22 Raptor jet fighter from Langley Air Force Base, a demonstration flight by an F-16 fighter out of Shaw Air Force Base, and a view of a Rhode Island Air National Guard C-130J transport roaring past in four-engined fury.
Aircraft history buffs will also be treated to a Heritage Flight of two World War II P-51 single-engine fighters during the show and also see a fly-by of the F-22, F-16, and a P-51 in close formation.
The U.S. Marine Corps V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft also will be in the air during the show in addition to a wide variety of military ground displays around a flight line concourse featuring food, refreshments and souvenirs.
The Snowbirds will be flying at 2 p.m. and be followed by the air show’s popular combined forces assault demonstration featuring aircraft and helicopter forces in conjunction with other military units.
The Blue Angels will close the show with their supersonic performance starting at 3 p.m.
There is no admission charge for the show. Donations for parking to benefit Hasbro Children’s Hospital will be accepted, according to Riel.
For more information on the show’s acts or schedule, visit www.riairshow.com.