In article ,
, says...

WARNING: SIDETRACK--TANGENT--WAY OFF COURSE HERE

On Monday, April 20, 2015 at 6:35:42 PM UTC-5, son_of_flubber wrote:


'Wings level upright' and 'wings level inverted' gives the same
reading on this instrument.

Actually it's worse than that-- the indicated turn rate (yaw rate)
drops off toward zero as as the bank angle approaches 90 degrees, in
which case the glider is in an extreme diving corkscrew or helix...

But again, you aren't ever going to end up there if you are watching
the instrument.

In the fully inverted case, if the G-loading is still positive-- which
it will be unless you are pushing the stick forward-- you won't be
inverted for long. But during those few seconds that you are, if you
deviate even slightly from wings-level, then if you react to the
indication of the yaw rate indicator, you'll roll the aircraft toward
wings-level upright. That's a good thing! Example: inverted
wings-level but positively loaded, left wing drops, glider is now ina
turn toward right wingtip, instrument shows right yaw, pilot gives
left roll input which is indeed the shortest path toward upright. The
only problem is that as the bank angle approaches 90 degrees, again
the yaw rate drops toward zero...

But again, you aren't ever going to end up there if you are watching
the instrument.

That's all a side-track. Let's not lose sight of the fact that the
history of soaring includes many many hundreds or thousands of hours,
collectively, of flying in clouds with the aid of a turn rate
indicator and no artificial horizon.

I guess the big question is, can you recover from an unusual attitude on
limited instruments (no AH). I know I can, but it requires practice.
And it's not fantastically *easy*.

If you haven't done it, get under the hood with an instructor. And did
I say it's a lot of fun? It is, great fun. Could save ya butt one day.

--
Duncan.