Looping a standard cirrus

On Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 1:57:46 PM UTC+13, wrote:
Who has done a loop in a standard cirrus?

Accidentally or intentionally?
If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should...

On Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 3:42:20 AM UTC-6, Dave Nadler wrote:
On Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 1:57:46 PM UTC+13, wrote:
Who has done a loop in a standard cirrus?

Accidentally or intentionally?
If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should...

What Dave says . . .
The smoothest soaring pilot I ever flew with was Johnny Byrd (R.I.P), multiple time champion and member of our US World Team. He described to me about flying in very rough air when his Standard Cirrus sailplane pitched up vertical, so he pulled it around into a loop. He figured that was the best option to avoid a falling "tail slide" which might break the sailplane. It possibly pitched up so suddenly due the all-flying horizontal tailplane. I do not believe that he ever looped any other aircraft except for that "accidental" loop.

Johnny Byrd was cool cat. Quiet demeanor and always helpful. I learned a lot from his sharing of his knowledge and I miss him so . . .

Burt
Marfa, TX

At 02:10 20 January 2018, Burt Compton - Marfa Gliders, west
Texas wrote:
On Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 3:42:20 AM UTC-6, Dave Nadler
wrote:
On Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 1:57:46 PM UTC+13,

wro=
te:
Who has done a loop in a standard cirrus?
=20
Accidentally or intentionally?
If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should...

What Dave says . . .=20
The smoothest soaring pilot I ever flew with was Johnny Byrd
(R.I.P),
multi=
ple time champion and member of our US World Team. He
described to me
abou=
t flying in very rough air when his Standard Cirrus sailplane pitched
up
ve=
rtical, so he pulled it around into a loop. He figured that was the
best
o=
ption to avoid a falling "tail slide" which might break the sailplane.
It
=
possibly pitched up so suddenly due the all-flying horizontal
tailplane.
I=
do not believe that he ever looped any other aircraft except for
that
"acc=
idental" loop. =20

Johnny Byrd was cool cat. Quiet demeanor and always helpful. I
learned a
=
lot from his sharing of his knowledge and I miss him so . . .=20

Burt
Marfa, TX


I miss 30 a lot as well... He was my team-mate....

RO

Doing a loop is well within the flight envelope of almost all modern (20 years) gliders. A low stress figure that is fun to fly.
BUT...you should have a verified, accurate G-meter.
AND...the greatest risk about flying aerobatics is knowing what to do when a figure is failing. Learning how to safely recover from a figure that is going bad is the true value of aeraobatic training. Most low time acro pilots I have flown with do not know what to do when they stall out at the top of a loop. They freeze at the controls while they are trying to think their way out of the situation. While they are thinking the aircraft is gaining speed VERY RAPIDLY. It takes only the blink of an eye to blow through your Vne. All of our current acro gliders have Vne around 150 knots. That gives us a large gap between the 100 knots we typically start and end a loop at and the Vne. Your glider Vne is so close to the entry/exit speed of a loop that it would be hard to give you a thumbs up on doing a loop in that aircraft.

Get acro training in an acro aircraft and be happy.