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First Two Aero Lessons This Weekend (Long)
Well I just returned from my second acro lesson in as many days and
all I can say is that I'm wiped out. Having an opportunity to fly with Rich Stowell on two occasions and performing a number of spins and other maneuvers certainly helped with endurance. The airport that I flew from is Van Sant in Erwinna PA, just across the Delaware River from Frenchtown NJ and about 50 miles north of Philly. This is a gorgeous area with numerous 18th and 19th century homes and old mills dotting the riverside. The airport is inhabited by a number of beautiful planes including a Great Lakes, Cub, Super Cub, a couple of Stearmans, and a number of planes I didn't recognize. I also witnessed my first glider tows, followed by another, then another. The gliders are extremely graceful and it was almost impossible to resist looking as they soared skyward following the tow plane as it provided it with its precious source of energy. I too wanted to go for a glider ride, but today my destiny was with the Super Decathlon, a plane that I had flown before. I met Azar the owner and after talking for a few we discussed my goals and he reviewed my logbook and the maneuvers that I had already had flown. After that we headed out to the plane and performed a preflight, followed by a safety discussion regarding the chutes and other matters. It wasn't long before we had the plane started and were taxiing over the very rough and hilly field on the way to the runway, which itself was as bumpy as the "taxiway" we had taken to get there. After takeoff we headed out over the Delaware where Azar asked me to perform a loop. No big deal, as I had performed one recently with Rich and they were still fresh in my head. Just about 4G's and my final altitude was within 100' of my starting altitude. Azar told me that it felt right, so I didn't complain. He walked me through an aileron roll, which I proceeded to botch. The problem was that I wasn't giving it full aileron due to the cramped conditions and my legs getting in the way, plus I wasn't pushing the stick gradually forward near knife edge and therefore pushing too hard while inverted, which isn't the most comfortable feeling. Azar demonstrated a few after which I followed, and they started to improve. He also performed a two point roll, stopping at inverted to show me where the nose should be. I then realized that inverted flight would take some getting used to. After a few additional loops and steadily improving aileron rolls we strung together a loop followed immediately by an aileron roll, which was cool. That was followed by a half Cuban 8 which I managed to execute without too much butchering. Before heading back he demonstrated a couple of barrel rolls, which are a nice gentle maneuver and a good way to start winding down the first lesson. On the way back to the airport Azar asked me to demonstrate a few spins, which I did with no problem. The first was only a one turn spin so on the second he asked me to make it a two-turn so that I could really see it spin up. Again I recovered with no problem and I think he was pleased with the spins and the session overall. I made a good three-point landing on the grass with 1 hour on the Hobbs. Today we started with loops, but spent most of the time doing ailerons rolls and two point rolls to really help me get used to being upside down. Hanging by the straps is certainly something I will have to get acclimated to, I'm just glad I listened and tightened the straps. To help convince me that I wouldn't fall out of my seat Azar put the plane on its back for a few seconds and then had me place my hands on my head. Those straps really do work huh? As with the previous day we combined a loop with an aileron roll, but instead of doing a half Cuban 8 we combined two a did a full Cuban 8. Again, very nice. He also introduced the Immelmann, which became the maneuver of choice when we wanted to reverse direction. Yesterday we also performed a hammerhead and while it was my second time doing one, it was much worse than my first attempt. But today we worked on those as well and I managed to get it under better control. What I found most difficult with the Immelmann and the half Cuban was determining when to push forward on the stick to arrest the loop before rolling without some coaching. With regards to aileron rolls it's a matter of not being timid with the aileron deflection and getting the stick forward before reaching inverted in order to prevent large negative G. In summary I had a great time and look forward to continuing. Azar's plan was to introduce most of the maneuvers within the first few lessons and then start to fine tune them. I've therefore pulled Goulian's "Basic Aerobatics", Kershner's aerobatics manual, and Rich's aerobatics tape from their respective storage units and will chair fly given my experience from the last two days. Thanks to Tom Parsons for his help and to Rich for helping start the addiction. Dave |
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Dave Russell wrote:
I've yet to meet anyone that pushes -3 or more and claims it's fun or easy. :-| Well, you just met one :-) Most serious (Advanced and Unlimited category) dot-pilots routinely push at least -5G. Some airshow pilots (you should see Skip Stewart and Jim Leroy fly the square outside knife-edge turn) push considerably more than that. Negative G is a whole different world than positive G. Positive G by itself is quite pleasant - the more, the merrier. Negative G requires that you relax, and I recommend that you take your time and slowly build your tolerance by increasing 0.5G increments over a period of a couple years. Most people aren't patient enough, though, and often end up screwing themselves up (see wobblies). After a while, a -3G or -4G push feels about the same as bending over to tie your shoelaces (really). My normal takeoff now is a half-roll inverted, accelerate level to 140 mph, then push up to an outside 1/2 cuban-eight, half-roll on the 45 down back to inverted, push to level inverted over the runway again, then push up again to an inverted 45 up and do an 8-of-4-point roll back to the inverted, then pull through the reverse 1/2 cuban-eight over the the runway again, this time upright :-) :-) Pushing -3G is really not very much. What you want to avoid is a good pull right after a good push. Pulling +6G (or more) is a piece of cake, but immediately after a push it's a receipe for sleepy-time, at least for most of us anyways. Wasn't there an F-20 demo crash in Europe a few years back? The pilot flew -1G inverted straight and level, then rolled upright and pulled +9G. He blacked out. Turned out he was on some iffy medication, IIRC. Anyways, one maneuver I love is a series of 4-pt rolls on the 45 downline, then push level inverted at the surface, then a 1/2 outside loop push up to the upright, then an 1/2 outside snap back to inverted at the top, then a 1/2 inside loop pull down to the surface again, but it's a bit dicey from a G-loc standpoint - you go right from a -3G (or more) push to a +5G (or more) pull. -- aboyd ATP www.pittspecials.com/images/takeoff.jpg |
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I've yet to meet anyone that pushes -3 or more and claims
it's fun or easy. :-| Well, you just met one :-) Most serious (Advanced and Unlimited category) dot-pilots routinely push at least -5G. Well, meet another one. For some reason, the outside stuff is more addictive than the inside! Andrew, it looks like your third S-2B has a black propeller, while the other two have the white one. I know you've written about this before. I've been thinking about upgrading my white propeller from 200 cm blades to the new 203's, but if I were rich, would I like the black propeller better? Doug Sowder |
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DSowder wrote:
Andrew, it looks like your third S-2B has a black propeller, while the other two have the white one. I know you've written about this before. I've been thinking about upgrading my white propeller from 200 cm blades to the new 203's, but if I were rich, would I like the black propeller better? Hm. If money is no object, you might go with the (counterweighted) 78-inch, fat-chord (black blade) Hartzell claw, which provides just a bit more slow-speed thrust than the (80 inch) 203cm MT, at a cost of a bit more drag at the top end (and thus slower speed - perhaps 5 mph). The claw blades are simply indestructible compared to the delicate MTs, but the claw is noticeably heavier than the MT. TANSTAAFL. However, the price is eye-watering: last I heard it was $55,000 list for the claw, vs perhaps $11,000 for the MT. Have you checked out the rumoured scimitar MT blades? If you want to get new blades, check them out. Ever looked at the whirlwind props? For your experimental/exhibition Pitts, it's a choice worth looking at - the blades look similar to the claw. -- aboyd ATP www.pittspecials.com/images/climbout.jpg |
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Sounds great. Welcome to the club. Be careful that you don't get addicted.
I did. A few general and Decathlon-specific tips to help you: 1. Don't worry about being wiped out, or airsickness. After my first 2 lessons, I had to go home, turn out the lights, and lay down for a few hours to recover. Within 5 to 10 flights, you will not feel tired at all after a sortie. 2. The trick to doing a nice roll in the Decathlon is to pitch the nose up a bit just as you start the roll. Not much at all, just goose the stick back for a second right as you start to roll, and move it forward to neutral as you reach full aileron displacement. Then you don't have to push the nose up when inverted; you just have to keep it up. That is the difference between a -2G and a -1G roll in the Decathlon. Also, don't use top rudder on the first knife edge, and use plenty of top rudder on the second knife edge. Finally, pick a distant terrain feature on the horizon and use it to keep on heading as you roll. 3. If the owner will let you, mark your windscreen with 2 pieces of tape to show you where the horizon should be; one for upright, one for inverted. Trim the aircraft for level flight at roll entry speed, then put the tape on the vertical metal frame in the center of the windscreen, to mark where it meets the horizon. Do the same inverted. Make sure the aircraft is in straight and level inverted flight, not losing any altitude, then mark the horizon. Imagine a circle between these two pieces of tape. That's what you roll around. 4. When you apply the ailerons in a roll, concentrate on feeling the stick go all the way to the control stop. Same for elevator and rudder inputs in a spin. 5. There are two general approaches to rollout on the immelman. Both use a visual cue. For the standard by the book immelman, come forward with the stick in time to stop the horizon right on your inverted tape mark, then roll. For competition, to avoid getting docked for "drawing a line", start the roll when the horizon is about halfway between the top of the windscreen and the inverted tape mark, or a bit sooner. Don't use any forward stick, and the nose will fall to a perfect level attitude as you reach upright flight. 6. For the cuban, do you have a sight gauge? If so, look out your wing at the sight gauge and come forward briskly with the stick just as you reach 45 degrees inverted. Hold it a second, then roll. As you roll, look out the top of the greenhouse roof and align the horizon with the frame member between the greenhouse roof and the windscreen. That helps you hold your 45 line, and also ensures you roll all the way around. Hold a split second, then pull out. 7. For reverse cubans, use the frame between the greenhouse roof and windscreen as a guide to set the 45 inverted upline. Pull to 45, hold a split second, then roll and align the frame member with the horizon. Again, this helps you to avoid over or under rolling. 8. Join the IAC and take up competition at the sportsman level. With about 15 hours of lessons and practice you could fly your first meet and have a great time. It will force you to learn all kinds of details about how to fly the maneuvers that you will never pick up if you just go out and fling yourself around. Not that there's anything wrong with flinging yourself around. Keep having a great time! Ed Haywood "David B. Cole" wrote in message m... Well I just returned from my second acro lesson in as many days and all I can say is that I'm wiped out. Having an opportunity to fly with Rich Stowell on two occasions and performing a number of spins and other maneuvers certainly helped with endurance. The airport that I flew from is Van Sant in Erwinna PA, just across the Delaware River from Frenchtown NJ and about 50 miles north of Philly. This is a gorgeous area with numerous 18th and 19th century homes and old mills dotting the riverside. The airport is inhabited by a number of beautiful planes including a Great Lakes, Cub, Super Cub, a couple of Stearmans, and a number of planes I didn't recognize. I also witnessed my first glider tows, followed by another, then another. The gliders are extremely graceful and it was almost impossible to resist looking as they soared skyward following the tow plane as it provided it with its precious source of energy. I too wanted to go for a glider ride, but today my destiny was with the Super Decathlon, a plane that I had flown before. I met Azar the owner and after talking for a few we discussed my goals and he reviewed my logbook and the maneuvers that I had already had flown. After that we headed out to the plane and performed a preflight, followed by a safety discussion regarding the chutes and other matters. It wasn't long before we had the plane started and were taxiing over the very rough and hilly field on the way to the runway, which itself was as bumpy as the "taxiway" we had taken to get there. After takeoff we headed out over the Delaware where Azar asked me to perform a loop. No big deal, as I had performed one recently with Rich and they were still fresh in my head. Just about 4G's and my final altitude was within 100' of my starting altitude. Azar told me that it felt right, so I didn't complain. He walked me through an aileron roll, which I proceeded to botch. The problem was that I wasn't giving it full aileron due to the cramped conditions and my legs getting in the way, plus I wasn't pushing the stick gradually forward near knife edge and therefore pushing too hard while inverted, which isn't the most comfortable feeling. Azar demonstrated a few after which I followed, and they started to improve. He also performed a two point roll, stopping at inverted to show me where the nose should be. I then realized that inverted flight would take some getting used to. After a few additional loops and steadily improving aileron rolls we strung together a loop followed immediately by an aileron roll, which was cool. That was followed by a half Cuban 8 which I managed to execute without too much butchering. Before heading back he demonstrated a couple of barrel rolls, which are a nice gentle maneuver and a good way to start winding down the first lesson. On the way back to the airport Azar asked me to demonstrate a few spins, which I did with no problem. The first was only a one turn spin so on the second he asked me to make it a two-turn so that I could really see it spin up. Again I recovered with no problem and I think he was pleased with the spins and the session overall. I made a good three-point landing on the grass with 1 hour on the Hobbs. Today we started with loops, but spent most of the time doing ailerons rolls and two point rolls to really help me get used to being upside down. Hanging by the straps is certainly something I will have to get acclimated to, I'm just glad I listened and tightened the straps. To help convince me that I wouldn't fall out of my seat Azar put the plane on its back for a few seconds and then had me place my hands on my head. Those straps really do work huh? As with the previous day we combined a loop with an aileron roll, but instead of doing a half Cuban 8 we combined two a did a full Cuban 8. Again, very nice. He also introduced the Immelmann, which became the maneuver of choice when we wanted to reverse direction. Yesterday we also performed a hammerhead and while it was my second time doing one, it was much worse than my first attempt. But today we worked on those as well and I managed to get it under better control. What I found most difficult with the Immelmann and the half Cuban was determining when to push forward on the stick to arrest the loop before rolling without some coaching. With regards to aileron rolls it's a matter of not being timid with the aileron deflection and getting the stick forward before reaching inverted in order to prevent large negative G. In summary I had a great time and look forward to continuing. Azar's plan was to introduce most of the maneuvers within the first few lessons and then start to fine tune them. I've therefore pulled Goulian's "Basic Aerobatics", Kershner's aerobatics manual, and Rich's aerobatics tape from their respective storage units and will chair fly given my experience from the last two days. Thanks to Tom Parsons for his help and to Rich for helping start the addiction. Dave |
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Ed,
Wow, that was a lot of great info. I certainly plan to incorporate as much as I can, particularly the info on sighting angles. Unfortunately we don't have a sight guage for use in the Cuban. Now that I've read a little more, reflected on my lessons, and remembered what Rich explained when I rolled with him, when doing the aileron roll I shouldn't need that much of a push when hitting inverted if I bring the nose up sufficiently before beginning the roll. In fact that's the purpose of bringing the nose up in the first place if I'm not mistaken. Bring the nose up to about 30 degrees, neutralize the elevator, full aileron deflection, and just enough rudder to correct for adverse yaw. You mention not using top rudder for the first knife edge but to use it during the second knife edge. Is this for the aileron roll or slow roll? I know that for the slow roll we don't bring the nose up as we do in the aileron roll, but start applying gradual forward pressure after passing the first knife edge to keep the nose above the horizon and to prevent the need for a large push while inverted. I also know that top rudder is necessary for both the first and second knife edge in this case. I certainly appreciate the advice and feel fortunate to have such a great community to compliment my training. As I mentioned the plan is to start refining the maneuvers and have more post-flight discussion going forward. I'm currently looking to do about ten hours and then move forward from there. Dave "Ed H" wrote in message ... Sounds great. Welcome to the club. Be careful that you don't get addicted. I did. A few general and Decathlon-specific tips to help you: 1. Don't worry about being wiped out, or airsickness. After my first 2 lessons, I had to go home, turn out the lights, and lay down for a few hours to recover. Within 5 to 10 flights, you will not feel tired at all after a sortie. 2. The trick to doing a nice roll in the Decathlon is to pitch the nose up a bit just as you start the roll. Not much at all, just goose the stick back for a second right as you start to roll, and move it forward to neutral as you reach full aileron displacement. Then you don't have to push the nose up when inverted; you just have to keep it up. That is the difference between a -2G and a -1G roll in the Decathlon. Also, don't use top rudder on the first knife edge, and use plenty of top rudder on the second knife edge. Finally, pick a distant terrain feature on the horizon and use it to keep on heading as you roll. 3. If the owner will let you, mark your windscreen with 2 pieces of tape to show you where the horizon should be; one for upright, one for inverted. Trim the aircraft for level flight at roll entry speed, then put the tape on the vertical metal frame in the center of the windscreen, to mark where it meets the horizon. Do the same inverted. Make sure the aircraft is in straight and level inverted flight, not losing any altitude, then mark the horizon. Imagine a circle between these two pieces of tape. That's what you roll around. 4. When you apply the ailerons in a roll, concentrate on feeling the stick go all the way to the control stop. Same for elevator and rudder inputs in a spin. 5. There are two general approaches to rollout on the immelman. Both use a visual cue. For the standard by the book immelman, come forward with the stick in time to stop the horizon right on your inverted tape mark, then roll. For competition, to avoid getting docked for "drawing a line", start the roll when the horizon is about halfway between the top of the windscreen and the inverted tape mark, or a bit sooner. Don't use any forward stick, and the nose will fall to a perfect level attitude as you reach upright flight. 6. For the cuban, do you have a sight gauge? If so, look out your wing at the sight gauge and come forward briskly with the stick just as you reach 45 degrees inverted. Hold it a second, then roll. As you roll, look out the top of the greenhouse roof and align the horizon with the frame member between the greenhouse roof and the windscreen. That helps you hold your 45 line, and also ensures you roll all the way around. Hold a split second, then pull out. 7. For reverse cubans, use the frame between the greenhouse roof and windscreen as a guide to set the 45 inverted upline. Pull to 45, hold a split second, then roll and align the frame member with the horizon. Again, this helps you to avoid over or under rolling. 8. Join the IAC and take up competition at the sportsman level. With about 15 hours of lessons and practice you could fly your first meet and have a great time. It will force you to learn all kinds of details about how to fly the maneuvers that you will never pick up if you just go out and fling yourself around. Not that there's anything wrong with flinging yourself around. Keep having a great time! Ed Haywood |
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Dave-
You mention not using top rudder for the first knife edge but to use it during the second knife edge. Is this for the aileron roll or slow roll? I think the rudder advice should work for both. The reason for the difference in rudder on the first vs. second knife edge is that adverse yaw actually helps keep the nose up on the first knife edge, so less rudder is required then. But on the second knife edge, adverse yaw is working against you, pushing the nose down and requiring more top rudder to keep it up. Tom P. |
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