G Force!

[arpansingla]

Hi,

I aspire to become a commercial pilot one day!

I am in the Air Training Corps and i went for my first AEF (Air Experience Flight) on Saturday. I have to say it was such an amazing time, my pilot was ex-tornado!

I had great fun with controlling the plane, however my pilot then decided to show me G Force and i didnt think it would be too bad. However i particularly disliked 0 G where things start to float! I didnt mind positive g so much as we only went up to 3 G.

This experience has certainly not put me off wanting to become a commercial pilot. However my question is if i dislike lots of g force then will it effect my chances of becoming an airline pilot? I loved flying the plane while we were on 1 G. I understand that military flying is probably a little more extreme and harder on the pilot, but does commercial flying expect you to be able to tolerate lots of G?

Thanks
Arpan

[wingman863]

Although it may seem unpleasant the first few times you experience it, I suspect that after a while you will not feel too bad. I really wouldn't let this affect your overall goal of being a pilot, its such a minor consideration and will become yet more insignificant as your flying time accumulates.

[cessna l plate]

G force is one of those funny things really, the more you do it the easier it gets as your body builds up a tolerance for it. When I first began training I hated stalling with a passion, and although I am still not a fan of it, I can now put up with it a lot easier. An added benefit for me is that I used to passionatley dislike roller coasters, now having a stalled a lot I find even the most dreadful ones are quite a nice thrill, and don't petrify me as they used to.

As far as being a commercial pilot is concerned, look at it this way, if you are flying passengers about for a living then I can guarentee that they wont thank you for loading them with G force positive or otherwise. There may be a slight G loading during a turn, but that's it as far as passengers are concerned.

To sum up, don't worry about it, don't let it put you off flying and welcome it, as in its extremes, it can be a good sign that something is going wrong.

By the way, welcome to the flying community.

[vapilot2004]

You should be just fine with an airline career - your distaste for negative or zero G maneuvers will be echoed by your fare-paying passengers in the back. Any positive G's will ,as stated by Cessna I Plate, be limited to steep bank turns - rarely above 1.5.

I should think that during training , the only below 1 G procedures might be an emergency descent - where if you can do it a nose down combined with a high bank angle should limit your exposure to that......correct me if I am wrong...........

So unless you are a cowboy 707 test pilot, aerobatics and the G forces that come with them are not a requirement for the job. :cool:

cheers,
vapilot

[Kestrel_909]

I had my first real experience of Gs a few weeks ago during a flight in an RAF Puma.

Forgive the following phraseology as I am not professional and even less knowledgeable when it comes to rotary wing.

We did some 'parabolas,' pulling into a steep climb then over the top of it and down again. Repeat several times. Pulling into the climb was fine, but going going over the top and starting to come down, well I painted my pants. :{ I was lucky to be sitting in the creman's seat, in the 'doorway' into the cockpit with two walls and a low ceiling surrounding me. As soon as I felt my stomach rising my hands shot up trying to push the ceiling out of the way! Kestrel didn't like this bit, especially the first time.

There were 13 civies onboard including moi, and most weren't looking too well while the two upfront laughed away and the crewman made frequent trips almost to the ceiling, since I had stolen his seat.

Then 60degrees of bank and pulling into the turn, driving Kestrel into his seat. This bit I preferred :ok: though I still walked away after landing a bit wooobly legged and in no rush to return, but admittedly I am a bit of a control freak.


While on the subject, we are all experiencing 1G as we seat in our leather swiveling chairs, but anything less than 1G is commonly referred to, perhaps wrongly, as negative G? Should negative G only be that with a - infront of it?

Also, what difference can you feel between 0G, -1G, -2G etc. I know at 2G you'll feel twice as heavy and 3G thrice etc etc, but what about the other way?

Cheers

[Halfbaked_Boy]

Hi Kestral,

Without delving into the technicalities, when you are correctly stating that 1G is what we all feel in our everyday lives when you are, say, sitting on a chair, you can relate all other 'numerical values' of 'G' in proportion. You state that when you experience 2Gs, you feel twice as heavy - this is exactly the same where negative Gs are concerned but reversed! For example, +2Gs will cause you to feel twice as heavy because your body is being forced into the seat with twice as much force as is usual. With -2Gs, however, your body weight is forced upwards into your shoulder restraints with twice as much force as your body weight, i.e. if you weigh 800 Newtons (roughly equivilant to 80 KG) then you would feel the following consequences of a 'G' manoevre -

+2 G = 1,600 newtons down into your seat
+1 G = 800 newtons down into your seat
0 G = 0 newtons in either direction, bit like being in space!
- 1 G = 800 newtons UP into your shoulder restraints
- 2 G = 1,600 newtons UP into your restraint.

So really nothing too technical, that (^^^) is as difficult as it gets. (Until you begin combining the above with bank angle, turn radius and speed :E )

Cheers, Jack. :ok:

[Kestrel_909]

Thanks Jack,

Makes perfect sense I guess, I think my confusion was in that when 0G is weightless, how then in negative G can you be more weightless than weightlessness :} Silly Kes.

[PPRuNeUser0172]

half baked boy

I do think that you will find you are talking half baked my friend. at 1g, you will feel all the weight of your body through the seat of your pants, it is only as you progress below 1 g towards 0 and beyond do you feel weightless, you would have us believe that flying around at 1 g is like being an astronaut.

Perhaps you have been watching too much space cadets

DOH;)

[D SQDRN 97th IOTC]

what a lovely airplane she was...........

[Genghis the Engineer]

So unless you are a cowboy 707 test pilot, aerobatics and the G forces that come with them are not a requirement for the job.

Remarkably aerobatic aeroplane the 707!

http://www.aviationpics.de/airshow/707buzz3.jpg

(For those who don't get the reference, "Tex" Johnston, a Boeing Test Pilot - famous for flying in a cowboy hat much of the time, once barrel-rolled the prototype 707. This is not normal behaviour for a 707 nor, most of the time, for a Boeing Test Pilot.)

G

[cwatters]

However i particularly disliked 0 G where things start to float

Try tightening the straps really really tight. I find that helps.

I was in the ATC back in the late 70's flew Chipmonks near Oxford. Had a lot of problems understanding anything said on the intercom as the sound quality was so poor. On one flight when it came time to head back the pilot pointed the plane home and said something on the radio. After what seemed like 5 mins he suddenly said "I have" - which was a bit of a surprise as for the past 5 mins I hadn't been flying it either. I guess he'd got it pretty well trimmed.

Another time a cadet ate a whole family size Battenburg cake before he went up - the results were predictable.

Watch out for the pilot who does some aerobatics and then says "all yours, fly us home". Hint - the airfield is probably behind you.

[Halfbaked_Boy]

Dirty Sanchez,

Edited - my apologies, I was tired, and pi**ed, and...

Cheers, Jack. :ok:

[Bob Viking]

Whilst we use G force routinely whilst whizzing around in fast pointy things, I must echo previous threads in assuring you that you would experience no such thing in commercial flying.
G force is uncomfortable at first but you'd get used to it with time. I'm a tall skinny git and even I can handle G (sustained +8 is my best so far, though not in my present aircraft type before any smart arses leap in!) so you'd be fine anyway.
BV;)