Originally Posted by
Rivet gun
Personally I think the Extra 300 is the worst possible airplane to teach UPRT. I have a few hours in one and can state that it does not fly like any "normal" aircraft. The controls are an order of magnitude more powerful than a normal category aircraft. If you are upside down you can be right side up in about 1/3 of a second. No skill required just slam the stick to one side and immediate centralize it. It is also perfectly symmetrical . The level flight attitude inverted is the same as erect flight
A much better UPRT aircraft IMO is something like a Zlin 242. It has side by side seating, a leisurely roll rate, pretty heavy controls and will have a high inverted descent rate inverted unless a significant nose high attitude is maintained.
In any case UPRT only has lasting benefit if the "push and roll" reflex is automatic. When Iast asked to do an informal UPRT for a PPL who was not interested in aerobatics but had been scared by a wake turbulence encounter the majority of the course concentrated on 2 things, a review of stall recognition and recovery and recovery from more than 90 deg's of bank. After about 3 hours of training we did a "test" flight. No talking from me just me putting the aircraft in random unusual attitudes and having him recover. After that flight we both felt comfortable he could safely deal with any upset. However I told him the true test would be to come back in a year and do the test over to see if the training stuck. I never saw him again, so I have no idea if he in fact still has the muscle memory to save himself.
Like in aerobatics it doesn't matter how good you used to be, it only matters how good you are now. Without regular practice I think a lot of pilots, and regulators are fooling themselves if they think they still have the skills necessary.....