Originally Posted by
Three Wire
I think that the statement is essentially correct.
I flew the A4 Skyhawk and we did our share of ai to mus. The Squadron AEO became concerned at the number of worn rivets, predominantly on the RH wings. He had a long discussion with the Squadron Senior Pilot, who agreed that the pilots were pulling and rolling at 4+ g during the dive recovery.
The upshot was the Squadron AWI rebriefed us on dive bombing recovery: Straight pull at 4 g to 20 degrees nose up, release the g then roll to desired bank, then reapply the g. Voila the rivets miraculously stopped wearing out their rivet holes and brown streaks on the wing surface thinned out.
Much, much later, my airline began UPRT training on the guidance of senior Standards Captains. When I piped up and mentioned rolling g, I was laughed at, but I stuck to my guns and said that the limit is 2.5 *.66 or you will have airframe damage.the Standards Captains did at least go away and do their research. They changed their briefs to include mention of rolling g.
But the overstressed pilot staring at a window of brown and green is not going to think about rolling limits until much later.
While rolling G limits should be mentioned during upset training the training itself should emphasize no pull while rolling to wings level. Any G you load the wing to slows the roll capability and accelerates you toward the place you don't want to go to.