Originally Posted by
stator vane
If you've allowed the aircraft to get that f..led up, then you should let the other pilot have the controls. Someone was not watching or paying attention to what was happening.
It's kind of a paradox in upset training, that those best equipped to recover from upsets and spins are also those best equipped to avoid them. It's about understanding and confidence.
Originally Posted by
QuagmireAirlines
I should have said "Just let go of the stick to get alpha down." similar to what you said. Now I remember what we used to say to F-18 pilots. My engineering answer doesn't work well for training aids, as in "pitch toward your velocity vector", fine to say on the ground as an engineer, but in flight, just "let go of the stick a second" is easier.
Originally Posted by
QuagmireAirlines
Just --- let ---- go ---- of ---- the ---- stick (to unload).
Or is it better to say "Move stick to middle."? I'm a flight control engineer, so training experts jump in here please.
Simple rule. Training brains for dynamic situations requires simplicity. Don't make'em integrate differential equations while in a panic situation.
Yes you definitely should tend toward the simple in matters like this, but not into the too-simple. And "let go of the stick" is too simple. As has been mentioned earlier, the trim may be doing a lot to you that cannot be left ignored, and the thrust-pitch couple on top of it, even more so.
Without doing quantum chromodynaimcs in the cockpit, "Move the stick toward the middle" is simple enough, and accomplishes something. "Move the stick toward the middle such that you're not seeing any more pitching motion," may be better yet. Hopefully people already have some sort of map of elevator action vs. the scenery moving up or down in the front window, etched in their mind.
Terms like "thrust-pitch couple" and "velocity vector" are too much to have running through one's mind during their first real-life upset, but need to be considered and understood on the ground. A good ability to "do some of that pilot ****" is built on top of a good theoretical understanding of what it is, and why, you're doing. You're not gonna quickly and instinctively put the lift vector in the right place, unless you solidly understand what a lift vector is (as well as what effects it, and what it effects) in the first place.
There's no need to have a name like von Karman or Whitcomb to be a successful pilot, Yaeger and Hoover (the country bumpkins) did just fine. But if aerodynamics to the level discussed in basic pilot training material is too much to handle for someone, then there are plenty of hobbies and professions more suitable than flying for that person.