Wing overs

[Nishko]

Instructors,

An instructor at my most common base has been promising to show me how to 'wing over' a 152 properly.... Anyway, we never got it together so I started experimenting myself.... Can anyone enlighten me as to the correct proceedure/entry speed/technique. I am managing to achieve something that's a lot of fun, but I'm not quite sure what it is ;)

On the other hand, if you think I should just stop it and resume straight and level, feel free to say. BTW, I am a safety chap through and through, so don't start lecturing me about irresponsible flying :)....can you sense a degree of humble nervousness?

Nish



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"There is no subject, however complex, that with patient and intelligent thought will not become even more complex".

[John Farley]

Nishko

At the risk of being too basic:

A wingover is just a turn through 180 degrees that is started from a climb and finished in a dive.

For this manoeuvre to count (in the eyes of a casual observer) as a wingover it will probably have to start from a minimum of 45 deg climb and finish with a minimum of a 45 deg dive.

IMHO It can be practised very safely without assistance providing you

1 Understand and agree the words above

2 Are competent to do good level visual steep turns to at least 60 deg bank

3 Understand the g limits of your aircraft (if it is a non aerobatic aeroplane that means 2g and you should know what that feels like from your 60 deg bank level turns)

4 Understand that if you have a non injected engine you must always keep some positive loading on the aircraft at all times or the engine may hiccup or stop due to fuel starvation

5 Are competent and current in stalling (and recovering) in turns

6 Know what your Vne is, are competent on a nice day with no turbulence to slowly increase speed until you get to it and then very gently recover ALL WITHOUT OVERSPEEDING THE ENGINE (if you don’t have a constant speed prop)


If you meet the above, then I would brief you to fly flat out level, before gently diving to 10 kts below Vne, pull up at no more than 2 g to a 30 deg climb, then by numbers

A Relax most of the pull

B Roll left to ten degrees past the vertical, remove the aileron input, apply a little gentle back pressure (beware of stalling as the IAS will be washing off) and allow the overbanked climbing turn to become the inevitable diving turn at which point you start to roll out of the turn to finish up wings level on the reciprocal heading – taking care not to exceed the RPM limit in the dive

C Throttle back and recover from the dive.

The issues should be obvious:

You must avoid overstressing the airframe

You must avoid overspeeding the engine

You must not stall at the low speed top of the manoeuvre where you are overbanked
and pulling gently

You must not get anywhere near the ground

You need to keep a good lookout and should do clearing turns before hand to make sure you are not going to wing over round into somebody who is behind you when you start..

When you can do all this without feeling you are pushing your luck (getting too slow/fast or having trouble with the RPM limits) then gradually increase the initial climb angle.

The max angle of climb at which the manoeuvre can be started will depend on the performance of the aeroplane and the performance of the pilot.

Finally the wingover is a very special case. On the one hand it is very simple in principle, but it is also a very dangerous manoeuvre at low level (much more so than a loop or roll) because of the lack of easily identified gates, how goes it check points and escape manoeuvre options once you are overbanked and diving steeply.

If you want to email me when you have read this then please feel free.

JF


[This message has been edited by John Farley (edited 02 October 2000).]

[Nishko]

Thanks for that John.

I guess that what I have been doing so far is a less banked and more 'tame' version of what you are describing. I must confess that I was very reluctant to push the Cessna 152 past the vertical turn without being sure of a reliable escape route. Maybe in an Aerobat version.....

Nish.

[John Farley]

Nish

OK Nothing wrong with that.

So it sounds like the sensible way ahead is for you to gradually increase the max bank angle you are going to.


I always forget the legal bank angle limit for non aerobatic aircraft types (I expect its 60) But as anybody who understands the issues realises, bank angle by itself does not stress an aircraft. Only bank angle combined with the g needed for a level turn at that bank angle loads up the wing.

Keep a it - a bit at a time!

JF

[fallen eagle]

Nishko I was going to reply but J.F. got there first you have just had the best advise you could get and all for free.double check the a/c owner and or operator are happy, enjoy the learning process.I tried the same with spinning when in the States many moons ago cos I had done a fare few in this country but, couldnt find an instructor out there to do any. Scared the hell out of myself to start with, but it got better.bye bye