Aerobatics - love them or hate them?
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A number of years ago I undertook a conversion course to set me up for a new type. The instructor was a well known and highly regarded aerobatic display pilot. I had a D/A, and considered myself 'adept'. Spins was his thing , about 30 each sorti, and each day we did them again, and again, in case you had forgotten the previous 30. The highlight, because I had earned it, was a climb to 10000 feet, and let's try an inverted spin, aggravated just for fun. Having completed the first, I obviously just had to try it again, myself this time. I have never felt so ill in all my life. I remember telling him, on the last loop of the sorti that I had thrown up in the front cockpit, with his response of don't worry you can clean it up when we land!!!!!
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Must have been long sorties! Even in something like an Extra I would think a couple of minutes for each spin and climb back up, so Even with nothing else other than the spins that would be over an hour airborne
Seems pretty pointless as well - hope you were not paying
Seems pretty pointless as well - hope you were not paying
Last edited by foxmoth; 7th Apr 2012 at 20:45.
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Looking at that super pair of aerobats flown by the Wildcats and posted by Sticknruda, can anybody tell me
what happened to skywriting? never see it any more.....
what happened to skywriting? never see it any more.....
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"Looking at that super pair of aerobats flown by the Wildcats and posted by Sticknruda, can anybody tell me
what happened to skywriting? never see it any more....."
Aerobatic pilots can't spell
what happened to skywriting? never see it any more....."
Aerobatic pilots can't spell
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Thank you Mary!! Our website has details of all our confirmed shows this summer - more seem to be appearing virtually each week!
Skywriting - have never seen it in Europe but have seen it a few times in Texas and Arizona.
We try and draw a heart in the sky but it's longevity is all down to the ambient temp and the wind on the day.
Stik
Skywriting - have never seen it in Europe but have seen it a few times in Texas and Arizona.
We try and draw a heart in the sky but it's longevity is all down to the ambient temp and the wind on the day.
Stik
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I think you need to be prepared in aerobatics. If you are the one flying you know what's coming and you can prepare yourself. If you are a passenger you need to know where to look and what to expect, but even so realistically you are always going to be slightly behind in every maneouvre. As a pilot it's not so good if you pull G and then wonder why your passenger has passed out. It's your fault you didn't warn them. Knowing where to look is important, but so is mental and physical preperation for every loop, roll etc.
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I enjoy it if the pilot doing it is competant. Except when it's me doing it, in which case my expectations drop to more realistic levels!
Before I bought my Yak 52 share I did a flight with the guy setting up the group. He'd won the British Aerobatic Stabdard level title in the aeroplane and he flew his sequence. It convinced me to buy the share!
Flying for fun is all about 3-dimensional freedom (well, it is for me). The ultimate expression of that is aeros. So I can't understand why every fun flyer (so excluding those doing it merely for transport) isn't an aerobatic pilot?
How can you fly on a lovely day with big puffy cu floating around and not want to pull the nose up and r-o-l-l the aeroplane, then hold it down for speed and ease the stick back, feeling the G pushing you into the seat, as Shropshire (or wherever) vanishes beneath the nose before re-appearing over the cockpit?
How can anyone not do whatever it takes to experience that on any suitable flying day?
Before I bought my Yak 52 share I did a flight with the guy setting up the group. He'd won the British Aerobatic Stabdard level title in the aeroplane and he flew his sequence. It convinced me to buy the share!
Flying for fun is all about 3-dimensional freedom (well, it is for me). The ultimate expression of that is aeros. So I can't understand why every fun flyer (so excluding those doing it merely for transport) isn't an aerobatic pilot?
How can you fly on a lovely day with big puffy cu floating around and not want to pull the nose up and r-o-l-l the aeroplane, then hold it down for speed and ease the stick back, feeling the G pushing you into the seat, as Shropshire (or wherever) vanishes beneath the nose before re-appearing over the cockpit?
How can anyone not do whatever it takes to experience that on any suitable flying day?
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British Aerobatic Stabdard level
Just joking. I know it was a typo but I couldn't resist it.
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How can you fly on a lovely day with big puffy cu floating around and not want to pull the nose up and r-o-l-l the aeroplane, then hold it down for speed and ease the stick back, feeling the G pushing you into the seat, as Shropshire (or wherever) vanishes beneath the nose before re-appearing over the cockpit?
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In a K21 glider, stressed for most aerobatic maneuvers. Descending from 9,000 feet during a check ride with an instructor at Deeside Gliding Club near Aboyne, the instructor asks "Do you mind if I try a couple of maneuvers?"
I should have said "No, no, no!" (Took me two days to recover after an aerobatic flight with another expert.) But I said okay. The instructor then tried to ROLL the K21. Now being an all purpose glider, decent performance, the wings stick out generously, and it is not well adapted to the barrel roll.
Don't exactly know what he did, but I greyed out, and didn't recover full consciousness until we were downwind in the circuit, when the nice chap says to me "You have control!"
The approach was into sun, on an ice covered narrow runway. I managed to land adequately to pass the check ride. Another learning experience....
I should have said "No, no, no!" (Took me two days to recover after an aerobatic flight with another expert.) But I said okay. The instructor then tried to ROLL the K21. Now being an all purpose glider, decent performance, the wings stick out generously, and it is not well adapted to the barrel roll.
Don't exactly know what he did, but I greyed out, and didn't recover full consciousness until we were downwind in the circuit, when the nice chap says to me "You have control!"
The approach was into sun, on an ice covered narrow runway. I managed to land adequately to pass the check ride. Another learning experience....
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More of a problem with the instructor than the aircraft then. The K21 can do nice rolls if the pilot is up to it, even 8 point rolls etc. and there is absolutely no reason to pull lots of Gs doing a barrel roll with it. Hope he tried something else 
Maybe not the best thing to do on a checkride mind you.
Maybe not the best thing to do on a checkride mind you.
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Some compotent aerobatic training is a vital safety skill for any pilot to have. Most pilots are not happy during the second consecutive hour of aerobatics in a given day, particularly if they're riding through it, rather than flying it themselves. It takes a hearty constitution to do hours of aerobatics on end. Usually after a half an hour, I've had enough for a while.
I consider that half hour of aerobatics every month or two vital for my skills and safety, while flying other aircraft though.
That said - compotent instruction and a G meter are vital. Fooling around on your own can get an amature pilot in big trouble fast.
I consider that half hour of aerobatics every month or two vital for my skills and safety, while flying other aircraft though.
That said - compotent instruction and a G meter are vital. Fooling around on your own can get an amature pilot in big trouble fast.
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A correctly flown barrel roll is a low 'G' manouvre (more than 1, less than 2). But it is a very easy manouvre to get wrong, in which case the exit can be fast and nose-low, requiring a high 'G' pullout.
This is why that though just about any aeroplane can be barrel rolled if the pilot guarantees not to screw up (prototype B707 for instance), mere mortals should never attempt the manouvre except in a type cleared for aeros.
This is why that though just about any aeroplane can be barrel rolled if the pilot guarantees not to screw up (prototype B707 for instance), mere mortals should never attempt the manouvre except in a type cleared for aeros.
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This is why that though just about any aeroplane can be barrel rolled if the pilot guarantees not to screw up
yes, it would, very nicely!
