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Thread: My first taste of aerobatics.

  1. #11
    bookmaker's Avatar
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    Nice video. Mary really holds a nice line in the rolls.

    Are you using the Go Pro 3? I have a GP 2 and mounts but haven't used it yet.

    Dale
    Dale Cavin
    Florida Panhandle
    Current Project: Airdrome Aeroplanes Full Size Nieuport 17

  2. #12
    jjhoneck's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bookmaker View Post
    Nice video. Mary really holds a nice line in the rolls.

    Are you using the Go Pro 3? I have a GP 2 and mounts but haven't used it yet.

    Dale
    Yep, the 3.

    Amazingly, the mount I made is derived from the black plastic platform that the camera comes mounted on in the box. I was somewhat concerned that it would be strong enough, but it's survived a dozen flights.

    I drilled/countersunk appropriately sized/spaced holes, and trimmed off the corners with a band saw to minimize any lifting tendency. It works pretty well!

    Here's a pic:
    Attached Images Attached Images  

  3. #13

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    Frank, Congratulations. I think you are going to have a long period as a good pilot and one who enjoys aviation.
    There are a lot of people who don't want to hear any suggestion of how they might do something better and certainly not anything that they might be doing wrong. So they don't change anything, they don't grow. When it comes to biennial time, they often take the easy way out, or the cheapest way.
    My own Brother was a little bit like that, he was a very careful and expert instrument pilot, and flew a twin Bonanza and a Queen Air. When it came time for the flight review, I told him I knew someone who had a B-25 and would give him the instruction and time in it, for a reasonable fee, but he wasn't interested at all. He did it in a C-150, just whatever was cheap and quick. He was a championship golfer, and took a million lessons, but to him an airplane was just a way to get to a business destination, or football game, or hunting trip. The flying was incidental.

    You reached out for your biennial and tried to make yourself better in your training. I did a similar thing years ago, I got some acro instruction from an old master, Duane Cole near Ft. Worth. I recall coming in for landing and not being able to see over his shoulder to see the instruments on the panel, so I asked him if the ball was in the center. He told me a turn coordinator was just a gimmick that was invented to sell to more people and that I should just trust my seat of the pants feeling for coordination. He flew at a different level than most of the rest of us. His inverted gliding descent, engine out in his Taylorcraft is still one of my favorite act. Best of all, his flying did the talking, rather than many of these new guys who have to have an announcer screaming at the crowd to tell them how great the pilot is.
    Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 10-02-2013 at 10:06 AM.

  4. #14
    I'm with Eric, you don't need to wait. In fact, I think some acro training will ultimately make you a better pilot.
    You'll learn what all the flight controls really do. Hopefully...the hook is set!

    Congrats on your flight!
    Doug
    1947 Stinson 108-2
    Steen Skybolt - IO-360-A1A

    Flying is the answer...What was the question?

  5. #15

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    I too decided that the BFR was the perfect chance to explore things I hadn't done in an airplane. I did one as a 100 hr. PP in an Extra 300L and it was the best hour I've ever had in an airplane! My instructor for the flight was a co-worker who used to fly unlimited and airshows in the Extra, so he could make that plane do just about anything. I mostly wanted to get the basics of rolls, loops, and spins both ways, but at the end of the flight, since I wasn't sick yet, I had him do part of his old airshow routine with me following him along, what an absolute blast. Also got to find out that 6.5 g's is the point at which I lose consciousness. Even as a low time pilot, with no high performance time, I learned more in that hour than most of my previous flight training put together. I'd highly recommend an intro to acro as a way of really fleshing out your flying skills, even for a low time pilot.

    Patrick

  6. #16
    jjhoneck's Avatar
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    6.5 Gs...ugh. I've done 4.5, and that was enough.

    With my aerobatics instructor, we never went over 3 Gs, and after 30 minutes I was beat. At 3Gs I weighed 600 pounds, so it was like a half hour of weight lifting, combined with adrenaline and stress.

    Great fun!

  7. #17

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    It is important to start aerobatics with shorter flights. A lot of folks find that G's take some getting used to. The traditional 1 hour training flight often does not work for acro. Shorter, but more frequent flights are better at the start of your acro skill building. When I started I never thought that I would type that my average hop involves +6 and -3 G. But today it does. That said, my G tolerance goes down over the winter when I fly less and in the spring I have to start slow and build up. In the spring I leave the first inverted spins of the season to be the last figure of a hop.

    Yeager said that he learned to fly with a bucket between his knees. I take that to mean that anyone can do it if they want to enough. And sport flying is about personal challenge.

    Oh, it is harder to be a passenger through acro as your body is generally a step behind what the airplane is doing. When you are the one flying you instinctively brace in anticipation and start straining against the G's ahead of them. And one important aspect of G's is knowing how to resist them by straining. I will suggest that if your pilot or teacher omitted that from your preflight brief, that individual omitted an important topic. No one should go to sleep during an acro demo.

    Best of luck,

    Wes
    N78PS
    Last edited by WLIU; 10-07-2013 at 07:18 AM.

  8. #18
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    At first, rolls left me dizzy and disoriented. Now, I do them on every flight, just for fun -- so I can definitely see how aerobatics becomes easier and more tolerable over time.

  9. #19

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    In all fairness to my instructor, who I know quite well as a co-worker, he tailored the flight to what I was feeling up for that day. I planned for just an intro to unusual attitudes, rolls and spins was my main goals to experience for the flight. After 20 minutes of that, and feeling good, he added in hammerheads and cuban 8's. His procedure is to demo a maneuver, then do one with the student following on the controls, then student attempt with him backing up to prevent big oops type stuff. After that I requested to just do some windup turns because I wanted to see firsthand what my untrained tolerance was. After that, and still having some time, I told him to just do some of his old unlimited routine because I was curious if was as violent as it looked from the ground. That consisted of a series of point rolls with lots of reversals, snap rolls, and a shoulder roll/lomcevak. I had a blast the whole time, but understand it wouldn't be for everyone. His more normal intro is much tamer and is again tailored to what the student wants and can tolerate, and he's done so many rides he has a good feel for how much is enough, even before the student knows he or she is done.

    If you're ever in the Los Angeles area, he operates out of MHV, name is Chuck Coleman. http://www.ctcoleman.com/v2/ He and I were co-workers at Scaled Composites, although we've both since left. He used the Extra to fly the low chase on SpaceShipOne, so some really neat experience.

  10. #20

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    Gday from Western Australia,I would like to concur with all that has been said about aerobatics during training.Back in the 70s I was learning to fly and while I was sort of getting it I was not smooth and accurate,which gave me the snake pits.The guy that owned the flying school was a Pitts driver and suggested some aeros in his decathlon.After A couple hours of stalls,loops,spins,stall turns I got it and it all fell into place for me though I never got the snap roll real good.So yes aeroobatics are a great way of improving eye hand and feet coordination. Cheers Ross

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