Unconventional Recovery

Some (a few, well, maybe one) of you are familiar with the spin recovery acronym PARE. That's Power to idle, Ailerons neutral, full opposite Rudder, Elevator through neutral (and once rotation stops, rudder to neutral and recover to level flight). This procedure was a result of NASA spin research in the 1970's and is often referred to as the NASA Standard recovery that works for most all single engine, light airplanes. Other procedures work, too. For example the Beggs/Mueller goes like this: 1) Power off, 2) Remove your hands from the stick/yoke, 3) Full opposite rudder until rotation stops, 3) Neutralize the rudder, 4) Recover to level flight. Every airplane will respond differently and the procedure for recovery for those airplanes approved for spin is contained in the Flight Manual or Pilot Operating Handbook. While both procedures I note above work effectively in the Decathlon, a more unconventional, and some NOT RECOMMENDED inputs work also. Here's how one example goes: With plenty of altitude (5,000' AGL and above), enter a spin, let's say to the left. Allow the spin to develop past the incipient stage (Stages: entry, incipient, developed, recovery). While in the developed phase, add full anti-spin/out-spin aileron, i.e., full right aileron in our example. After a couple more rotations the less stalled wing's (right wing) drag increases enough (as a result of upward deflected aileron) to reduce the left-yaw component that propagated the spin enough to stop rotation, uncoupling yaw and roll. One then neutralizes rudder and aileron and push the elevator through neutral (to break the stall) to recovery. Once again, not recommended, but an interesting aerodynamic experiment (at altitude, in the Decathlon). Come on out to Gordonsville International and we can get you used to all phases of spin (especially the recovery phase)!

Back to the Basics

Recently I flew with a pilot, commercially certificated with a couple thousand hours, that has been exclusively flying his airplane, a Cessna 182, for the past three years. Admirably, he decided to pursue a tailwheel endorsement to improve his skills. The Decathlon is not a particularly difficult airplane to fly; but certainly different than a C182. It's not as stable, bordering on neutral dynamic stability and has more control authority (inputs produce instant results about all three axis). The Cessna is robust, stable airplane with comparatively slower response to control inputs and its dihedral tends to return the airplane to unbanked flight with little or no input (depending on the upset). So clearly these two airplanes require the pilot to operate each differently. The exclusivity with which this pilot operated his airplane probably makes him a pretty good C182 driver, but when faced with the change to the Decathlon, caused some grief. Seeing this pilot's troubles, primarily with airspeed control (you know, the stabilized approach yields a good landing -- some caveats apply), I stressed airspeed control. What was surprising is this fellow was unable to capture airspeed. Hmm, I was momentarily dumbfounded (I find this more and more as I get older). How can a 2000+ hour pilot not capture and maintain airspeed? It's simple, the same way a beginning, low time student pilot does--failure to attitude fly the airplane. You probably remember this or some rendition of this from your initial instruction: Attitude + power = performance. But if you replace attitude with airspeed (which is performance) you get Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, that is, the pilot tries to capture airspeed by exclusively watching airspeed. We know there's a lag in what that instrument tells us, so to get a more instantaneous response, we increase the pitch input, but we then overshoot the target, and provide input in the other direction, resulting in pilot induced oscillation. The fix is simple, go back to the rudimentary "fly the windshield," making small corrections out front, and crosscheck the airspeed indicator. Twenty minutes of constant airspeed descents from altitude fixed the problem. In this case, taking a few steps backward, back to the basics, moved us closer to the goal. I hope to see you out at the airport!

Almost a New Year | How About a New Skill?

We're in count-down mode to the New Year, and with that some believe that resolutions are in order. If you subscribe to that process, I'm with you. It's always a good time to fix what's broken, learn something new, expand that envelope. I can help with that process, whether it be a tailwheel endorsement, some acro, upset recovery, or spin training. Now's a good time to honestly check your skill sets and see where improvement is warranted. I'm reminded that hours in a logbook does not equate to proficiency nor competency. You may have done xyz two years ago, and it looked good then, but the expression, "what have you done for me lately" applies to aviation as it does to any skills-based activity. We're charged with safely making aviation each time we fly. Often we get a false sense of security when our mission is take off from point A and fly and land at point B. You may have done an ok takeoff and landing, but statistically, it means little. Try seven takeoffs and landings and make the assessment. Okay, enough pontificating. Happy Holidays to any reading this. I hope they are safe and you and your families are blessed and the New Year is a good one for you.

Spin Training

Holy Smokes! It's clearly been a while since I last posted, so this one is overdue. Couple months ago, a youngish (anyone one under 50 qualifies) fellow came to me wanting some spin training. Mike is a 30-hour student pilot, avidly working on getting Private Pilot credentials. I think it's a great idea, seeing and experiencing spin entry, exit, and working at some of the common pitfalls pilots gravitate towards that leads to trouble.

 Lesson 1 of my three-lesson spin training syllabus reviews some basic airmanship skills, e.g., "dutch rolls," slow flight, power off and on stalls, and then moves to those that are no longer required by the FAA for Private Pilot training: accelerated maneuver stalls. Also in this lesson we cover the "falling leaf" maneuver: A power off stall which is held, keeping the wings level with only rudder. Then it's on to one-turn, upright spins.

This is reviewed in lesson two, along with two-turn spins, and then on to the real-world business of scenario-based spins. This is where (sadly) the rubber meets the road (or field, or other terrain). The base-to-final turn is a serious gotcha, as even if one figures out what's going on, 500 feet or there abouts, is not enough altitude to exit the incipient spin. A good reason to practice this stuff at altitude, in a spin-approved airplane, and with yours truly. One has to really work at coupling yaw and roll and adding stall for the base-to-final faux pas, but it's often an eye-opener when properly (or improperly, depending on your perspective) executed. Mike and I also set up the "impossible turn," the nefarious departure leg, engine-out, gotta-get-this-thing back to airport scenario (at altitude), and for a low-time pilot, he did excellent! He "unloaded" the tail/elevator, got the nose down, and cranked the airplane around in a 45 degree (and maybe a wee bit more) banked turn, managing to line up on our imaginary runway centerline before busting the "hard deck."

The final lesson were reviews of upright one-, two-turn spins, and then into multi-turn spins(5 turns was the goal, but sometimes they went an additional one or two turns). The piece de resistance were inverted spins. We flew a half-loop (airspeed is slow at the top of this), then it's stick full forward, and kick fully rudder. Ideally these are recovered from in a single turn, maybe two. They're uncomfortable, your eyes feel like they're being forcibly pulled from their orbits, and the hand of nature is trying to remove you from your seat. Mike took a little too long to recover on these, and got his feet mixed up (he added opposite rudder, and little late, saw to recovery, then put pro-spin rudder in) and we went around a number of times--yeah, I lost count. After about three revolutions, the Decathon's inverted spin tends to flatten out and it becomes Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I did call for control of the airplane, applied out-spin rudder, and that rascally airplane took it's time in the recovery (another two turns). Of course we did this up at 5,000' AGL, and we had much room to work with, recovering about 3,000'. I like to allow pilots some room for error; however this time, I may have allowed things to progress a little too far. So it was certainly a learning experience for Mike, and one for me, too.

Spin training is great stuff for all pilots. It might require you to screw your courage up a notch, but the experience will go a long way towards making you safer, more confident and knowledgeable, and a better aviator. See you at the airport!

Happy Holidays

I hope my fellow aviators and families have an excellent holiday season. The weather can often be dicey, but there will be some superb flying days, too, so I hope you have an opportunity to get out and "aviate." The 2013 Known sequences are out and below is the Sportsman sequence. It looks challenging. A note about the Aresti symbols: The figures are numbered in order of execution, starting with 1. A figure starts with the little black dot, and ends with the "T" shape. The dotted lines are just used to join two figures (not as an indicator of vertical flight). The red "2x4" means a half-roll (or two of a 4 points over 360 degrees).

The sequence begins with a pull, pull, pull humpty bump (1), hammerhead (2), reverse shark's tooth (3), loop (4), reverse shark's tooth with a half-roll on the 45 degree downline (5), Cuban 8(6), Immelman (7), hesitation roll (8), looks like a 45 downline followed by a Immelman (9, and can't find it in the Aresti dictionary), and a roll (10). One trouble spot I see is after the Immelman (7) in that energy is lost at the top of that during the half-roll portion of the Immelman, and up next is a hesitation roll. Those are fairly easy at 100 mph, but one doesn't nearly have enough speed after the Immelman (so a longer horizontal line is drawn to build some speed). Looks like a lot of fun! Come on out to GVE and we'll turn the Decathlon upside down. Happy Holidays!

New Engine, Cool Wx, Cool Fun

After Erin's birthday ride to the Outer Banks in early October, it was time for a 25-hour oil change. It turned out, it was also time for overhaul. As usual, I drained the oil, pulled off the spin-on oil filter. As the engine got closer to its time before overhaul (TBO), I started the practice of cutting the oil filter open BEFORE adding oil to the engine, just in case there was trouble in paradise. Sadly this oil filter presented a few ferrous shavings. Trouble. We were at 1,350 hours (50 before the then factory recommended TBO). It was time. I talked with Othman Rashed of Triad Aviation and he committed to a two-week turn-around on the engine. He did it, but with a full-time job, it took me another few weeks to get it installed, and run-in. The good news is that it now has about 12 hours on it (included is 2 hours in Triad's test cell) and it's performing flawlessly. Last two rides I did acro.

In addition to the overhauled fuel servo and distribution manifold, new starter, new mags, plugs, wires, I elected to have the exhaust system rebuilt, the prop governor overhauled, the prop inspected, re-sealed, and balanced (it was 3-years post overhaul and due), all new oil and fuel lines, oil cooler cleaned, flow and pressure checked, and new engine baffles made. As Triad is a authorized Lycoming dealer, with the work that was done, the engine goes to zero-time (that's engine speak for new, baby). All this means is that we're up and operational. The next fifteen hours of operation will be at and above 75% power, to assist in the run-in process (coincidently that is the power setting for acro!). After that first 25-hour of high power setting operations, we can return to "normal" operations, e.g., pattern work. Hope this cool weather we're having doesn't slow down your aviation plans. See you at the airport!

The Devil on Your Shoulder

I think it's fair to write that we all have at least a healthy respect of the aerodynamic forces that can cause an airplane to depart controlled flight into stall and potentially resulting in spin. When that "respect" turns into fear, then a problem exists, one that can cause unnecessary and sometimes dangerous operational practices. Fear can be good: A healthy amount can focus our efforts, sharpen our skills. When that fear takes a hold of us, it can prevent "adaptation," that is, efforts and actions appropriate to the activity; we become afraid of events that haven't happened. For example, an unreasonable fear of stall/spin might cause us to increase landing airspeed, reduce pattern turn bank angles, both preventing effective approach/landing procedure. This can produce anxiety and even panic. It's a potentially dangerous condition in the cockpit. If you think you may be victim to this kind of fear, examining it, using coping mechanisms to minimize its effects may be prudent. A recent EAA webinar may help. Don't Let Fear Stall Your Flying may be just what the doctor ordered. Hope to see you at the airport!