So I'm going out the door

[Colonel Sanders]

to do some surface acro today. And I see this
written on the side of one of those recyclable
shopping bags:



Ok, I can do that.

[Aviatard]

I dunno, practicing yoga doesn't seem that scary to me but...

[Colonel Sanders]

I tried yoga once with the GF. I thought it
would be pretty easy - just roll around on the
floor, right?

Damn near crippled me for a week. 'way
worse than +8/-4. I don't do that hard core
stuff no more.

[FlyGy]

I take Centrum, does that count as various vitamins?

[iflyforpie]

Jealousy works the opposite [way you want it to]. That's why I'm not jealous that you got to go flying today. Stringing Christmas lights out in the cold is much more fun.

[Colonel Sanders]

I'm not jealous that you got to go flying today

Yeah, well, the wx forecast for the next 4 days here is horrible,
so I had to get it in today. Three tailwheel flights before lunch,
actually.

PS Merry Retail Season.

edit -- not sure this counts as scary, but:



Guess who is #4 (ahem).

[Shiny Side Up]

So what did you do that scared you? Surely it wasn't flying an airplane, or did you let someone else take a stab at flying it?

edit: nvm, I see your edit answered that question.

[Colonel Sanders]

The yoga caused more pain - for days - than fright.

I guess I didn't really take the shopping bag's advice
today. I flew a couple circuits with a class 4 instructor
in the Maule, but he did pretty well. His second touchdown
was much better than his first, when I told him to freeze
the controls just before touchdown, and to not do anything.

Solo surface acro isn't scary. The negative G is a bit
unpleasant but nowhere near as bad as yoga.

My worst scares in an airplane have probably been during
formation aerobatics and teaching people to land, probably
tailwheel and biplane. That gets interesting sometimes.

Probably the most unpleasant thing I have ever taught
is inverted formation. No, thank you.

[CFR]

... Solo surface acro isn't scary. The negative G is a bit
unpleasant but nowhere near as bad as yoga. ...

I find it more than unpleasant and so avoid it. Is there anything that can be done to get used to it? I was thinking of spending some time laying over the edge of the bed with my head down to try and build up a tolerance.

[Shiny Side Up]

Is there anything that can be done to get used to it?

I remember reading somewhere that during pilot training for the Japanese navy during the Second World War they did handstand pushups wile smoking a cigarette.

[old_man]

I find it more than unpleasant and so avoid it. Is there anything that can be done to get used to it?

One guy told me the key was to relax. Let everything go loose, don't tense up, and breathe naturally and slowly. Essentially the opposite of positive G. Sure enough it seemed to work.

[CFR]

Is there anything that can be done to get used to it?

I remember reading somewhere that during pilot training for the Japanese navy during the Second World War they did handstand pushups wile smoking a cigarette.

Rats! I don't smoke!

[CFR]

I find it more than unpleasant and so avoid it. Is there anything that can be done to get used to it?

One guy told me the key was to relax. Let everything go loose, don't tense up, and breathe naturally and slowly. Essentially the opposite of positive G. Sure enough it seemed to work.

G's and motion have no effect on me, I just don't like the feeling of blood rushing to my head when I pause inverted. Hanging in the straps (well if they're done up correctly you don't really sense much transition to inverted) doesn't bother me. It's just the unusual feeling. I'll have to try the relaxing idea and see what happens.

[old_man]

G's and motion have no effect on me, I just don't like the feeling of blood rushing to my head when I pause inverted. Hanging in the straps (well if they're done up correctly you don't really sense much transition to inverted) doesn't bother me. It's just the unusual feeling. I'll have to try the relaxing idea and see what happens.

I think the issue for me was that I was tensing up. As soon as I relaxed it was just like hanging off the monkey bars as a kid again.

[iflyforpie]

I've only done inverted flight, and it wasn't for that long because I was in a Citabria. I think I would wind up looking like Rodney Dangerfield if I pushed negative Gs.

[Colonel Sanders]

(re: negative G)

the key was to relax

Correct. When you start doing aerobatics, the first
thing you learn is to tense up before you do a maneuver,
to keep the blood up to your brain.

That's good for pulling on the stick, but really bad for
pushing on the stick. If you grunt before a push, you're
really going to pressurize your poor skull with blood.

You want to set up the cockpit so that you can totally
relax before a push, to keep your blood pressure as low
as possible. The little jets that I fly, for example, have very
nice stirrups to keep your feet on the rudder pedals under
negative G. And you want your lap belt insanely tight,
and your shoulder harnesses reasonably tight. Tiny
details, like your sunglasses and mike boom moving
around under -ve G, need to be addressed. Your headset
must be tethered in some manner. I like the perrone
mesh "snoopy" helmets, but some people use chin
straps. Heck, a line of duct tape will even do it!

Positive G is great fun. It's sort of like lifting weights.
Once you get onto the "grunt", you can rapidly increase
the +ve G that you pull: 2, then 4, then 6, then 8, then 10.

A guy I know pulls +11 and pushes -7 on every flight.
He's broken every part of his Pitts, and reinforced it.

Negative G is really strange. You must build the -ve G
very slowly, to avoid really screwing yourself up. Your
blood pressure soars to insane levels, so if you have any
kind of flaw in your brain - aneurism, etc - you will find
it right away. If I overdo it, I blow blood vessels in the
skin on my face, esp underneath my eyes. Looks really
weird.

But the real danger of ramping up the -ve G too fast
is your inner ear - the wobblies. No one knows much
about them, because the western military doesn't do
-ve G, and the civilians that get the wobblies don't
want to talk about it, and have their medicals pulled.

Start with -1G. Roll upside down, a 2 pt roll, and stay
there for a bit. Try to figure out - attitudes and movements -
which pitch attitude you need to maintain altitude. Common
error is to not push -1G and to lose altitude. A little bit
of nose down trim can help reduce the stick push force.
Obviously this is speed and aircraft type (flat bottom wing?)
dependent.

Ok, so try to fly straight and level inverted for 10 seconds,
then 20 seconds, then 30 seconds, hesitating during that
2 pt roll. Obviously you need to worry about aircraft systems
limitations. Not all aircraft can tolerate indefinite -ve G.

You're going to get disoriented upside down. You are
going to get lost. Seriously. Best thing you can do, is
after taking off, is roll inverted and navigate to the
practice area and back again. It's like learning to fly
all over again.

Some level inverted turns are a good idea. Start with
30, then 45, then 60 degree inverted turns. Remember
to co-ordinate with OPPOSITE rudder. It is really easy
to slip/skip inverted turns. Some people install inverted
balls (inclinometers). Watch the altitude! It is really
easy to spiral dive out of inverted steep turns.

60 degree inverted turns is -2G, which is getting better.
You want to start with -1G, then -1.5G, then -2G, then
-2.5G, then -3G, etc. If you go right to -6G you are NOT
going to be a happy puppy.

Another exercise, once you can fly inverted, is to push to
45 up, hold it for a moment, then level off inverted again
at a higher altitude and slower airspeed. Pause, then let
the nose drop to a 45 downline and push level again.

This is really excellent practice. One very simple maneuver
I like is max airspeed at the surface, and pull for an inside
1/2 cuban-8. But instead of 1/2 rolling upright from the
resulting inverted 45 downline, push to level inverted. Or,
keep pushing to a 45 inverted upline, and do a nice 1 1/2
roll to the upright 45.

Once you have mastered the inverted pushes to 45, time
to take the next step to the outside 1/2 cuban-8. Dive
for some airspeed. 1/2 roll inverted, and push through the
vertical - lots of right rudder required, esp with a metal prop -
to the 45 upright downline. Call it quits there. Practice
until you've got it nailed, no spiralling. If anything goes
wrong, you are going up with decreasing airspeed which
is good for the Vg diagram - you will "fall upwards"

Once you master the outside 1/2 cu-8, time to continue
the push for the complete outside loop, which is interesting
because your altitude is going away fast, the airspeed is
increasing, and the negative G is building up fast. This is
a much more dangerous maneuver than the outside 1/2 cu-8,
and care must be taken with the top gate - is the altitude
at least the minimum, and is the airspeed down below the
maximum?

Not many people master the outside loop. If you do, you
are in a pretty elite group of masochistic pilots!

[shitdisturber]

Is there anything that can be done to get used to it?

I remember reading somewhere that during pilot training for the Japanese navy during the Second World War they did handstand pushups wile smoking a cigarette.

Why not? It's not like they were going to live long enough to get cancer!

[CFR]

Thanks Colonel.

The A/C I fly has inverted fuel and oil system, but only if the wing tanks have more than a certain amount of fuel (the POH is not clear). Outside maneuvers are beyond what it can do. I do the 1/2 aileron roll with pause now, and it is where I get uncomfortable. I have not done many of them, and frankly during them I am busy (as you suggest) trying to figure out the correct attitude to maintain level flight. I guess it just needs more practice. Once I get that down, then I'll try your suggestion for climbing and decending 45's (well at least the upward one for starters). I will probably not get back into it until the spring. The weather is not predictible enough to get a regular practice schedule in and I am currently working on my instrument rating, so aerobatics are on hold for now.

thanks

[Shiny Side Up]

(re: negative G)

the key was to relax

Correct.

I'm going to assume that since aromatherapy candles in the cockpit would be a really bad idea, that to get this level of relaxation for what you do you listen to copious amounts of Kenny G.

[Colonel Sanders]

Hey, don't be trash talkin' my man:



Kenny likes the Beaver!

Pilots getting out of their airplanes and starting to
play musical instruments may seem contrived, but
it reminds me ...

I was at an airshow this summer, and it was pouring
rain, I think on the Saturday. We are all huddled in
the huge hangar, and one of the airshow pilots got
out his violin and started to play. "Dirge for the
unflown sequence", Eric observed.

[5x5]

Kenny likes the Beaver!

From what I've heard about his music, I always thought he was more of a sausage lover.