I finally got to actually perform aerobatic flight as a pilot.
For years, I have wanted to fly aerobatics; preferably in a Super Decathlon (Super D).
The desire to fly aerobatics I believe is a combination of a fondness of undergoing G forces and turning upside down, and my belief that it would make me a better pilot.
The desire to do it in a Super Decathlon is a combination of going back over twenty-five years to my skydiving days when one of the pilots who flew at the DZ - we used to call him "Z's" because of his difficult to pronounce last name that began with a Z - gave me an aerobatics ride in his Super Decathlon; and my belief that the Super D is an ideal balance between something like an Extra 300 or Edge 540 - Ferrari's of aerobatic airplanes - and a Citabria or Super Cub - the Volkswagen of aerobatic airplanes. The Super D has a constant speed propeller which means that you don't have to manipulate the throttle nearly as much as a fixed pitch prop (as is on the Citabria or Cub) while performing maneuvers, but is more inherently stable than the high end aerobatic machines. The Super D does have a symmetrical wing and inverted fuel and oil system so it is legitimately fully aerobatic.
I had to hunt quite a bit, but I finally found a flight school with a Super D that was "close enough" distance wise, at the Savannah Georgia Airport - Costal Empire Flight Training Acadamy http://www.idreamofflying.com .
My instructor was their Chief Flight Instructor, Denis Boissonneault.
The drive up to Savannah took about two hours. I arrived around 9:30 AM. I had checked out the location on Google Maps prior to departing which was fortunate, as the road that Coastal is on isn't actually on my Tom Tom or even on Google Maps. But, since I was on the PC, I was able to find the closest road that WAS on the GPS, which got me "close enough."
After spending about half an hour doing some ground school, we walked out the airplane to perform our preflight. The one thing Denis stressed was that simply looking to check that each of the screws had a nut affixed wasn't good enough - each nut needed to be checked by hand to ensure that it was tight.
Before getting into the airplane, I put on my parachute, since Denis advised this was much easier than trying to put on the parachute in the airplane. Actually getting in the airplane involved putting my right foot on the step, grabbing the bars at the top of the cabin with both hands, putting my left foot in, then holding my weight with my arms while I brought my right foot in, then lowering my butt into the seat. Denis was nice and helped my get the five point harness buckled and adjusted properly before he got in the airplane.
Denis handled all the radio communications (which was fine with me) and taxied the airplane onto the taxiway and then let me take the controls. He performed the actual takeoff, with me following along on the controls. At about 300 feet, he passed the controls to me. I was quite surprised at just how light the controls were. Just the merest pressure - especially on the ailerons - elicited a response from the airplane. I found the trim to be almost too sensitive - it was very challenging to move the trim enough to achieve the desired result without moving it too much.
For each maneuver, Denis would first demonstrate the maneuver while I followed along on the controls, then he would have me do it one or more times while he hovered over the controls. We did our air work between 3500 and 4500 feet, in the vicinity of Hodges Airpark (GA39, 31-59-03.7490N / 081-14-46.4000W)
First, we did some stalls, just so I could get a feel for the airplane.
Next came spins. Initially, a recovery from an incipient spin, then a recovery from a three second spin. The procedure to enter the spin was the same in both cases - increase attitude until the onset of a stall, then apply full left rudder while holding full back stick. Recovery is accomplished by reducing the throttle to idle, allowing the stick to go to the neutral position, applying full opposite rudder, then just as the rotation is about stopped neutralizing the rudder, ensuring there is adequate airspeed (which might require allowing the dive to continue for a moment or two) then applying back stick to return to level flight. It should be noted that spin recovery in the Decathlon is a bit different than most aircraft in that forward stick is NOT required after rotation stops. Denis was able to effect recovery of the incipient spin in about 800 feet and the three second spin in about 1200 feet; I don't know how many feet my recoveries consumed. In the recovery from both types, I tended not to allow the stick to go fully neutral. Fortunately, each time Denis would prompt me to relax the stick and I would comply, but it was his prompting, not a feel for the stick/situation that allowed me to recover properly. Because there is so little feel on the stick in the spin, Denis recommends that the grip on the stick be released and the pilot's hand simply encircles the stick rather than actually holding it.
Then we did some aileron rolls. This involved pitching down a bit to build the speed up to 130 knots, then pitching up about ten degrees then quickly and smoothly applying full aileron. These were fun, and relatively easy, although I could have done better about pushing the nose down slightly while inverted and using the rudder (in effect as an "elevator") when at 90 degrees to keep the nose at the proper point on the horizon.
Next on the agenda were loops. The procedure was to put the plane in a 45 degree dive until we attained 160 knots, then apply strong back pressure (but not to jerk the stick) to start the loop. As soon as the nose was above the horizon, shifted my gaze to the sighting device affixed to the left wing struts. As we passed through vertical, ease off the back pressure on the stick until we were inverted, then as we started back down increase the back pressure until we were just about level at which point the stick goes back to neutral.
Next we performed hammerheads. The procedure for the hammerhead starts like the loop, but, as the plane reaches vertical, back pressure is released and this stick position is held until the plane starts to shudder as it gets close to losing its upward momentum. At that point, full rudder is applied which forces the airplane to pivot and head straight down, after which back pressure is applied to return to level flight. During my hammerheads, I tended to have some roll around the longitudinal axis while vertical. Denis told me that was because I was holding just a slight amount of aileron. He have me a tip that rather than just fixating on the sighting device, I should take quick peeks at the aileron itself to note it's position.
After the hammerheads, Denis demonstrated a barrel roll. Rather than being a true barrel roll, which is in effect a sort of rolling loop, it ended up being kind of a strange, ungraceful aileron roll. I have always struggled with motion sickness, although I have gotten much better over the years, especially while flying. Unfortunately, I guess I still have my limits as after the barrel roll, I started to feel pretty green. Fortunately, I didn't actually hurl (although I came really close) but I did ask Denis to take the controls and just fly straight and level until I could get settled. I never did get fully settled, and Denis ended up having to talk me through the landing, and help me recover from a balloon on my landing flare. Sadly, I thought to put my ReliefBand electronic anti-motion sickness device in my flight bag, but unfortunately, I neglected to actually put it on before heading out to the airplane; I can't guarantee that it would have helped, but I should have tried.
I have to admit, flying aerobatics was MUCH more challenging than I had imagined. It reminded me in some ways of my first few parachute jumps. Things happened much faster than my brain could process them. For the first time in a long time, I was WAY behind the airplane for most of the flight. I was also very surprised at how challenging it was to get a feel for when the controls were truly in the neutral position. During the debrief, Denis explained that part of the reason was that at low airspeeds, there just isn't much pressure on the control surfaces, so you don't get much "feel." But, I think a big part of it was just due to information overload for me.
It was very strange flying without a Directional Gyro. I found it very challenging thinking of which way (right or left) I needed to turn to fly to a different heading. This was compounded by the fact that the compass "turns" opposite from what is the intuitive direction for me, and I had to deal with compass errors while actually making the turns which made it difficult to turn out on the correct heading. I hadn't realized just how much the DG had spoiled me.
I also found that my headset was problematic in the maneuvers. I tend to keep it set pretty loose so I don't get headaches from it, but I guess because of this, it kept sliding off my head. Also, because it is fairly cheap, it has a metal microphone boom rather than the fully flexible type, and the boom kept slipping away from my mouth on the pull ups.
Generally speaking, I was too timid on the initial inputs. I eased into my turns, dives and banks too much, rather than snapping to the proper 45 degree lines, and then I was too heavy on the controls - movements rather than pressures - while in the maneuvers. According to the G Meter, our maximum positive G's generated was a little over 4, and no negative G's.
Overall, I think Denis was a good instructor, and I enjoyed flying with him. Both he and his wife Sam, who is co-owner and chief administrator of the company, were very nice.
Unfortunately, the experience overall was disappointing. I didn't have nearly as much fun as I had anticipated, especially in light of the investment of $275 for the flying, $20 for the car gas and four hours of travel time. While I didn't expect to be great my first time out, I didn't expect to suck. I was pretty much "off" for the entire 1.2 hours. I just never could catch up with the airplane. I guess maybe part of the problem was that in hindsight, I tried to do too much too fast. It probably would have been better if my first flight had been limited to takeoffs, landings, steep turns and stalls, so that I could really get a feel for the airplane. Then, maybe a second lesson focusing on nothing but spins, or at most spins plus one or two other maneuvers.
Nonetheless, I am glad I finally was able to do some aerobatics, and I am hoping that after a few days or weeks, I'll focus more on the fun, and less on getting queasy and on how good I wasn't.
If I try again, I will probably try to fly with a local instructor who has a clipped wing cub. It won't be as capable as the decathlon, but I'll have the advantage of flying in a familiar area that only takes a few minutes to get to.
If I go back to Coastal Empire, I'll spend more time working on the basics of competition turns, climbs and descents, and try some knife edges and sustained inverted flight.
And, regardless of where and what I fly, I'll make sure I wear my ReliefBand!
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Posted by David at December 21, 2009 08:42 PM | Categorized under: A day in the life, Flying