Aerobatics - Lesson 2.5

Well, this is my third lesson, but the first lesson was only a half hour 'aerobatics experience', so call it 2.5!

The weather behaved again this weekend - just. I rocked up at the airfield watching nice big holes in the cloud disappear and wondered if we were on at all. Checked out G-BGBA, the Robin 2100 and climbed in with my instructor.

We took off from runway 22 at Gloucester and again headed for his favourite training area, the ‘bends in the river’ just south west of Gloucester.

There were no decent sized holes in the overcast, but it was higher than it looked. The Robin climbed gamely on at a stately 500 fpm as we climbed past 3000’. ‘Go for 4000’ if the overcast will let us’ Max said. At 3500’ it was clear that we would have the room and I levelled off at 4000’ with probably a couple of hundred feet to spare – phew!

On the menu today? Well, the basics again – ballistic rolls, loops and stall turns. Max’s way of teaching is to really cement things in and ‘layer’ things on as your confidence and experience grows.

First I do a ballistic roll to the left. I didn’t have enough of a climb angle and pay for it with the ‘sacred circle’ being just below the horizon. So I try again with a much better result. I do a third as Max wonders if it was a fluke, again with good results – I think I have got it, I really do.



The onto a couple of loops. First with me doing everything except pulling the power back crossing from inverted. He wants me to see when to do this. I spot it, it is basically when the nose of the aircraft passes back through the horizon into the green. We do another the same way. Then we do a third with me pulling the power back. On the last loop there was the distinctive 'bump' as we pulled back up to level flight of the aircraft going through it's own wake - I must be doing something right! I think I am not far from ‘getting’ the loop and feeling more comfortable with it.



Then we do some stall turns. I do the pull up and fly vertical, then Max takes over and talks me through and hand back control for me to recover to altitude. I can feel what he is doing and I think I understand it. I don’t do one myself this lesson, but I think I will be able to next lesson as the control movements are becoming clearer to me.



All too soon, we break off and Max give me a good tip – never charge back into the circuit immediately after aerobatics, give yourself 5 or 10 minutes to collect your thoughts and let the adrenaline come down a bit.

Standard overhead join for 22 as I fly the circuit and do one of the characteristic flatter landing in the Robin so as not to tailstrike. The attitude and method is very similar to the floatplane I flew in Canada earlier this year, a bit like a ‘three-pointer’ attitude you might fly in a taildragger. Good landing and taxy back.

I feel I am making progress and that Max will ‘layer’ more on and get me to do more ‘fine tuning’ on the basic moves. If the weather is good next time and we can get to 5000’, maybe some spins!

This aerobatics stuff really is huge fun – I find myself grinning like an idiot all the way home in the car!

More Aerobatics

After my first formal (but somewhat short) aerobatics lesson last weekend, I spent most of the next week in the office looking at perfect flying weather. This year in the UK has been abysmal weather-wise as the jetstream was not forced north in the summer as it usually is until about September! I have been looking forward to my second lesson, where Max said that if the weather was up to it we would do ‘some spinning’.

The weather on Sunday was OK-ish. Quite gusty and varying from scattered but fairly well developed cumulus to near overcast. My lesson was at 16:00, so I made my way to the airfield in the afternoon. The weather looked good enough with a few large ‘holes’ in the cloud we could probably use.

Max arrived and gave me a longer briefing, but not spinning today, we would again concentrate on the basics, loop, roll and a few more stall turns. I had read the book he supplied and we discussed the ‘sacred circle’ that the nose of the aircraft describes relative to the horizon during a roll. A lot more discussion on rudder usage which ties back in to the primary and secondary effect of controls that I learned on the basic PPL – it really comes into its own here as we will be carrying out many moves at low airspeed and high engine power.



It was the older Robin 2100 this time, G-BGBA. I grabbed a checklist and did a proper ‘by the book’ walkaround. We emptied loose articles in the aircraft (a fuel drain tester loosely stowed in a semi-enclosed shelf would have made a nice missile rattling around the cockpit and would inevitably try to wedge itself in the root of the control stick!).

We climbed in and I started up, again by the book. It is always fun hunting around the panel for unfamiliar switches and uniquely French ways of doing things – this is only the second time I have flown a Robin, so a learning experience until things start to ‘fall to hand’. The aircraft was left half-full of fuel, which put us in the ‘aerobatics’ weight and balance category. So off we trundled.

I was conscious of the fact I was with an instructor, so I deliberately slowed my taxy speed down to the ‘officially approved’ fast walking pace – we all pick up bad habits and I guess a reasonably brisk taxy speed is a common one.

E2 for 22 was the hold as I did the power checks and pre-take off’s. ‘It’s not so much a rotate speed as it starts flying’ Max advised, warning again about avoiding Cessna type angles of attack close to the ground and the likelihood of a tailstrike in the Robin. So off we went, she picked up speed reasonably and as advertised, started to get ‘floaty’ then flew itself off. Climb at 75 kts to 300’ AGL then FEAT – Flaps, Engine, Attitude, Trim.

Climb at 75 kts on extended runway heading, so to the south west over Gloucester. I eventually got to a nice hole in the clouds at 4000’, pretty much over the ‘bends in the river’ on the Severn south-west of Gloucester. A good HASELLL check, transponder to 7004 and we are set to go.

First up is a ballistic roll to the left. This I do with the standard entry to 110 kts, stabalise then pull up to about 45 degrees, check to neutral pitch then ailerons fully over as the ground rotates around me. I looked carefully at the circle described by the nose of the aircraft, some of which was below the horizon. Roll out, regain 110, hard climb as speed bleeds back to 80 kts, then full power and nose down to a full power climb at 70 kts.

A few mistakes to work on. I am not quite getting the nose high enough to start, also I am not properly checking the pitch so enter the roll with back pressure and finally, rolling out a little too soon.

We do a few more over the space of the lesson and I pretty much get it all now, but not 100% yet on checking the pitch. I think it is a lack of confidence that I have attained the correct pitch. The way Max is teaching me is to stick with the basics until I have them through my head, then to ‘layer in’ other stuff until I put it all together. So once I have the ballistic roll off pat, I will go onto barrel roll’s and ailerons rolls and bring in the elements of rudder. Sounds like a good plan.

The loops were great fun. I started doing the pull up to vertical, then Max would take over and talk through what he was doing which I would mimic. By the end of the loops, I was doing all of the stick-work, but Max was still controlling the power. I have got the idea of looking at each wingtip on the pull-up and seem to be pulling up properly (i.e. not favouring one side or the other). I am looking up and over for the reappearance of the ground in the inverted. I have got the hang of easing back to near neutral in the inverted but I am maybe a bit slow to pull out in the vertical downwards.

I realise that Max is not troubling me with rudder inputs, as I can see the effect in the vertical of not doing this. I suspect he will cover this next time as he ‘layer more on’.

Max demonstrates the stall turn probably three or four times. There seems a fair bit to remember here, but I am starting to get the idea of what he is doing and hopefully I won’t cock it up too much when I try it.

Probably to test me out, Max gives me a mild dose of negative ‘G’ with a ‘half Cuban’ – with both of us suspended by the straps inverted for several seconds while bits of dirt and dead flies flutter ‘down’ to the top of the canopy – the quote from Top Gun occurs to me:

‘…….is this your idea of fun Mav?’

OK, this is hardly an F14, but you get the idea! Anyway, no problem with me with negative g.

Max asked me several times if I was OK and explained that repeated g forces make you tired and when tired, your concentration driops off and you learn less etc. I reassure him I am not the least bit tired (too much adrenaline) and I am fine with the g.

We head back to Gloucester and I take the plane for a standard overhead join for 22 and land off right hand circuits. The landing is pretty good and I keep a relatively shallow angle (as opposed to the normal ‘fully stalled’ landing) to avoid tailstrike. I think I am getting a feel for the aircraft, after all it is a pretty simple aircraft, it’s just where everything is and flying a stick as opposed to a yoke.

We taxy back and debrief. Next lesson, next Saturday at 16:00. If the weather is good, spins and if not, then a formal check-out on the type with PFL’s, steep turns, slow flight and circuits etc.

I only hope the weather holds for the next couple of months – probably a forlorn hope!

Canada Touring?

My ‘bestest buddy in the whole-wide-world’ (so he tells me!) lives in Ottawa. We like to meet up at least once and better still twice a year. Me being a pilot and him a keen wannabe, I also like to tie one of these visits in with some serious touring, a few sights and lots of beer.

For 2008 I may well visit Canada twice, once in February for a week for winter sport (and the famous Ottawa ‘Winterlude’) and maybe for a week in late summer for a flying trip, renting a plane from somewhere in Ottawa. The only snag is that I don’t have a Canadian licence! I have a JAA PPL and a full FAA certificate, but no Canadian one.

The ever useful Flyer Forum helped a lot when I asked for advice. It seemed that the best options were either:

1. Go the JAA route.
2. Go the FAA route.

The JAA route would entail me taking the full Canadian multi-choice Transport Canada exam, then carrying out a full flight skill test.

The FAA route had changed at the end of 2006 and now meant that all I would have to do is shortened exam which focused on the differences between the FAA and Canadian regulations and fill out lots of bits of paper.

No contest – I would go the FAA route. No flight test and cheaper.

My FAA medical is and will be still in date. Only drawback is that I got my FAA ticket over three years ago and am now overdue for a BFR. So what I will do is a BFR here in the UK before Christmas, then sort the formalities at my chosen flying club in Ottawa when I get there in February. I have found a spoke to a suitable FAA examiner here in the UK and he is only in Oxford, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Of course while I am in Ottawa, I will take a plane up anyway (with an instructor) for a bit of fun in February.

This will mean that I will get my Canadian licence sorted out by March 2008, in plenty of time for aircraft hire from Ottawa for late summer 2008.

I have also had an email conversation with Rockcliffe Flying Club who were extremely helpful. The confirmed that I could do all the formalities there and subject to a checkride, could hire one of their C172s for a few days and take it into the USA if I wanted to do this. There is a minimum 3 hours per day but they indicated some flexibility over this.



So maybe there will be two decent tours for me in 2008, one in Europe with my wife and one in Canada with my buddy.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself here, but I am already dreaming up a roundtrip – maybe the Atlantic provinces of Canada or maybe New York to visit my sister and stooge around the USA and back via Toronto. I’ll talk it through with the guys at Rockcliffe, see if they have any ideas – nice problems to have!

Aerobatics Training

I have been thinking about some formal aerobatics training for some time now. I have flown aerobatics, but only on ‘extra special treat’ type flights on three occasions now. Once, before I learned to fly, in a Jet Provost at Norwich, then once I had passed my PPL, an awesome days flying with Air Combat in LA in an Extra 300. More recently, in a T6 Harvard at Shoreham. That, and the opportunity to fly and be checked out in an aircraft that I haven’t flown yet, proved to be sufficient incentive to give it a go.

Next questions is where? I checked with a few people I know, and they unanimously agreed that ‘Ultimate High’ in Kemble were the dogs b*ll*cks.

I spoke to Ultimate High and yes, they do the AOPA course, but really only as a four day intensive programme on Monday to Thursday, with two sorties a day in a Bulldog. I would have been very happy with this, but just one snag…. I don’t have enough holiday this year and probably won’t next year either!

So plan B. My preferred local flying club, Cotswold Aero Club (based at Gloucester), do the AOPA Basic Aerobatics certificate, albeit in a Robin R2112 (not as nice apparently as a Bulldog). However, I could do this at weekends as and when I could find a training slot, so this looked just the ticket.

I booked what I thought was the first full lesson of the AOPA certificate, but the lady I spoke to assumed I only wanted an ‘aerobatic experience’ and only booked a half hour slot, so that was disappointing, but not the end of the world.

I didn’t see Max first, instead I saw a student he had just finished with (or probably an air-experience ‘victim’) wander unsteadily back to the club looking somewhat the worse for wear. ‘Did you enjoy it?’ his friend asked sticking a video camera into his face from short range, grinning. ‘Uh, yeah, uh sort of, yeah I guess so’ said the ‘victim’ as his eyes wobbled visibly like a cartoon character! ‘I thought it might be cold up there, mebbe I shouldn’t have worn the extra sweatshirt’ he rationalised. Thinks hmmmm….. aerobatics and feeling warm? Not a good combination – I suspect he ‘tossed his cookies’.

My instructor introduced himself as Max and briefed me on the three manoeuvres we would be looking at – the ballistic roll, loop and stall turn. He talked through the limiting RPM (actually a speed at this is not a VP aircraft), the entry technique and what to do at each stage.

Max gently enquires what experience I have and in particular what experience I have had of positive and negative ‘G’. Like a sensible aerobatics instructor, he is digging for how likely I am to ‘toss my cookies’ and therefore how readily available he needs to have a sickbag! I reassure him on this front that I have not yet ‘lost it’ with my limited but relevant aerobatics experience at the hands of a couple of people, including Air Combat USA in the mighty Extra 300 (closes eyes briefly as I think back to that great day two years ago or so).

Then off we went. As I am also new to the Robin, he saved time and started up, taxied out and did the take-off. I took over in the climb as we climbed at a not very impressive 500fpm at 75 kts.



We climbed and headed for the best of the weather to the north east around Bredon Hill and Damien Hirst’s house along the Cotswold ridge. He explained that he was cleared for aerobatics to well below 3000’, but that I must treat 3000’ as the ‘hard deck’ and never finish aeros below this height (to allow enough room to recover if it all goes pear-shaped).

We got to altitude and Max first showed me the ballistic roll. He explained that this was not an aileron roll, nor a barrel roll, but a bit of a mixture of the two, with an almost bullet-like movement about the longitudinal axis. First he showed me twice then I copied with a couple of rolls to the left. First the HASELLL check, then standard entry.

Standard entry consists of throttle to 2300 rpm, then nose down attitude to get 110 kts (from a rather stately cruise of 80 kts!), nose up a bit to an attitude that maintains 110 kts – this is basically the standard entry for all the simple manoeuvres I would be trained on.

From the standard entry, nose up sharply then stick fully over to the left and hold while the ground rotates around you (bizarre, but that’s how it feels!). Hold it hard over until the ground is the right way up, then stop the roll. The nose will be down by now and assuming the attitude to maintain 110 kts – so basically back to the standard entry position (this is quite deliberate as it means you can go straight into another manoeuvre in a sequence (altitude permitting of course!).
That was fun. If anything on one of them, he thought I rolled out a bit early, but said that was a typical beginners mistake.

Then onto a loop. He talked me through it again and demonstrated two. I didn’t have a go as we were again tight for time. Instead (probably due to the altitude loss and the time to climb back up) I did another roll.

All too soon, we had to head back. But on the way back, he demonstrated two ‘stall turns’ (aka Hammerhead in the USA). Basically this consists of a standard entry, followed by a pull up to the vertical, with rudder one way and ailerons the other (IIRC) as the plane then turns left or right at the top of the vertical until it is pointed straight down.

WOW!!!!!!! REALLY ENJOYED THAT ONE!!!!!

Unfortunately, that’s all we have time for, so back in the circuit as he hands over to me to land from late downwind. I am initially confused as I have been flying a stick aircraft with my right hand and using the vernier throttle on the left with my left hand (the Robin has two throttle). Now I have to fiddle with trim and carb heat on the right. The trick is apparently to fly aeros with the right hand, but in the circuit with your left hand – OK, cool – all part of learning a different aircraft.

I wander a bit on base as I get the fell for the plane and the power settings, height loss, trim etc. I get set up at the required 65kts approach speed for runway 09. He again warns me NOT to try the ‘nose high – stall buzzer’ landing common in most training aircraft as the Robins are very easy to tail-strike. I land at a shallower angle than normal and as we fast taxi with the nose in the air, Max shows me how easy it is to tail-strike (there is of course a protective tailskid). I am amazed at how easy it is to do – lesson rammed home I guess.

Park up and shut down as he charges off to prep another student, I head back to the clubhouse and complete the logs and bills etc. I get a debrief and book the next lesson – a full one this time next Sunday at 16:00 (very few slots in the aircraft left by then). He says next time, weather permitting, well do spins and spin recovery (which, like most UK PPL’s, I have never done).

I buy a specific aerobatics book that Max prefers from him and of course trot into Transair next door to buy another (the AOPA basic aerobatics book).

THAT’S IT! I’M HOOKED!!!!!

I will do the AOPA basic certificate and aim to do aeros on my own (or with a passenger of course) by renting the Robin, in addition to flying a non-aerobatic share (of course a share in an aerobatic plane that can also tour would be ideal, but none of those at Gloucester – where is a Bulldog when you need one?).