"Peter Ashwood-Smith" <petera@nortel.ca> wrote in message
news:8ufuvn$7oj$1@bcarh8ab.ca.nortel.com...
> >When I was doing air show work, especially when working a new maneuver, I
> >always practiced with an imaginary hard deck. My criteria for bringing
the
> >airplane down to show altitude was to be able to do the maneuver ten
times
> >in sucession without busting the hard deck. If I broke it on number nine,
I
> >started all over again. Even with this system I busted the deck altitude
> >every once in awhile. One thing for sure, it kept me from becoming
> >overconfident.
> >
> >At least I'm still here anyway. :-)))
> >Dudley Henriques
>
>
> Excellent advice. Sometimes though you think you have it nailed
> and then screw up. I almost never muck up the 1500' floor for the
> sportsman but a month or so ago on a windy day. I was at the top of
> the reverse cuban looking down and decided I was being blown off
> the center too much so I angled my pullout toward the center. Boy
> was I suprised to see 1200' on the altimeter as I exited. Obviously
> turning and pulling at the same time cost altitude and my normal
> 4G pull did not cut it. ... a very interesting lesson in varying
> things on the spur of the moment.

For low altitude work,(I mean ground level ) you only get one shot with
vertical recoveries. The problem is the sight picture. At altitude, you
gauge with a specific horizon picture that is much different than the
picture you get entering the backside at lower level. Take your reverse
Cuban for example. (I used a regular half Cuban as my turn around maneuver
in the 51). In the reverse, after you do the half slow roll on the 45 up
line, you are still climbing on the line for an instant.(I'm talking air
show flying here, not competition). In that instant you must digest the
sight picture and do the mental geometry for the commit to the backside
vertical. There is no margin for error on the low side. You can be too high
when you commit, but if you are too low at commit, you are simply dead. Once
you commit, and this is extremely important, at the exact vertical down
line, the shortest way out is a direct pull. You can't bank and alter the
pull out without increasing the g load and making the recovery profile
longer. In other words, the shortest way out is a straight pull, and at the
90 degree point in the pull, you have x altitude left and x g available.
These two factors must equate or you are a dead man.

It's really hard to explain what's required in developing the ability to
sense when the sight picture is right for an inverted downside vertical
commit at minimum altitude. It varies naturally from aircraft to aircraft.
There is no common ground. I've discussed this issue with many show pilots
through the years. I can remember one night in a diner at Reading when Art
Scholl, two of the Thunderbirds, and myself stayed up half the night
discussing just this topic. All of us agreed that for the most part, when
advising other pilots, it's better to limit the discussion to the dangers
involved and present the scenario about as I have done here; then stop short
of suggesting specifics. It's incumbent on every pilot thinking about low
altitude work, to become familiar with his airplane and his environment
before he/she enters this dangerous arena.
--
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/CFI Retired

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