Spins

[Bryan Cotton]

Before this morning I had not done a fully developed spin in the Waiex. I had an irrational fear going, and it took me this long to conquer it. I've done plenty before. In my primary training we spun the PA12. Aerobatic training in the Pitts and Decathlon involved spins. Inverted spins in the Pitts, first one by accident. I've also spun J3s.

So this morning did one departure stall, then two left spin attempts. Didn't want to go and fully cross controlled went to the right like the ailerons were still working. Spins fine to the right. Did a quarter to warm up, then 1.25, then a couple of 2+ turn spins. Really goes around and recovers slowly. A loop, roll, and a spiral dive to finish.

So I know there are a few acro guys in the forum, and I'm curious if you see the disparity between left and right like I do. I got spoiled in the Pitts - it comes out right now when you want it to.

[Bryan Cotton]

I was watching one of Mike Smith's videos and he spins to the left. He also sits on the left. I wonder if the small amount of aileron you hold when flying solo makes the spin more prevalent in one direction. I'll have to try spins in the left seat. All my aerobatics have been on the right so I can fly right hand on the stick.

[WaiexB22]

I wouldn't consider myself an acro guy, but I do fly a citabria now and I do like to do spins from time to time. I plan on doing spins, loops, rolls, and other positive G fun in my waiex, so I am glad to hear your report.

Out of curiosity, what was your fuel load and CG at the time?

[Bryan Cotton]

Out of curiosity, what was your fuel load and CG at the time?

10 gallons/66.47" at takeoff
7 gallons remaining/66.86" at the pump.
64.4”-67.7” is the aerobatic range.

[mike.smith]

Yeah, for whatever reason, spins to the left go fast and furious (in a good way, not a bad way), but to the right tend to be sluggish. I've done 7 spins max. My spin video did 5 rotations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPzQ3Ruq8LY). Spins and recoveries are very straight forward in a Sonex, but as humans it feels so YIKES! I've done loops and rolls in a Waiex, but no spins, so I don't know what differences, if there are any, there might be. I find the Sonex to come out of a spin very, very quickly with neutral stick and opposite rudder.

As an aside, here was my description of doing inverted spins in a Super Decathalon at OSH this summer:

I haven't taken any aerobatic training since before I started flying the Sonex. The RV-7 I'm building will be capable of sustained inverted flight, and so there are a lot more maneuvers that I can do than in the Sonex. More lessons makes all the sense in the world. When asked what I wanted to work on, I wanted to clean up bad habits in what I have been doing, and do some inverted maneuvers, included inverted spins. Upright spins I do all the time, but inverted spins scare me.

We first spend an hour on the ground in front of a white board, reviewing what I remembered or didn't remember about aircraft aerodynamics, and spin recoveries, including inverted.

So we fired up the Super Decathalon and went flying. My instructor, Jamie, handled the radios, but he had me do all the rest. Other than reminding me not to ride the brakes, I did a nice job of taxiing, if I don't say so myself 🙂. With the high lift wing of the Super-D, we were off in a heartbeat, and feeling like we were going up in a high speed elevator, even with the nose only at about 20 degrees.

There is a lot of adverse yaw with the large ailerons, and the rudder is quite large, too. So we worked on coordinating turns and steep maneuvers by sight and feel, rather than using the ball.

Then we did some left and right spins, working on coming out on a desired heading. A lot of planning ahead and finessing the controls!

Next was sustained inverted flight. We made sure the 5-point harness and the ratcheting lap belt were snugged down, and over we went! Lots of forward stick required in the Super-D to keep it from descending. It was kind of fun watching the ASI with the ground "above" me and the sky "below!" But it works on pressure, so it didn't care that we were upside down. We hung there for nearly a minute, straight and level, then back upright to get the blood back down to our lower bodies. Then it was over we went, again. Now we did some gentle inverted turns. But before we went onto inverted spins, Jamie wanted me to feel what negative 2 g's felt like (upside down and level, it's negative 1 g). So we turned sharply until the g-meter read 2 g's. It's not comfortable, but I was laughing and having a grand ole' time (I know, it's not for everyone, and I did have a slight headache on the ride home).

After getting upright and letting the blood move back down to our limbs (and to fill the header tank; the Super-D can sustain inverted flight for a max of 2 minutes before you need to get upright to fill the header tank again), we went onto inverted spins. I knew they would be disorienting, so that's why I wanted to do them, and frankly Jamie said he puts that into the first lessons for a beginner for just that reason. If anything goes wrong upright, most people with a little training can get out of it. But being inverted and spinning is so disorienting, it really is important to learn right up front. It was so disorienting at first, that I had Jamie demonstrate a second time, just so my brain could process what was going on. After that I did a couple of my own, and it all seemed to make sense. We called it a day after that.

Flying back to KOSH from the south, Pioneer Air Field was active with aircraft, so we had to maintain 1,800' until we were on the extended center line for Rnwy 9. There are no flaps on the Super D, but it's draggy, and will sink pretty quickly when you pull the power. We had a 30 deg crosswind from the right, and I nailed the wheel landing, setting down on the right wheel, then plunking the left wheel down, and letting the tail wheel settle as the air speed decayed. I like it when I don't make an aeronautical fool of myself! An easy taxi to the hangar and we were done.

Even if you don't want to do aerobatics, if you ever get a chance to take upset recovery training (URT), I would highly recommend it. Upset recovery training is similar but different than aerobatic training, and will be geared toward the flying you do, in the aircraft you do it in. But if you are even a bit interested in aerobatics, that kind of training can be a real blast!

[Bryan Cotton]

One thing that I figured out was the neutral stick. A lot of other airplanes I've spun would let me go opposite rudder and the spin would stop. That did work in the Waiex, but it took a while which is sort of worrisome when you are on the spin cycle. This morning I added in the neutral stick into the recovery and it popped right out. That makes it a lot more fun.

My first inverted spin in the Pitts was on top of an immelmann. I was not doing a good job of finishing them nicely, so my instructor told me to stop in level inverted flight before I rolled out. Look left and right, make sure you were level, then roll out. All great but I did that with the nose high and did an inverted stall. Soon became a spin. Both upright and inverted spins pretty much look like you are going straight down, so when my instructor said "you are in an inverted spin" my response was "This is inverted?" Next he says "yep, and now it's a full blown one." So I'm flailing around, and nothing is working. He says "pull the power out" and I did that. Still spinning. So he says "Look for the heavy pedal." In prior ground instruction he discussed how the rudder wants to trail into the direction of the spin, and it takes more force to go counter to the spin. So I swapped which pedal I had on the floor and it popped right out. Now I'm in an inverted stall, with my positive G brain pushing forward for all I'm worth to break the stall. Tom says "I got it." Recovers, after I chewed up 4000' of altitude over the Florida alligators. Then he says "Tomorrow we will practice inverted spins."

And we did. Lot of normal ones - roll inverted, stall, kick in the rudder, spin, recover. One from 80 upright, S&L Stick full forward, pedal to the stop, went over the top into an inverted spin, and the most violent thing I've ever done in an airplane. I let it go about 3 rotations and when I wanted it to stop, it came right out. The Pitts is a sweetheart.

[Bryan Cotton]

So I climbed in the left seat this morning, flew up to 6000', and did a spin to the left. Went right in. Tried one to the right, initially it just waffled and then finally broke. I think my theory about holding opposing aileron for roll trim when solo is a good one. Video to follow.

[Bryan Cotton]

Here's the video!