Still Alive (and flying)

It is not hard to believe that it has been over a year since my last post. Many things have conspired to keep me from flying as much as I'd like, but I have resolved to fly (and write) more this fall and winter.

I've continued to gain aerobatic experience--however irregularly--and have flown 3 IAC contests this season in the Sportsman category. I flew the beloved Super Decathlon in two contests and competed once in the Extra 200 at KWWD. Currency breeds proficiency, and I've had a rough time with both in competition this season. My flying really sucked in the first two contests!

I was absolutely giddy to fly the Extra in June, a one-time opportunity; I pored over the Pilot's Information Manual in advance of my first flight. While some consider it to be a dog when compared to other composite monoplanes like the Giles 202, the Extra 200 has the highest performance in every dimension--roll rate, etc.--of anything I've had the good fortune to fly a sequence in an aerobatic box.

The stick forces in the Extra are extremely light and provide little feedback, in stark contrast to the Super D where my right arm is usually exhausted after an hour of acro. That made it easy to high-speed stall or load the wings more than optimally during pulls. I was advised not to judge the g-load by how it felt in the seat. This is because the pilot sits reclined, and what felt like a 4g pull in the Decathlon is really close to 6g in the Extra.

The roll rate was startlingly quick--so rapid that my hands and feet were far behind the airplane. With very little practice time before the contest, I elected to slow the level roll down in order for my body to keep up. Friends later accused me of flying it like a Decathlon when they saw that. Yep. So it goes. I made several large mental blunders in competition which caused me to get overloaded. My IQ dropped at least 50 points, and I reverted to flying the airplane with Decathlon-like control inputs. The results were embarrassing and humbling, but I am grateful to have gotten the experience to fly such a cool airplane.

Yours truly

I flew better in the local contest earlier this month. I put up a couple of good rolls, but the judges caught me "scooping" the nose up during the first 30 degrees of roll. I need to work on that. I also flew the best hammerhead of my short acro "career."

Thanks for reading!  

Disclaimer: I am not a flight instructor, I know nothing, and nothing here should be interpreted as advice. Do not attempt to teach yourself aerobatics. Find a good aerobatic instructor or school and have fun safely.

Contest: Day -2

The showers passed, the ceiling eventually raised, and it turned out to be a great practice day. I managed to get two flights in. It was cool to meet some of the competing pilots and watch them practice. The biggest wave of arrivals will take place tomorrow.

The aerobatic box markings are easily visible on the ground and there are plenty of peripheral references to help with situational awareness. What a luxury! That didn't stop me from botching my positioning a few times, though. And the FAA-waivered box is just adjacent to the airport, so the usual 10-minute trip out to the practice area was missing today. We'd be taxiing off the runway less than two minutes after flying the last figure.

Today was the first time I've flown an aircraft with the altimeter set to 0 at field elevation. That eliminated the math when dealing with entry altitudes. I had to remember that adjustment, though, when joining the traffic pattern.  

The ground critique was invaluable in dialing-in my loop and half cuban eight. I had a tendency to "flat-spot" the top by unloading the wing too abruptly. Being smooth solves that problem. Pulling significantly harder during the first half of the loop seemed to help the shape as viewed from the ground as well. My spins were good today. I'm still barreling the slow roll, and the half roll in the cuban isn't perfect. 

I tried to help with ground critique, but my commentary is probably worse than useless. I can spot egregious errors, but that's about it.

I've got two more practice hops scheduled tomorrow to fine tune.

East Coast Aerobatic Contest: Day -4

The RADAR picture overstated the conditions this afternoon. We flew through a trace of rain to get to the practice area, but the ceiling was high and the air was wonderfully smooth: there wasn't even the slightest bit turbulence to cover up flaws in my technique. A rainbow flew in loose formation with the Super D for a few miles, and the towering cumulus kept their distance.

I have plenty of tuning to do before this weekend. I'm registered to fly in the Primary category in the aerobatic contest, my first. Properly flown, the primary sequence should look like this. My 45-degree uplines were consistently shallow today. And my spin entries could be crisper. I let the airplane sink into a couple of the spins, which is caused by not keeping the nose trending upward as the airplane approaches the stall. After recovery, I need to hold the vertical downline a bit longer for the judges and wait to advance the throttle when I start to pull. I think I have that sorted out. The roll in the half cuban eight was relatively consistent until I botched a couple by overthinking them. My downwind loop will benefit from a ground observer's critique later in the week. The wind at altitude was around 20 knots this afternoon, and my positioning within the aerobatic box could also stand improvement: I need to drive into the headwind to put the slow roll at airshow center.

My altitudes looked good. I plan to adjust a bit lower for the contest: start my base leg prior to entering the aerobatic box at 3,000 feet AGL and dive for 140 miles per hour and 2,500 feet AGL at the beginning of the first figure, a 45-degree upline. That should put the spin entry at about 3,000 feet AGL, with recovery at around 2,000 feet. The floor of the aerobatic box for Primary is 1,500 feet AGL, so that should give me plenty of margin for minor mistakes (e.g. being slightly too steep on the downline in the half cuban eight).

My goal is to generally not embarrass myself. I will be content with a score of 85% or better. I have Thursday and Friday to practice, weather permitting. As of now, there are two other competitors registered in the category. I'm beyond excited.