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Below are additional descriptions of the most popular aerobatic maneuvers:
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Loop
This is one of the most basic maneuvers, but not easy to fly well. It has to be perfectly round, entry and exit have to be at the same altitude. The difficulty in flying this manuever well is in correcting for effects of wind drift. In competition, it helps if you don't have to fly first, so you can watch what your competitors are doing and judge the wind drift that you have to take into account.
The maneuver starts with a pullup of about 3 - 4 g. Once past the vertical, the back pressure on the elevator is slowly relaxed to float over to top of the loop to keep it round. Past the top, the back pressure is slowly increased again throughout the back part till horizontal flight. The plane has to stay in one plane with the wings orthogonal to the flight path. Rudder is used to maintain the plane of the figure and ailerons are used to maintain the orientation of the wings.
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Cuban Eight
Five-eighths of a loop to a down-line at a 45 degree angle. The plane is inverted at this point. Centered on this downline is a half roll from inverted to upright. A pullout to horizontal completes the figure.
This is another one of the maneuvers that reverse direction. The downline can be used to adjust the altitude and speed at the end of the figure.
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Snap Rolls
4.) Snap or flick rolls also have to be flown normally on a straight line. A snap roll is similar to a horizontal spin. It is an autorotation with one wing stalled. Figure 3 shows the symbol for a regular snap roll, figure 4 for an outside snap. In the regular snap, the plane has to be stalled by applying positive g forces. In an outside snap, the plane is stalled by applying negative g. In both cases rudder is then used to start autorotation just like in a spin.
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Barrel Roll
The Barrel Roll is a not competition maneuver. I have tried to give a description of a Barrel Roll without using my hands, but have failed miserably so far. Maybe somebody else has a good verbal description that doesn't require hand waving.
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Aileron rolls
Aileron rolls are flown with the rudder and elevator in the neutral position during the roll. The aileron is fully deflected in the direction of the roll. This is the easiest of the rolls to fly.
The aileron roll is started by pulling the nose up to 20 - 30 degrees above the horizon. The elevator is then neutralized and the aileron fully deflected in the direction of the roll. The controls are maintained in that position till the roll is completed. After the roll is completed the nose is usually 20 - 30 degrees below the horizon. The aileron roll is not a competition maneuver.
More coming soon!
Contact me
Freestyle_aerobatic@hotmail.com
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