Rocketman
Rocketman
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2012
- Messages
- 100
- Reaction score
- 7
Some of you may know that I'm one of the 'new guys' on the forum and that I just purchased a new to me S-1S. I didn't want to waste too much time before getting some proper training.....so today was the day 
.
Well, this morning I flew my RV7 from Parkersburg, W.Va down to Virginia Highlands Airport. The purpose of the flight was to spend the day with Johnny White in his Pitts S-2C.
http://www.aviatorsunlimited.us/index.html
My goal was to achieve some serious spin training in the Pitts along with some basic Pitts stick and rudder training. Although I've built and owned about 24 RV's and Rockets I've never had a Pitts and I didn't want to learn on my own. I've got only 4 flights in my new single seater so I have a long road ahead of me.
We started off with some basic spin ground school. We discussed many types of spins and recovery techniques. Then we saddled up and went out to demonstrate and practice the different types of spins. Johnny gave me the plane right from the start. Only problem I had was that we didn't have the seat cushions set up properly to accomodate my 5'8" frame. I had a difficult time reaching the rudder pedals....not good! Once airborne we climbed to about 6500' then did some clearing turns. Here we go, we began a serious of basic loops. I've done a gazillion rolls and loops in my other planes but as it turns out I haven't been them right. Johnny referred to my techinique as 'barnyard pilot manuevers'. Hey, what can I say.....that's why I went down to get 'proper' training. It took a few tries but once I got my hands and feet working together things improved. We did a LOT of manuevers but one that I hadn't done before was sustained inverted flight. I do NOT like negative G's and wasn't looking forward to this. But I told myself that if was going to own a Pitts then I should learn how to fly it. I can't say I got used to hanging by the straps but it wasn't as bad as I had expected. Trying to hold the plane level really wasn't that difficult, it was rolling back over to upright level flight that I ran into problems. I had a tendency to leave the nose low everytime. It took at least 8 tries before I got the hang of it and could roll the plane inverted for bit....then roll upright and be in the normal flight attitude. Then it was time for the spins. I don't think we did any less than 5 or 6 rotations on any spin and the recovery was actually very straight forward. A little dizzy after doing 6 or 7 spins but.....hey, I'm a new guy! Back on the ground we debriefed and got a little 'air'....this was hard work. Back up for round two and more of the same. We added some seat cushions under me and behind my back....this was MUCH BETTER. This time we added some hammerheads. Staying vertical wasn't too difficult but it will take me a while to get the feel of the prop 'shaking' and making the turn just as the 'shake' begins. I'm sure it will come in time. Come to find out that the hammerheads I was doing in my RV's and Rockets were just more 'barnyard pilot' manuevers. During this round of spin training and recovery we went up much higher than before....I think we leveled off at about 9,500'. Once in the spin Johnny had me try many different control inputs to see what effect they had on the spin. It was interesting to say the least to watch the spin get faster or slower, or steeper or shallower with various control inputs including idle and full power on the engine. All this as the earth was rotating very rapidly and the ground getting closer with every rotation .
I had initially planned on staying the night and going for round 3 and 4 the next day before heading for home. But.....I had enough for one day and decided that I need to let all of this sink in then practice what I had learned before continuing on. So I payed my bill and flew the RV back to Parkersburg and made it home before dark.
All in all a great learning experience and I'm very glad that I took this route. I have no intentions of getting into the airshow circuit so you guys won't have to worry about me shoeing up at the next meet. My approach from here will be to practice one manuever at a time for as long as it takes to get that manuever down pat....then move to the next one. I'm looking forward to seeing how my little S-1S compares to the manuevers that we did in the S-2C. I dunno'.....the 2 seater just seemed a little 'too big' for my taste and I think (hope) I may do better in my plane.
I've got a tremendous amount of respect for you folks that can perform these various manuevers. I have a LOT to learn and I just want to take a nice slow and SAFE approach.
.Well, this morning I flew my RV7 from Parkersburg, W.Va down to Virginia Highlands Airport. The purpose of the flight was to spend the day with Johnny White in his Pitts S-2C.
http://www.aviatorsunlimited.us/index.html
My goal was to achieve some serious spin training in the Pitts along with some basic Pitts stick and rudder training. Although I've built and owned about 24 RV's and Rockets I've never had a Pitts and I didn't want to learn on my own. I've got only 4 flights in my new single seater so I have a long road ahead of me.
We started off with some basic spin ground school. We discussed many types of spins and recovery techniques. Then we saddled up and went out to demonstrate and practice the different types of spins. Johnny gave me the plane right from the start. Only problem I had was that we didn't have the seat cushions set up properly to accomodate my 5'8" frame. I had a difficult time reaching the rudder pedals....not good! Once airborne we climbed to about 6500' then did some clearing turns. Here we go, we began a serious of basic loops. I've done a gazillion rolls and loops in my other planes but as it turns out I haven't been them right. Johnny referred to my techinique as 'barnyard pilot manuevers'. Hey, what can I say.....that's why I went down to get 'proper' training. It took a few tries but once I got my hands and feet working together things improved. We did a LOT of manuevers but one that I hadn't done before was sustained inverted flight. I do NOT like negative G's and wasn't looking forward to this. But I told myself that if was going to own a Pitts then I should learn how to fly it. I can't say I got used to hanging by the straps but it wasn't as bad as I had expected. Trying to hold the plane level really wasn't that difficult, it was rolling back over to upright level flight that I ran into problems. I had a tendency to leave the nose low everytime. It took at least 8 tries before I got the hang of it and could roll the plane inverted for bit....then roll upright and be in the normal flight attitude. Then it was time for the spins. I don't think we did any less than 5 or 6 rotations on any spin and the recovery was actually very straight forward. A little dizzy after doing 6 or 7 spins but.....hey, I'm a new guy! Back on the ground we debriefed and got a little 'air'....this was hard work. Back up for round two and more of the same. We added some seat cushions under me and behind my back....this was MUCH BETTER. This time we added some hammerheads. Staying vertical wasn't too difficult but it will take me a while to get the feel of the prop 'shaking' and making the turn just as the 'shake' begins. I'm sure it will come in time. Come to find out that the hammerheads I was doing in my RV's and Rockets were just more 'barnyard pilot' manuevers
. During this round of spin training and recovery we went up much higher than before....I think we leveled off at about 9,500'. Once in the spin Johnny had me try many different control inputs to see what effect they had on the spin. It was interesting to say the least to watch the spin get faster or slower, or steeper or shallower with various control inputs including idle and full power on the engine. All this as the earth was rotating very rapidly and the ground getting closer with every rotation .I had initially planned on staying the night and going for round 3 and 4 the next day before heading for home. But.....I had enough for one day and decided that I need to let all of this sink in then practice what I had learned before continuing on. So I payed my bill and flew the RV back to Parkersburg and made it home before dark.
All in all a great learning experience and I'm very glad that I took this route. I have no intentions of getting into the airshow circuit so you guys won't have to worry about me shoeing up at the next meet
. My approach from here will be to practice one manuever at a time for as long as it takes to get that manuever down pat....then move to the next one. I'm looking forward to seeing how my little S-1S compares to the manuevers that we did in the S-2C. I dunno'.....the 2 seater just seemed a little 'too big' for my taste and I think (hope) I may do better in my plane.I've got a tremendous amount of respect for you folks that can perform these various manuevers. I have a LOT to learn and I just want to take a nice slow and SAFE approach.
