Wind correction / wings level

[Rcmaster199 at aol.com]

Absolutely Jimbo. Your assessment is on the mark. In a fair amount of cross 
wind, any departure in pitch from wind-corrected straight and level flight will 
require some small roll command. The masters do that seamlessly.

If roll correction is done throughout the pitching element to achieve wings 
level, less rolling would be required overall and would be less obvious. We 
called that a "Maneuver Smoother"  back in the heyday of Pattern. Still applies 
today and will always apply.

In regard to wing bobbles and such caused by the maneuver corrections, in the 
FAI regs it is stated that (I am paraphrasing) extremely small deviations are 
not to be counted. The problem is a real definition for what "extremely 
small" means. To me, it means a couple degress (less than five). Definitely not 
enough for a whole point deduction. 

I don't recall reading such verbiage in the AMA regs. In the AMA schedules, I 
judge a couple such bobbles as a half point off IF I see them. That's what 
it's supposed to be anyway. In reality, it's much harder to judge that 
correctly, having to keep a count for each and every maneuver, etc, etc.

Remember having a conversation on same subject with Earl Haury at the 2003 
TEAM Selection Tournament. I believe we were discussing when to penalize the 
whole point downgrade (1pt/15 degrees), and we pretty much concluded that at 
least two small 5-10 degree bobbles had to be seen in the same F3A maneuver to 
penalize the whole point. That these are additive as they should be. If only one 
is observed, then no downgrade is to be assessed.

That's my take. As always, open to differing or opposing points of view

Matt

Hi All, 

I want to bring up a discussion point about wind correction.  This may seem 
obvious to some but I want to ensure I have the right picture in my mind 
(started thinking about this since Don S. posted his comments about Q.S. flying wind 
correction in finals, and confirmed during some practice yesterday).   
1.  Wind correction is supposed to be done while maintaining wings level. 
2.  You are supposed to use the yaw angle to correct for the wind.   
Situation:  Pilot is flying a square loop ( at center).  Wind is blowing 90 
degree out 20 mph.  Pilot fly's past center at a some yaw angle in to 
compensate for the wind blowing out.  The pilot pulls a 90 degree radius to a vertical 
upline.  The fuselage is canted in to the wind to compensate for the wind 
blowing out.  *Point of discussion:  If the pilot were to pull another 90 degree 
radius, the wings would become "unlevel" as the plane reaches the top leg of 
the square loop.  *Point of discussion:  So, if the pilot is using the correct 
technique for wind correction (wind correcting force being yaw angle), then 
every time the pilot creates a radius, you should definitely "see" the ailerons 
moving the wings through the radius to ensure that as the radius is finished, 
the wings are level for the next line and the fuselage is yawed for wind 
correction.  Same thing next radiu s;  The pilot adds pitch, moves the wings,  and 
adds the correct rudder to transform the top of the box line to the next 
downline (wings level, yawed into the wind), etc.   

*Point of discussion:  We spend a lot of time concentrating on wings level 
for normal pattern flying and usually "any" type of aileron or wing movement is 
a visual key for a downgrade using the 1 pt / 15 degree rule.  However, this 
is false to accurately judge flying on a windy day.  In order to fly in a 
crosswind, nearly EVERY radius will have some amount of roll induced (and 
necessary) to ensure that the "lines" can be flown with wings level and in order to 
utilize yaw as the wind-correcting force.   

That said/ when and how much roll should be used?  I would guess that you 
would want to seamlessly input the pitch, aileron, and rudder so that the plane 
just appears to go from one wind corrected line to the other magically.  What 
is the judging criteria for inputting a roll function in the radius to ensure 
the wings stay level & fuselage stays canted (yawed) into the wind from one 
wind corrected line to another?  Should the amount of aileron needed to go from 
one wind corrected line to another line start and finish corresponding to the 
actual duration of the radius?  What if the pilot only correct s the wing as 
the plane is nearing the end of the radius, is this some downgrade because the 
correction was placed near the end of the radius instead of "evenly-througout" 
the radius? 

I'm sure I'm exaggerating this situation and I am purposefully, to stimulate 
some talk on the subject.  Again, my contention is that for some wind 
conditions, in order to maintain the overall geometry of the maneuver that there MUST 
be roll correction during radii to seamlessly move from one wind corrected 
line to another, and this roll correction should not be downgraded.   

Any takers? 
Jim W. 
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