Wind correction / wings level

[Don Szczur]

I use the same technique, depending how Its set up.  I can feel the plane as its going around and can sense the momentum.  If its going to wobble I'll use what Del has described below.  I also use a dual rate switch. I switch to high rate just before the stall turn and then go back to low rate after the pivot.  This provides a tighter turn and less chance of oscillation.  P.P.S.  I also use dual rate like this on my TOC plane.  I tried the throttle induced dual rate when I was flying Futaba, but disabled it, since it effected snaps on downlines vs uplines (throttle off vs on).

As the legendary Steve Stricker once told me when I asked him how one does a stall turn... he said "well, first you have to do about a thousand of them..."

Don
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Del Rykert 
  To: discussion at nsrca.org 
  Sent: Friday, August 20, 2004 7:55 AM
  Subject: Re: Wind correction / wings level


  Keith ..
      I find what works great is not releasing all the rudder till after plane starts back down then slowly release the last little bit you held in as it picks up speed. Works like a charm

                               del 
                 NSRCA - 473
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Keith Black 
    To: discussion at nsrca.org 
    Sent: Friday, August 20, 2004 1:06 AM
    Subject: Re: Wind correction / wings level


    Thanks for the insight Don, great info. 

    I have a question about stall turns and tail wobble after the 180 deg rotation. What's the best way to prevent the tail wobble, both in windy and calm situations?

    Thanks,
    Keith
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Don Szczur 
      To: discussion at nsrca.org 
      Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2004 10:02 PM
      Subject: Re: Wind correction / wings level


      Ailerons are adjusted continuously.  For the Quique technique, the most dificult transition point is the top of a vertical 8, with half rolls at the crossover, entering inverted., for example, the Don Lowe final known..  The high altitude makes it difficult to see the wings (and difficult to adjust the roll rate to keep the wings constantly level).

      Comparing notes, for standard loops, like the 2 loops in Sportsman, my technique is to use the following steps:.  At 7 and 5 O'clock points, I adjust the ailerons to "spiral" the plane into the wind.  At the 10 to 2 O'clock positions, I adjust the rudder to "straighten" the fuselage with respect to the ground.  The net effect?  If there were no wind, the plane would be spiraling along the Z axis (coming in or going out). In the cross-wind however, the plane remains at exactly the same distance out.

      On vertical lines, I like to slip the plane.  In other words enter the part loop letting the nose come into the wind during the radius.  For example, pullng up on the left side of the box just let the plane naturally weather vane into the wind during the radius.  Now with the wind blowng from behind, at the completion of the radius, with no other inputs the plane will follow  a track that will find it coming toward the flight line pretty severely (with respect to the ground).  This is very obvious as a characteristic of smaller planes (you see this a lot on pull ups going into the stall turn during sportsman).  Now, what to do? As the plane completes the quarter radius, add in right rudder.  What the airplane is doing (if there was no wind at this exact moment) would be slipping through the vertical line at semi knife edge.  However, when you add in the crosswind component the plane tracks exactly vertical (with respect to the ground) yet will not drift with the wind.  I stress the importance of rudder-to aileron and rudder-to- elevator mix (knife edge) even in Sportsman because it will improve your stall turns- yes, knife edge mix (if your plane needs it) will improve your stall turn scores.  

      Holding a little rudder in until the stall turn is reached will continue this "slip" all the way to the  apex.  At this point, stop the right rudder and ad left rudder for the stall turn, which makes a clean, very well presented stall turn maneuver.  It took me 22 years to figure this out, first being at awe when watching Dave Brown do this in a Figure M at the 1983 nationals.

      See you,
      Don
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