Another great (but windy) day in aviation... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

WVOtoGO · #1 10-23-2007, 03:25 PM

Well - that was the easiest grand we ever made.

A friend of mine was down for the weekend’s air show out at Alliance Airport.
He brought his ex-navy E2C jock cousin with him. I had met him years ago, back before the ego trip he now seems to be on.

Anyway – I guess he’s a big Blue Angles fan. He kept commenting about the G forces he and the other Navy pilots would routinely pull. Like they were all some type of aviation Gods or something. (I have all the respect in the world for our fighting forces, just not the big ego sling’n guys.

)

So, he makes the mistake of saying something about greater G forces than the average person could handle, and/or could be attained in today’s civil aviation aircraft.
DJ heard him, and the sh-t hit the fan.

After some half-joking-half-heated discussion about his abilities, her being a silly Brit, and piston planes being for wimps, the bet was on. DJ claimed she could black his @ss out within 3 minutes post takeoff. He laughed in her face. Not a good thing to do. She said the bet was $1,000.00, and they shook on it.

The winds here today are a bit high and gusty, so I had my concerns the flight would ever take place. That didn’t stop her. She was giggling her way to the hangar, and taking shots about him needing to think it over and back out before he looked the fool. This just got him pissed.

A quick brief on the chutes, and down the runway they go. Full power. Pull to about 50’. Snap it over on it’s back and push straight up. Probably about 4 positive. She pulls it back over slowly at about 2 negative. No problem for the jock so far. They climb to about 4K AGL and she asks if he’s ready to go to sleep. She claims he made some comment she’d rather not repeat. So into a dive they go. At around 1K AGL or so, she starts to pull it out. Doing about 180+kts she snaps it up on the left wing and pulls it into a hard elevator turn. His chin hits his chest as she’s screaming over the I-Com and asking if he’s still there. Nope. Dude was out cold for a good 5+ seconds.

He didn’t have much to say after that.

I hope this check is good.

TheDon · #2 10-23-2007, 03:35 PM

Nice.....

Brian Carlton · #3 10-23-2007, 08:44 PM

John, which aircraft did she use?

Any risk of overstress on the airframe..........they're typically not designed for such performance...........

WVOtoGO · #4 10-23-2007, 09:20 PM

Brian -
The EA-300L.
It's certified to +/-10 Gs. That's FAA certified loads. So figure it could go to 12 without any real damage. (but the pilot can't. so....)

She figured he started to go at just over 6, and was gone by a long 7.
That turn can pull 8+ pretty quick.

She does that stuff all day long. Damn near every day. Lots of grunting and growning though. It's all in the abs, she claims. Even after two kids, she's got a 6 pack I wish I had, so she must be right. Her danger zone is around 8.5+. Some of the RedBull guys enter the course with turns in the 7 to 8 range, and grey out at ~9. That's some nasty sh-t, there.

I'm all but screaming to stay up past a long 6.

(But I can exit a P51 without a face plant.

)

Ara T. · #5 10-23-2007, 10:40 PM

That your wife? She sounds like a helluva lady!

Medmech · #6 10-23-2007, 10:58 PM

He may have still won the bet I'd pay more than $1000 for a ride like that!

Brian Carlton · #7 10-23-2007, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WVOtoGO

Brian -
The EA-300L.
It's certified to +/-10 Gs. That's FAA certified loads. So figure it could go to 12 without any real damage. (but the pilot can't. so....)

She figured he started to go at just over 6, and was gone by a long 7.
That turn can pull 8+ pretty quick.

She does that stuff all day long. Damn near every day. Lots of grunting and growning though. It's all in the abs, she claims. Even after two kids, she's got a 6 pack I wish I had, so she must be right. Her danger zone is around 8.5+. Some of the RedBull guys enter the course with turns in the 7 to 8 range, and grey out at ~9. That's some nasty sh-t, there.

I'm all but screaming to stay up past a long 6.

(But I can exit a P51 without a face plant.

)

That's quite a unique aircraft. I was thinking a standard Cherokee 180.

How does the pilot know when they are approaching their own personal limits? Is the onset somewhat slow..........giving the pilot the opportunity to back out of it? Seems a bit risky..........??

WVOtoGO · #8 10-24-2007, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howitzer

He may have still won the bet I'd pay more than $1000 for a ride like that!

Or not.

For a grand, she’d give you a six hour private “Basic Aerobatics” lesson. A minimum of four hours would be in the aircraft. Plus enough “unlimited aerobatic maneuvers” to suit your every desire. i.e. You ask for it – and you’ll experience it. That’s usually held for the last half-hour or so of the day, when the student has a better feel for the aircraft. And a half-hour of it is about all anyone usually wants.

Her two most often used lines are: “Hold loosely, and follow me through this one.” –and- “Ok, you give it a try. Your bird.”

Very few people ever get sick. But a few have been known to panic. For that, she has a 4-D MagLite mounted within her reach. (“Locking up on the controls is not recommended. Nor is it good for the back of your head.”, she’ll tell you.)

Hatterasguy · #9 10-24-2007, 10:08 AM

Deflating ego's is fun.

Go DJ!

Carefull their she might read that Mustang comment....

R Leo · #10 10-24-2007, 10:22 AM

...money talks, bull***** walks (or, in this case, takes a nap.)

WVOtoGO · #11 10-24-2007, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

That's quite a unique aircraft. I was thinking a standard Cherokee 180.

How does the pilot know when they are approaching their own personal limits? Is the onset somewhat slow..........giving the pilot the opportunity to back out of it? Seems a bit risky..........??

Trying to put a PA-28 Cherokee (The -180 I think is the Arrow, right? I’m not too sure on that.) on it’s back at 50’ AGL is not something I’d want to see attempted. With a roll rate somewhere in the 10 degrees per day range, that would be a cartwheel for sure. I watched a kid (fool, showing off to his GF) roll a 28-140 one time. He lost about 500’ or more in the process. Not to mention it cost him a gyro overhaul. Bozo….

The 300L will snap at upwards of 400 degrees per second. Something your neck has to know is coming.

The wife’s is actually a 300L modified to EA-330 specs. Plus a few more competition goodies added. It’s a thriller for sure. Some refer to it as “The Vomit Master”, but seldom do folks exit it with less than a big grin.

Yes – you definitely learn your own limits. And for the most part, the effects do come on slow enough to react to. With lots of practice, you not only develop higher tolerances, but a better feel for your limits as well.
Where I will start backing out of a maneuver when tunnel vision sets in to about a 40 degree span. DJ will hold through to “looking through a toilet paper tube”. Her recovery rate is much faster as well.

One thing to keep in mind. Pulling Gs in a piston aircraft is not really the same as in a fighter jet. Sure, a G is a G. But jets have huge amounts of thrust to keep them in a high G maneuver much longer than any piston aircraft with a maneuvering speed of around 150/170 kts. When piston aircraft are “loaded up” in a maneuver, they will dump lots of energy at a very high rate. That’s why you seldom hear of piston jocks loosing it because they blacked out. They simply are not in high G loads for any great length of time.
Hence DJs need for the dive. (Build up the energy. Waste little in the pull out and roll to wings vertical. Then burn it all off in a nasty tight turn. Roll the 335hp in at a rate comparable to the bleed of speed, and the turn lasts long enough to win a bet.) With the power of a fighter jet – that type of turn can last long enough to kill you if you don’t have the training and a G suit on.

As for the risks…. Welcome to life as an unlimited aerobatic instructor.
Keep in mind also - Unlimited Competition Aerobatics and “Stunt Flying” are two totally different venues. Stunts have greater risks, as they are usually much closer to the ground. Stunt pilots have enough time to say: “SH-T!!” just before becoming a yard dart.
Aerobatic pilots, on the other hand have enough time to say: “Oh, damn it ! I held that too long -or- not long enough -or- I’m out of the box.” And a few other things all the way down to a safe landing. After which they cry in their husbands arms all night because they just spent half their life practicing over and over and over…..
(oh...sorry...she's much better now)

WVOtoGO · #12 10-24-2007, 10:57 AM

Did you order all this wind ???
If so - Please send it back !!!

Standing in the hangar door here, is kind of like Hatt going out to the yacht club and looking at glassy waters.

IT SUX !!