Cloud White-out & spin; does he live ?

[Bille Floyd]

At 2:40 , pilot gets whited-Out in a cloud .
At 3: -- loss of orientation , leads to a spin
Watch to see the results :

Bille

 

[Protech Racing]

Nut on a string for me .

 

[TFF]

Ok

 

[BJC]

Nut on a string for me .

BJC

 

[rv7charlie]

I learned to fly in a Luscombe 8A (oil pressure, tach, airspeed & altimeter; nothing else). My instructor told me that if I ever got stuck 'on top' and was confident that the bottom of the cloud deck was a couple of thousand feet AGL, intentionally spinning down through the cloud was the safest way out.

I never tested that because I never got the Luscombe above 2K feet.

Charlie

 

[BJC]

In a Citabria, I climbed from 1,000 broken to about 3,000 on top and spun back down through the clouds to see what it is like. Only issue was that it was a weird sensation to hold full pro spin controls for so long with zero visibility. Based on that experience, if things were to get really tense in an aerobatic airplane with no DG or no T&B or no AI, I would spin down.


BJC

 

[shuffman37]

In a Citabria, I climbed from 1,000 broken to about 3,000 on top and spun back down through the clouds to see what it is like. Only issue was that it was a weird sensation to hold full pro spin controls for so long with zero visibility. Based on that experience, if things were to get really tense in an aerobatic airplane with no DG or no T&B or no AI, I would spin down.


BJC

Agreed! When I got my Pitts S2-B training, we talked about emergency IMC procedures in non instrumented aircraft. In something like the Pitts, just letting go of all controls and pulling power to the idle stop will automatically recover in about 1 turn.

 

[BJC]

In something like the Pitts, just letting go of all controls and pulling power to the idle stop will automatically recover in about 1 turn.

I know one pilot who makes perfect three point landings in everything that she flies. She learned to fly in a UPF-7. I rode as a safety pilot with her for stick forward spin recover training in her Super D. I never was able to get her to release the controls, even after lots of pre flight briefings and commands through the intercom.

As you say, it does work.


BJC

 

[TFF]

The yaw string was always one side or another. I kept waiting. What was that exercise about?

 

[Geraldc]

 

[crkckr]

This guy clearly needs to use the cat/duck method of flying. The duck always flies south, so he'll know where he is going and the cat always lands on his feet, so he knows which way is down. Or maybe just a cup of coffee used as an artificial horizon? Then again, maybe just stay the hell out of the clouds... but that's no fun, right?
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[crkckr]

In a Citabria, I climbed from 1,000 broken to about 3,000 on top and spun back down through the clouds to see what it is like. Only issue was that it was a weird sensation to hold full pro spin controls for so long with zero visibility. Based on that experience, if things were to get really tense in an aerobatic airplane with no DG or no T&B or no AI, I would spin down.


BJC

I usually did no more than 2 rotations in the Citabria, but once I decided to push it and do a few more. On the third rotation the nose tucked in considerably, startling me. The rotation speed also increased quite a bit. I didn't find it anywhere near as much fun as the usual two rotations I usually did! It wasn't horrifying or anything, just not as much fun, and after the 3rd rotation, it didn't change at all (I think I did 5 turns, just so I could say I'd done it). Of course, being over water at the time (the aerobatic practice area off Point Ferman in LA), kind of changes your perspective of things a bit, too!
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[Pops]

My Falconar was easy in and easy out. So easy out that you could come out close to a heading. It had a huge very effective rudder.

 

[BJC]

I usually did no more than 2 rotations in the Citabria, but once I decided to push it and do a few more. On the third rotation the nose tucked in considerably, startling me. The rotation speed also increased quite a bit. I didn't find it anywhere near as much fun as the usual two rotations I usually did! It wasn't horrifying or anything, just not as much fun, and after the 3rd rotation, it didn't change at all (I think I did 5 turns, just so I could say I'd done it). Of course, being over water at the time (the aerobatic practice area off Point Ferman in LA), kind of changes your perspective of things a bit, too!
Cheers,
crkckr

The KCAB is nose heavy, and, when soloed from the front seat, is hard to hold in a spin. As the nose pitches down, the spin accelerates. Its fun to show someone with only CFI spin experience how fast a C150/152 will spin with nose down elevator.

BJC

 

[Pops]

The KCAB is nose heavy, and, when soloed from the front seat, is hard to hold in a spin. As the nose pitches down, the spin accelerates. Its fun to show someone with only CFI spin experience how fast a C150/152 will spin with nose down elevator.

BJC

And add a little power will increase the rotation.

 

[bmcj]

I used to fly over the San Gabriel Mountains in a Champ when returning to Riverside from Mojave. I transited at 11-12 thousand feet and often used a prolonged spin to get down close to pattern altitude. It was a very gentle maneuver.

We rarely had cloud decks in Southern California, but if we did have a deck with a known ceiling below, I would be comfortable using a spin to get down through it.

 

[Dana]

I did 12 turns in a C-150 once, 20 in my T-Craft. As I recall, in both cases it took a couple of turns to stop the rotation. I also spun the T-Craft through an undercast that I got caught on top of once, don't think it was that many turns though. But I did a lot of dumb things when I was in my 20s.

 

[Bille Floyd]

...

We rarely had cloud decks in Southern California, but if we did have a deck with a known ceiling below, I would be comfortable using a spin to get down through it.

Isn't it near (1) G ; if done correctly ? It's the exit ; that gets
a lot of people , in trouble , or not pulling enough up elevator
to keep it in the spin, ------- and doing a High G spiral .

1981, i was practicing for an ACRO contest, on a Rigid HG, and was
working out at Elsinore. Cloud base around 11K, ASL, with the tops
of the cumies only 2.5-K higher. Lift was 800-ft/min , (not so Rad a day)
so i thermaled Up, into the cloud, till full white-out , and hit full Left rudder
then pushed out, for a nice easy inverted spin ; tried to time the exit
right on the bottom of the cloud, and did a loop to touch the
cloud on the top of the ark. Was SOOoo cool ; looking at the 360-deg
rainbow , just as i neared the bottom of the cloud , in the spin !!!

Fast forward to the landing aria , with a cold beer to celebrate
the day, and a privet pilot who watched me do it ; then he informed
me that my antics, could'a caused an accident with an IFR pilot
if my luck, hadn't bin so good.

I Never , did that again !!

Bille

 

[Pops]

I did 12 turns in a C-150 once, 20 in my T-Craft. As I recall, in both cases it took a couple of turns to stop the rotation. I also spun the T-Craft through an undercast that I got caught on top of once, don't think it was that many turns though. But I did a lot of dumb things when I was in my 20s.

I will not admit to any.

 

[Victor Bravo]

The instructor pilot in the glider video needs to be taken out behind the hangar and beaten. Preferably by the student's wife.

The video of Bob Hoover doing his iced tea routine is all well and good, but it doesn't mention that Hoover should really not have been doing that using iced tea from Long Island.

One one of my very few dual instruction flights in the Pitts S-2, my instructor Leigh Manelski (RIP) told me that instead of rudder first to recover from the spin, this time try neutralizing the stick first "to break the stall". I will never forget the sensation of having the rate of rotation double in a half second. Lesson learned... Rudder first, stop the rotation, then un-stall the airplane.