Sportsman 2021 Known

volvo164

Laszlo
Joined
Nov 18, 2019
Messages
155
Still working on perfecting my half roll in the half cuban as well. Still dishing out , but now just a bit. Really need to push the stick forward with the flat bottomed wings. I also keep forgetting to put in a bit of opposite rudder in the beginning (i.e. right rudder) to swing the nose a bit to the left (right side up).
 

Big Ed

N50247 - '79 Super D
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Jul 20, 2020
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Yep, flew practice sessions on Saturday and Sunday to focus on Cubans. Probably knocked out about 50 total. My learning points:

- gotta have a gauge to set that inverted 45 with any degree of consistency
- I set the 45 then look forward to pick a spot on the ground to roll around.
- Greg Koontz said the most common error is not leading with right rudder when starting the roll. That's tricky because you gotta get off the rudder well before knife edge or it will steepen your dive angle. In a half roll you can feed in top rudder as you go through knife edge. For a 2 point half roll you need to wait until you start the 2nd point, I think.
- There is a lot of stuff going on really quickly. I found that rehearsing where to look is key. For instance, after rolling upright and setting wings level, your eyes have to hit the airspeed indicator. I found if my airspeed is approaching yellow but not there yet, an aggressive pull to 3.5G will instantly stop the speed buildup.
 

volvo164

Laszlo
Joined
Nov 18, 2019
Messages
155
Yep, flew practice sessions on Saturday and Sunday to focus on Cubans. Probably knocked out about 50 total.
Wow - 50 - are you doing these as full Cubans, or doing that seesaw thing (45 degree climb, roll inverted, 45 degree descent, roll up right, repeat). I've not tried these yet, actually haven't tried rolling in a climb yet, although one issue I foresee if quickly moving out of a practice area.
 

Big Ed

N50247 - '79 Super D
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Wow - 50 - are you doing these as full Cubans, or doing that seesaw thing (45 degree climb, roll inverted, 45 degree descent, roll up right, repeat). I've not tried these yet, actually haven't tried rolling in a climb yet, although one issue I foresee if quickly moving out of a practice area.
,
Full half Cubans. I usually do sets of 10 to replicate a contest sequence, with a short climbing break between each set. My tolerance has usually been two sets, though I have noticed recently that my tolerance increases significantly when I fly several days in a row. I flew Fri, Sat, and Sun, and on the last session I barely even noticed the physical cues of pulling 4G.

Inverted negative 1G puts me immediately into the toilet though, so slow rolls are the last thing I do.
 

Bob Turner

Well-known member
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Apr 4, 2018
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I am the opposite. I won't go near the last part of a loop, but the first thing I do is roll inverted and wiggle my wings. Six to 8 slow rolls and I am quisinart.
 

Big Ed

N50247 - '79 Super D
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Went out and did the full sequence today for the first time. No problems at all with altitude. I started at 4K and finished at 3300.

Now I just have to keep working on subtle things. Mostly rudder work. Does anyone need rudder floating over the top of loops?
 

volvo164

Laszlo
Joined
Nov 18, 2019
Messages
155
Went out and did the full sequence today for the first time. No problems at all with altitude. I started at 4K and finished at 3300.

Now I just have to keep working on subtle things. Mostly rudder work. Does anyone need rudder floating over the top of loops?
Not that I'm consciously aware of
 

Big Ed

N50247 - '79 Super D
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The Humpty is easy to fly, but hard to fly well. Going to take a lot of practice to get the rudder correct on the last 45 degrees of the half loop at top.

The more I practice the Cuban 8, the more I get comfortable with an aggressive initiation of the pullout from 45. Loop over the top, set the 45, count 2K, roll upright, count 1K, then look at the airspeed and pull firmly right as airspeed hits the top of the green at 160mph. If you load it up to 4G, airspeed will peg just shy of the yellow. If you try to be overly smooth, speed will keep building to 180mph.

The sequence is nicely designed. All of the maneuvers that require extra entry speed are after Cubans, where I tend to exit with extra speed. Immelmann, Shark's Tooth, and Humpty all fly better with 160mph entry.

I still can't wrap my head around the lack of a wind correction maneuver. If there is a significant crosswind component on contest day, some planning will be necessary to enter the box at a point allowing for sideways drift.

The 45 down into a Cuban after the Immelmann is fun. The temptation is to gradually nose down and let gravity do the work, but I think an aggressive push to -1G will get a better score. That is probably the teaching point. Have to concentrate not to ease off as you get close to 45 down.

I hope to practice every day between now and the contest on 6 November. Right now my practice sessions are fly the sequence once, then identify a few maneuvers where I need trouble and fly each of those 4 or 5 times, for a total of 20-25 maneuvers per flight. As my tolerance builds, I might get to the point where I fly the full sequence twice, with a few practice maneuvers on trouble spots in between.
 

Big Ed

N50247 - '79 Super D
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Another great session. I found if I chop off the roll at the end, the first 7 maneuvers do not fatigue me at all. I did 3 sets of the first 7 today, then several rolls to work on that a bit. I felt great at the end, and even considered doing a 4th set. Flying every day for a week really builds up the G tolerance. I barely even feel 4G now.

Altitude loss is definitely not an issue. Today I moved my starting altitude down to 2500, and I still never went below 2000. On most of the sequences I finished at 2200 or 2300. Lot of vertical in that sequence to milk. Turns out if you come out of the Cubans fast, you go back up fast. :)
 

Big Ed

N50247 - '79 Super D
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Jul 20, 2020
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Bah! Sebring contest was a weather scratch. Nasty low/high boundary parked itself on the middle of the state for 2 full days. Bizzare weather for Florida, which is CAVU about 99% of the time in November.

I did get 2 practice flights in the marked box, one with ground critique, so that was helpful. Both were in very high winds, so was good practice on positioning and presentation.

Looking forward to release of the 2022 proposed sequences later this month.

I did get to know the southeast regional director for the IAC, and we discussed the contest schedule for 2022. If all come to fruition, looks like at least 5 contests in Florida or Georgia next year. I plan to fly all 3 in the spring, and if competitive, I might make a decision to enter the Nationals in Salina, KS next October.
 
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Bartman

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Mar 27, 2018
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Ed! We were rooting for you, it sucks the weather forced them to cancel!

Next year's another year, hopefully we'll all be out there bringing honor to the breed. :yesss: