gus
Posts: 494
Joined: 1/6/2003 From: Toronto, ON, CANADA Status: offline
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So I was trying to get my trainer to do inverted outside loops. Get it inverted, then push forward on the elevator stick, and it would loop up through about 80deg, then run out of steam, stall, and fall back. The OS46la with master airscrew just could not ooomph it over the crest. Anyway, I had been trying and trying and trying, and came back down for fuel. I was pretty forlorn that "my plane just couldn't do it". Well, I happened to absolutely grease the landing. Not really intentional, but it came in really smooth, kissed the grass, and rolled out really straight. The chief instructor at our club was watching, and since I only had my wings for a month or so, he says 'My god, with a landing like that, you should be able to do the loop...", so I put the trainer nose-into-the-wind, powered up, and had a beautiful takeoff. When I had good airspeed, I rolled inverted, and pulled back on the elevator. Man, did that trainer do a beautiful loop right in to a bush. The chief instructor turns to me and says, "Well if that's what you wanted to do, you should have done it with more altitude...." Anyways, for what it's worth, I had only minor damage, three broken ribs in one wing, and a few monokote punctures. I patched it up and was flying in two days. The next time out I swapped the 11x6 Master AirScrew on the 46LA with an APC 11x6, and the trainer has been outside looping ever since. gus
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... if only... ?
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