Hi All,

Just a thought I had after practice on Sunday that I wanted to throw out there to get people's responses: I was drawing a half-reverse Cuban eight on a piece of transparency to help with my visualization of the maneuver when I realized that it's actually a very difficult maneuver to pull off perfectly because of one thing - It is the loop segments (1/8th, and 5/8th loop) that dictates the length of the straight line (45 degrees) segment. In executing the move though, when a pilot is "drawing" the straight line segment, he/she's only pulled the 1/8th loop! So the pilot has to be very clear in their mind about the size (radius) of the major loop segment (5/8th), to establish the right length of the 45 degree line, and the only real visual clue he/she has is this short 1/8th loop done right at the beginning! Now technically, this is because the AMA book says under "Description of Maneuvers", "...All maneuvers which contain more than one (1) loop or contain partial loops should maintain a constant radius for the looping portions of the maneuver.." So if the 1/8th and 5/8th loops are to have the same radius and for the entry/exit altitude to match, the straight line segment can only be a certain length. Of course, this is only the case for those of us trying to keep the entry/exit altitudes the same (as in Sportsman - not a requirement in other instances).

Any thoughts, anyone?

Cheers,
Ken