OK, I've been flying off and on for the better part of a year, but had not officially soloed primarily due to not being able to coordinate 2 club instructors, my time, and good weather all at the same time. For the last couple of months, I have been flying on my own with an instructor either standing there holding the trainer switch, or standing close by. I had become pretty comfortable (at least I thought so) taking off, landing, flying the pattern both directions, split-"S"'s, immelmans, stall turns, loops, rolls, etc. Nothing exotic, just the basics.

Well, yesterday (quite by coincidence) I actually got the official certification to fly solo at the field. I happened to have today off work and the weather was great - so off I went to fly. Well, you can probably guess what happens next. I had been flying about 6 min as described above and decided to start practicing using the rudder in the slow roll, I rolled left and then went the wrong way with the rudder, went into a dive and couldn't get it leveld and pulled out soon enough. My trusty Avistar is totaled. (Engine and flight gear appear to have survived - but further inspection will follow...)

My question to the experts: What is a good recommended practice regiment for a beginner to work on? I think I'd do better if I had a defined schedule and sequence of maneuvers to practice starting out easier and progressing gradually as proficiency improves?

I really thought I was being careful to not let the excitement overcome rationality, but I guess I now have a much better understanding of how easy it is to lose sight of not trying to progress too quickly.

TIA for the insight to follow.

krossk,

Personally I would not do a thing different than what you are already doing. Your miles ahead of most new pilots in that you know exactly what you did. I will recommned practicing rudder turns up high before starting to add rudder into your maneuvers. To do this get up good and high and use the rudder to make the turn. Then use opposite aileron to keep the wings level throughout the turn. This is a setup for using rudder for crosswind landings, sideslips, keeping the plane stright in uplines and downlines (stall turns).

Everyone's idea of what to learn when is different, only you know what you need and are willing to admit to. It seems as though you think things through before attempting them so that's another point in your favor.

More things you may be ready for is cubans, half-cubans, reverse cubans. One thing you did not mention is inverted flight. Triners wil do it and it will require allot of work on your part to keep it level.

Ask questions here, we will be glad to help and congrats on the solo

I agree with Bubbagates,

Are you working on a simulator? When I started out with knife edges and rolls using rudder input I think I practiced it on the simulator countless times. By the time I tried it at the field, the stick movements were imprinted on my brain. Even though you are trying to do horizontal slow rolls, since you're just starting go ahead and pitch up for the roll - if you do it right, you will stay in climb at the same degree as when you entered and it might give you more time if you get crossed up again.

Definitely inverted flight as stated above. Start out with just straight and level segments of inverted flight. The more you get comfortable with it, try turning. As with anything, start out trying new things up high.

Something I have noticed also is and this just may be me - but alot of people use super low rates because the airplanes seem too responsive on higher rates and it scares them - but if they get into trouble they don't have the roll rate or the elevator to get out of trouble. As you get more time on the plane and learn its characteristics better you might want to increase the throws (not too much, just along the lines of your comfort level).

Bill,

Thanks for the encouragement. Being an engineer by trade, sometimes I think I tend to overthink things.
I've been trying to practice inverted flight on G2 and that was my ultimate goal with the real plane. I was basically trying to progress from a roll, to an axial roll, to a slow roll, to sustained inverted flight. However, your advice to concentrate on mastering each control independantly, rather than specific combinations makes a lot more sense. And obviously, one more mistake's worth of altitude won't hurt anything either!

I must be an unusual participant in this sport though, even as the plane was heading for certain destruction, I never felt like I paniked. From the very first time out, flying has always been a very relaxing outlet for me. Now it's just starting to get *really* fun too. Now I just need another plane as I really want to get some more time with the fundamentals before I christen the T2 waiting in the wings...

As a 'recently' solo'ed pilot, I find that what works for me is to consider the first flight of the day as a training flight. I just take off, do slow orbits and figure eights, and some real careful touch and go's.

I follow that up with a little more of the same for the next flight, then maybe add some real simple aerobatics.. stall turn, loop, roll (all done at high enough altitude so that I can recover). I allow my heart rate to settle down... then start working on other things.

I do this now and every time I head out, considering the first flight of the day being my first flight after solo. So far so good, although I did manage to destroy a Skylark 56 by flying it in weather conditions well beyond my capabilities.. ego got the better of me and I found out that ego never wins.

Just keep up what you are doing but perhaps do what I do, and take the first tankful or two as basic BASIC training flights and just do stuff that allows you to settle down and relax. By the time the day is done, you will be doing all sorts of things and doing them safely and probably very well. My instructor told me that all I really need to start doing, after my first couple of tankfuls.. is to start to string the maneuvers into the Sportsman pattern routine sequence. That will probably start this coming weekend.

Best of luck.

DS.

You are quite welcome. DS has some good advice also. It's not uncommon for most pilots to get a warmup flight in. I know I do, especially when I haven't flown for a while.

I fly also for fun and enjoy it allot. I do compete, but only when I feel ready. My most relaxing flying comes when I pull out my 4 star 60 grab a chair and do nothing but touch and goes with the odd stall turn, roll, or whatever I feel like doing. People at my field love it when I'm in the chair and shooting touch and goes just tank after tank. They laugh but when I bounce a landing it feels really good to hear them tell someone watching that may be new "That is not a normal landing for Bill" I judge myself by my landings and takeoffs. If they are not consistent then I am careful doing everything else. I'll slow down my flying. Sometimes ego does get the best of me and it did just the other Sunday when I planted a Cap232 because I wanted just one more tumble and my instincts said no, but my thumbs said yes and 30 seconds later we were picking up the pieces. Now my thumbs and I are not on speaking terms

One of the things that helped in full scale and I have carried into teaching students is the philosophy of having an idea of what you are going to do when you get up there. You will get to the point where you can improvise. Always have an escape plan for any manuever attempted.

Plan your flight and fly your plan. Good luck.

Ditto on what bruce said. As I was reading this thread, I was thinkng the same thing. If you are going to try a new maneuver, etc., think it out before you fly, including any recovery procedures.

I'm in the process of writing a Sport Aerobatic lesson guide with "lessons" on each manuever, tips, etc. I have the text 90% done, but no pictures yet. I could pass this on to you now if you can put up with the draft formatting and a few grammer/spelling errors. Just PM me. As for sequence, there isn't a firm order, but there is a logical order to learning some maeuvers as they build from other maneuvers. I'd offer the following order. This really isn't a difficuly order; instead it is a order of progression based on prequesite skills.

Tier 1: The Beginning - Level flight, Inside Loops, Axial Rolls, Stall Turns
Tier 2: Inverted Basis - Inverted Flight, Cuban 8, Immelmann, Splitt Ess
Tier 3: Outsides & more Inverted - Outside Loop, Square loop, Double Immelmann, Reverse Cuban 8
Tier 4: Beginner Snaps - Inside Snaps, Avalanche
Tier 5: Beginner Spins - Inside Spin, Inside Flat Spin
Tier 6: Advanced Rolling - Slow Rolls, Point Rolls, Knife Edge
Tier 7: Advanced Spins - Inverted, Inverted Flat, Wingtip Spin

John,

I would really like a copy of this for my students. If I can be of any help in getting it finished PM me

Sorry to go off topic there for a bit

In planning your escape/recovery, be sure to use maneuvers that you are familiar with. No time to learn new ones when heading for the dirt. [:@] Never give up trying until the crunch though.

Me too

I also do warm up flights. The first half of the flight i do the pattern and just fly it making it gentle and fun as possible, the second half of the flight i will do loops and rolls.

Then have fun the rest of the days..

I'm particularly interested in these 2 sections...

Could someone describe how to do snaps and spins, or point me to a website that has that info?

Thanks!

Thanks guys, I knew there would be a wealth of valuable information available for the asking.
I think the combination of warm-up flights, pre-planned objectives, and carefully regulated progression should go a long ways towards extending the life of my next plane. I've had such great experience with the Avistar, I can't see replacing it with anything else.

http://www.dmac.org.uk/

click on training on the left side, then click on aerobatics at the top and read on. These are also downloadable from the downloads area

Now THAT'S a useful web site.
Thanks!

One thing no one has mentioned is that once you start doing more maneuvers you should increase the throws on your control surfaces. If you need to recover from a botched maneuver you'll need more elevator and aileron response to save the plane. If you are interested in slow rolls and better stall turns you will undoubtedly need more rudder authority.

If you have a computer radio look into putting some exponential in so the centers are softer but you can still get that extra throw at full stick deflection.

Once you are very comfortable with your flights and want your plane to respond more quickly to the controls move the CG back a little at a time, test fly and adjust until it feels the way you want it. Only move the CG back 1/8" at a time...on some planes that will make a lot of difference and you don't want to go to far back and get that "nervous" flying plane that was described earlier in this thread.

Have fun and learn something with every flight! You'll be better in on season than some of the guys that have been flying for YEARS![8D]

I'll definitely do that this time around. I had been training on older Vangard radios because I had them and could preserve my own buddy-box with the dedicated pair. However, I have a new 8103 that I'm dying to use so I'll definitely make that transition now. The Vangards were pretty limited as the 4 ch. didn't even have dual rates so the control throws were pretty much set and left alone. I was starting to feel like I could use a little more deflection in the aileron and rudder, but didn't get far enough in the process to start adjusting them.

I think the biggest lesson I've learned from re-analyzing the incident is that when trying something new, you can never have too much altitude. I just have to remember that it's better to feel a little discomfort from not seeing it quite as clearly due to altitude than to feel a lot of discomfort from seeing the wreckage up close!

Something I like to do and like my students to do is a warm up flight as discribed. Nice easy patterns around the pattern in both directions for about 4 -5 laps then reverse them. Then go into figure 8's for a few laps . Do the figure 8's going in both directions ie starting the first turn to the right of you and turning left into the first oval of the eight, stretch the cross leg acrossed in front of you then start the right turn into the next oval making sure the cross leg is directly in front of you. Do this for a couple laps then reverse the 8, starting on the right and turning right into the oval, stretch the cross leg across in front of you and then start your left turn. NOTICE I said ovals not circles, a figure 8 is NOT 2 circles put togeather, it IS 2 ovals joined at a center point. Another NOTE here. If you check the directions of these figure 8's and do them correctly you will notice with the first one ( starting on your right turning left) that the plane NEVER comes directly at you, but when starting on the right and turning right the plane comes directly at you just before the cross over. I hope I explained this OK as it has become a very needed training tool in my instruction, I try not to let the student fly directly at themselves at first and if the 8's are done WRONG that's what will happen and increase their confussion.
Either take a small model or have someone walk a plane through these steps and I think you will be surprised.
Now that we have that down: try doing your figure 8's with the rudder until you get comfortable with the rudder. If you can do the figure 8's with the rudder you have a head start on rudder flying.
One more and I'm gone, try starting your inverted flight from the top of a loop, go into the loop and just before the top push a little down in and hold it. Each time you try this it gets a little better. WARNING when learning to fly inverted ALWAYS roll out, don't pull out. By pulling out you have to much chance of miss judging you alttitude

Sorry about the length but I hope some of this will help someone. Check it out, it works. ENJOY !!!!! RED