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I needed one more instrument approach and a few turns in a hold to stay current for my instrument rating, so I reserved an hour and a half today to go up with my instructor, but since one approach doesn't take an hour and a half and my instructor is also the aerobatic instructor... we did a little upside-down flying too.

We flew a Cessna 152 Aerobat (the beefier, aerobatic version of the regular 152) for an introductory lesson to aerobatics for almost an hour today, and I must say, I've really never had that much fun while flying.  We started off by strapping on parachutes and I got the quick "pull this ring to open the door, pull this one to open the parachute" lecture and we crammed ourselves into the Aerobat.  This was the first time I had flown a 152, and at 6'5", I'm glad I did all of my prior training in 172s.  I felt like I was smashed into a go-kart, but everything fit and all the controls were clear and the belts were tight so we were good to go.  

We started out with a few aileron rolls to get things going.  That's the first time I've been upside down in an airplane, or anything for that matter and after almost 200 hours of trying to hold my altitude within 20 ft and airspeed within 3 kts and so on, this went against everything I've learned while flying.  I've never been past 60

Such a shame nobody else responded to such a marvelous post!

Thats really great you enjoyed your first taste of TRUE freedom!  All my life all I ever wanted to do was fly an airplane upside down.  250 hours an PPL and instrument rating later that dream finally came true.  And nothing felt more natural in the world!

I'm doing my training in a Decathlon and always wondered what it'd be like in one of those aerobats.  Do they have inverted fuel/oil systems or are they like the Citabria?

I found that a little application of rudder while your moving the stick (or yoke in your case) in the direction of the roll makes things go a bit smoother, then back to neutral.

Also when (if you decide to do more areobatic training) you go on to the slow rolls those will completely rock your world, trying to coordinate rudder throughout the maneuver.  Too much and your roll rate nearly stops! haha

As for dizzy, only time that's effected me is when we did an 8-turn spin one time.  

Anyway, keep on enjoying your flying!  :)

Yeah, loops and rolls are such great fun!

http://www.simviation.com/yabbuploads/F1000002.JPG

The next step is doing it in a warbird.

Holy Moly !

Ahhh jeez, I forgot about this post.

It was loads of fun.  I just went again this past Friday for my second lesson and it was loads of fun too!

We started off with rolls and loops again, then moved on to Immelmans and spins, and it just keeps getting better.  It's a little difficult to do some of the maneuvers in the Aerobat because I'm 6"5" and the Aerobat is not, so my shins get a little scraped up when I use the rudder pedals, but it works out in the end.  I really enjoyed the Immelman the most.  It's really a strange feeling though.  You start off going in one direction then just a few seconds later, you have a 4.5 G pull and you're going in the opposite direction.  Although, if you're not coordinated through the roll, you don't always end up going exactly 180

That's great you went up again.  Are you doing this for part of a spin/stall awareness course or just for the pleasure of aerobatics?  

Those Immelmans can be rather tricky.  Just remember that when you're pitching up the nose tends to yaw to the right.  (Remember UpRight)  If you don't use the rudder things can get way off fast, not even to mention the 1/2 slow roll over the top.

On my first flight my instructor had me start out doing something he called a "falling leaf" where we slowed the aircraft up and gently entered a stall and just kept the stick all the way back and actually flew the aircraft in the stall using rudder.  It was quite impressive how the aircraft reacted and how nicely it flew.  It really made the whole stall thing much less scarry, even though we were dropping like a rock.  Even then I was able to do precise 90 and 180 degree turns.  

Doing the actual spin, however, requires a bit of an aggressive pull to fully enter the spin.  Get the aircraft right to buffetting then jerk the stick all the way back to the stop, stomp left (or right) rudder and count off your 1/2 rotations, initiate recovery about 1/4 turn before your desired heading and you're already on your way to mastering competition spins!  The key to entering the spins is that aggressive pull to initiate things.  The nose will pitch way up for a second and once that rudder is in the fun will begin.

Another interesting thing about the spin is how stable it is.  If you let go of all controls a good 2 turns into it the aircraft will sit exactally where you left it.

This is mostly for fun, and building up my tolerance for potential future employment.


I'm looking forward to trying more spins next friday.

Hammerheads.

Nuff said.

Not sure how I missed this thread, but look at you, getting upside-down, etc! Not sure how you got into a 152 without kneeling in the baggage compartment and leaning over the seat... they're not exactly roomy.


I enjoyed my only aerobatic lesson so far, but often wish it had been a 152 Aerobat, even though the Zlin was awesome. There's just something crazy about the idea of doing aerobatics in a 152...

I didn't get to do some of the stuff you described, but I did recently get to try a falling leaf, in a J3. That is the best rudder-coordination exercise I've ever seen, and lots of fun as well as useful.
Some pilots think that any maneuvers that require a parachute- just in case- are dangerous, but in the end it all makes you a safer pilot, I think.

Looks like fun!!  

Speaking of parachutes, our next chapter club meeting will be with a guy who manufactures parachutes for aerobatic pilots for an annual seminar.  He'll go through maintenance, proper care, and proper egress situations for different aerobatic aircraft.  I'm quite excited!  And hopefully our chapter president has his Yak-55 in working order again... magnificant looking machine!  One half is jet-black while the other side is fire engine red!  

So you got a chute stripped on, without any prior training? Your quite lucky you didnt need to use it!

So you got a chute stripped on, without any prior training? Your quite lucky you didnt need to use it!

You're kidding, right?   :-?

How did you infer that from me stating I'm attending a seminar from a guy who manufactures parachutes?

Well, that is what he said:

e started off by strapping on parachutes and I got the quick "pull this ring to open the door, pull this one to open the parachute" lecture and we crammed ourselves into the Aerobat.

So you got a chute stripped on, without any prior training? Your quite lucky you didnt need to use it!

There's not much to using these.  If you're falling out of the sky without an airplane, there is one ring to pull, and if you pull it, you will fall slower - the choice is up to you.  Don't worry, if anything does happen, I was fully briefed on the correct procedures for drastically reducing the chances of my killing myself.