Interesting lesson I learned the other day...

[Boss_BlueAngels]

Flight four is under my belt now and I have a total of 4.7 hours of aerobatic training.  This last flight was mostly review as I only added 2 maneuvers to my repertoire, the reverse half cuban and the hammer-head!  

The spins were great, up until I managed to unfasten my Hooker Harness during recovery!  I was wearing a long sleeve button-down shirt since I headed out to the airport right after work.  When I put the stick in my lap to enter the spin I managed to get the little button hole thingy (ya know how they have that stupid slit that goes like 1/2 way up your forearm that you button at the cuff?)  in the sleve around BOTH fasteners... 2 spins later I moved the stick full forward and, "Ka-Chink-Ka-Chink!"  followed immediately by a very quick recovery to level flight (after I landed back in the seat), a "what was that?" from the back, and a "what the crap?" from myself, then slight fear after I realized what happened. lol  You may ask yourself, "isn't a spin a positive G maneuver?"  Yup, it sure is!  Unless you're doing competition spins (which I was) where you have to establish a vertical downline prior to recovery, which requires significant nose-down to get to that point! lol

When I first felt the resistance (fraction of a second) and then heard the sound of the harness releasing the first thing that ran through my head was something blocking a control cable someplace, causing my immediate reaction to recover the aircraf to straight and level and forget the vertical downline.  I added power right away got that nose up and leveld off before I realized what happened.  My instructor later mentioned, "Oh, that's why your head wet up so high" when I told him what had happened.  

In the end I think that qualified as the quickest spin recover to date!  I only lost about 600 feet on that 2-turn spin! haha

So I learned my lesson.... nothing with holes in the sleeves when I'm flying aerobatics.  

[OVERLORD_CHRIS]

Well that is pretty cool what you are doing, but sux what happened. at least you are ok and you had fast reaction. How hard is it to switch to the restraint that twist off? Or would that be to heavy for what you do?

[beaky]

How hard is it to switch to the restraint that twist off? Or would that be to heavy for what you do?

Probably a lot harder (and more expensive) than not wearing shirts with button cuffs.

[OVERLORD_CHRIS]

I keep forgetting that the government can get what ever they want. but I was thinking like what a normal jumbo jet might use.

[beaky]

The best harness fasteners for aerobatics (where you might need to exit the aircraft in a hurry) are the kind with a push-button type release- you slap it with your hand and you're free. But it's impossible to hook anything on it and inadvertently release it. I can't find a picture of one, but I did see it in the Zlin in which I once did an aerobatic lesson.