Lecomber's Spin

[Flying Ant]

By the way djparco, I recently bought a copy of Gene Beggs' "Spinning the Pitts". Really nicely written and easy to read. Should come free with a Pitts checkout... well maybe not but a worthwhile addition to the collection.

 

One question, my Pitts has a very high rotation rate in an inverted Spin. It recovers very easily... Not sure why.... could it be;

 

Forward C of G? (don't think so)

 

Larger Ailerons? (maybe if the pilot made an inadvertent input)

 

Control rigging? (I downloaded a copy of the S1S type certificate and measured the elevator and rudder deflections... spot on)

 

Arms too short and coming back with the stick a bit? (possibly, I was observing from the ground and the guy flying is pretty short)

 

Any other factors that increase rotation rate in an inverted spin?

 

 

[djpacro]

Ant, another factor - does it have a bigger rudder?

 

What did the pilot say about it? "very high rotation rate" - compared to what?

 

 

[Flying Ant]

Yes, check out my website and see the photos. The rudder is larger than stock, I guess that would make it spin faster with a larger rudder holding it in the spin.

 

The pilot claimed that he did not do anything different from inverted spinning any other Pitts but it was a significantly faster rotation. Can't give an objective rate of turn but from my observation from the ground it did seem a lot faster than other Pitts I've observed inverted spinning in comps. It also seemed to wind up faster i.e. there wasn't much of an incipient phase.

 

 

[djpacro]

I should've mentioned wing rigging too as a factor. I've seen something like that before with an S-2B.

 

Perhaps you'll get more definitive info from the Pitts forum from some-one who has made these sort of changes himself.