Safe Maneuvering Flight (Low Level) Techniques

[Contact Flying]

In 17,000 hours flying/teaching Army helicopters nape of the earth, crop dusters at one meter, and pipeline patrol C-172 at 150 meters, I have come up with some techniques that have saved my life more than once and have been useful to my students. I wrote a paperback text, Contact Flying complete with war stories to illustrate need and Safe Maneuvering Flight Techniques covering just the techniques. I am retired so feel free to ask questions, make comments, or critique the techniques. I am not real good with computers so rattle my cage if I don't answer right away. Help me get to the right place here.

 

SAFE MANEUVERING FLIGHT TECHNIQUES PDF.pdf

 

SAFE MANEUVERING FLIGHT TECHNIQUES PDF.pdf

 

SAFE MANEUVERING FLIGHT TECHNIQUES PDF.pdf

[Head in the clouds]

Welcome to recreationalflying Jim, and may I be the first to say a very big thank you for so generously providing your 'Techniques' book for the benefit of us all.

 

I have saved it as an ebook on my smartphone so will be able to digest it whenever I have a spare moment.

 

And sounds like you've had a fun aviation career!

 

EDIT - Aargh, I see you also posted it elsewhere and I wasn't the first ... but the big thank you still applies!

 

 

[Jabba jenny]

In 17,000 hours flying/teaching Army helicopters nape of the earth, crop dusters at one meter, and pipeline patrol C-172 at 150 meters, I have come up with some techniques that have saved my life more than once and have been useful to my students. I wrote a paperback text, Contact Flying complete with war stories to illustrate need and Safe Maneuvering Flight Techniques covering just the techniques. I am retired so feel free to ask questions, make comments, or critique the techniques. I am not real good with computers so rattle my cage if I don't answer right away. Help me get to the right place here.

Fantastic!! Thanks very much, so much info. I've started on it already.

 

 

[Kamloops]

Thanks for writing that up.

 

Oneday when i have more experience I may write my thoughts down for others to read.

 

First off though I know that my learning is not done.

 

At 500 hours I thought I knew lots about flying.

 

Then at 5000 hours I figured I was damn good.

 

Now with almost 22k in rotary....and just over 4500 in fixed wing....I am not sure if I know a damn thing.

 

Experience has taught me I have a lot left to learn.

 

 

[Contact Flying]

Kamloops,

 

Write it down. We don't know when our time is up. As a young Air Cav pilot, I was shot down single ship without getting a call off. Wounded and three hours in the jungle. Chances go below 50/50 after twenty minutes. I knew God had given me a second chance and I tried to do something with it.

 

Contact

 

 

[IBob]

Thank you, Jim. I am one of the huge and growing number of mature students. I have no hope of achieving the smallest fraction of your hours, but I love what I'm doing. And I want to understand, so far as I can, how best to do this thing. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

 

 

[Contact Flying]

IBob,

 

Everything I know is in the e-book, but I'm more of a talker than writer. I thrive on questions, comments, and yes even criticism. No medical, no license, no money, no airplane. From time to time I get to ride with a young Backcountrypilot.org guy here. As always, I could be wrong.

 

Jim

 

 

[IBob]

Jim, I'm at the sit quiet and watch and listen stage...and likely to be for a very long time. I am fortunate to have an instructor of real ability and very broad aviation experience who is relaxed enough to let me make a few of my own mistakes and comfortable to let me take my time. And i fly in unrestricted airspace with very little traffic in a lovely country. What more could one ask?

 

I am starting the build on my own Savannah S shortly, chosen because bush is the sort of flying I wish to do. So I have a real interest in what you term 'contact flying'.

 

I wonder, reading the strongly held and sometimes opposed views in places like this (for instance, the ongoing threads regarding rudder) how much of the disagreement may be because different aircraft behave quite differently.

 

And that leads to something else again: the vast majority of aviation veterans almost certainly did the bulk of their flying in machines that are quite different to the microlights now commonly used for training. Which is not to say that the same principals do not apply, but that perhaps we need to be open to ongoing change in the ways those principals are applied.

 

I am not suggesting that you are stuck in your ideas, quite the contrary, but a certain amount of the heat and noise here seems to take the form of all transmission and no reception.

 

 

[Contact Flying]

IBob,

 

You make a good point. I am on much shakier ground here than in the states, where the vast majority of airplanes were built long ago to very high standards of controlability.

 

You would likely like Backcountrypilot.org. I am contactflying there and even the homebuilds are to high control standards. Your Savannah is a popular airplane there.

 

For those flying airplanes that have poor stability and are controlled in unconventional ways, just ignore the crazy old crop duster.

 

Contact

 

 

[facthunter]

The big 3 and the EAA gave your light aircraft movement a good base Jim. Most of those older aircraft fly conventionally and well. We call flying an overloaded aeroplane , or an inadequate one on one engine "milking the mouse". Nev

 

 

[IBob]

Hi Jim, I think I lost myself a bit in that last post: it was not a criticism, and certainly not directed at you. I was more trying to make some sense of why flyers on sites like this seem to have such strongly held opposing views in some areas. Sure you're always going to get that, with egos and 'experts' in the mix, but I was thinking that maybe some of the confusion comes from trying to make blanket 'rules', when in fact something that would be a really bad idea in one type of aircraft may work fine in another.

 

As for aircraft types in the US: I think you'll find we have pretty much the same or similar mix of aircraft here. And I'm in New Zealand where there is a long history of topdressing (application of fertiliser solids, often to hill country).

 

 

[Contact Flying]

I am running into aerodynamics problems on Thu other threads. I know all of these techniques work because I have used and taught them for so long. For those working low every second of every flight, they are essential. They are more energy efficient than what is taught in the normal flight program in my country. My concern is that my lack of aeronautical engineering experience and the several types of airplanes involved here will detract from my effort to make safe maneuvering flight techniques available there.

 

 

[djpacro]

It takes a bit of effort to engage in technical debate online, esp discussing aerodynamics at pilot level. I recall a long (perhaps esoteric) argument here about boundary layers with a mechanical engineer (so background in different textbooks) and it seemed to me that he hadn't encountered the term momentum thickness which we used in airfoil design. And don't mention Bernoulli!

 

Suggest that you find a young lad with a Flight Simulator and get him to run through some flight exercises and compare the energy states.

 

Or ask Matt Hall to explain how he turns to win a Red Bull race.

 

 

[Contact Flying]

Does the simulator know more about what I have done than my memory of it?

 

 

[planesmaker]

I have just read your booklet. Took me a little while to understand some of your terminology, very interesting, and I definitely learnt somethings I was not aware of. Thanks for posting.

 

 

[djpacro]

A simulator can provide an easy demo of performance comparisons for people to see for themselves.

 

 

[facthunter]

Some simulators are quite accurate with these things. To be any good at all energy would have to be included in it's database. Without motion, it doesn't matter except you lose the seat of the pants feel, which is never dead accurate anyhow. Pylon racing would be very much an activity where what we are talking of here would be critical. Nev.

 

 

[Contact Flying]

Tremendous excess engine thrust for climb replaces the lift lost in bank. What is traded off is radius of turn. The slower we go, the faster (rate) we turn and the shorter the radius. Motorcycle guys and crop dusters know this. If the pylons were close enough, a J-3 Cub with a 65 hp Continental engine could beat Bearcats and Mustangs. I would think there would be more energy management yo-yo in the turns, but I am not familiar with the courses. Is there an altitude restriction?

 

 

[Contact Flying]

djpacro,

 

Why not just observe a crop duster getting back into the paddock fifty feat distant from where he left from in sixteen seconds with a decent load. I have never seen a level, altitude maintaining, energy inefficant turn do that.

 

Contact

 

 

[facthunter]

The motors get a hard time Jim, I think they are far from standard with a short life, and where you go through the Pylons steeply banked often is not far off the water. I'm no expert in it, but it's quick reaction stuff. Time and accuracy wins. Nev

 

 

[Jabba jenny]

Hi Jim,

 

About halfway thru your book. As I'm still very low hours, I'd like clarification of some points.

 

My Jabiru is very twitchy and on final and i dislike getting too slow because the controls get a bit mushy. Rudder still responds well, so l feel I should use more rudder on final rather than trying to coordinate with ailerons. Maybe i should practice more rudder useage when slow?

 

Also, can you use too much rudder to get into or out of a turn? In a descending turn, say base to final, if turn starts to tighten too much, its ok to use plenty of rudder to straighten up? Dumb questions, and its pretty much what I do now, just my heart rate always goes up a bit extra when low and slow and turning.

 

 

[aro]

Also, can you use too much rudder to get into or out of a turn? In a descending turn, say base to final, if turn starts to tighten too much, its ok to use plenty of rudder to straighten up? Dumb questions, and its pretty much what I do now, just my heart rate always goes up a bit extra when low and slow and turning.

Rudder to get into a turn is a very bad thing when slow. Rudder to straighten slightly is not so bad (it effectively results in a sideslip) but aileron is the correct control for getting into and out of turns. Get used to the feel at the correct approach speed for the Jabiru, even if it's sloppy.

 

I think (hope!) the discussion about steering with rudder is referring to small heading corrections when you are on final and travelling in an essentially straight line, not for turns e.g. base to final.

 

 

[Jabba jenny]

Another dumb question - why is it such a bad thing at slow speeds? I get the sthe slideslip bit, and am not referring to turns using only rudder, but I do use rudder predominantly on final , even when I need to turn a fair bit to keep lined up. Is that really bad? Appreciate all info. Thanks

 

 

[aro]

Another dumb question - why is it such a bad thing at slow speeds? I get the sthe slideslip bit, and am not referring to turns using only rudder, but I do use rudder predominantly on final , even when I need to turn a fair bit to keep lined up. Is that really bad? Appreciate all info. Thanks

If you stall while uncoordinated, one wing is likely to stall more than the other causing the aircraft to roll. If you have rudder against the turn most aircraft will roll towards level. If you have rudder into the turn, the aircraft is likely to roll further and drop the nose into an incipient spin with much greater height loss.

 

The classic trap is that people fear too much bank on the turn to final, and instead of banking they attempt to hurry the turn with rudder and elevator. This sets up a potential stall-spin.

 

It is better to add more bank, stay coordinated, and allow the nose to drop to maintain speed if you need to tighten the turn. You do need to use rudder more when slow, but it should be to maintain coordination with the ailerons, not as a primary control.

 

I would recommend asking your instructor to show you some stalls in a turn at a safe height, coordinated and with inside and outside rudder to see the difference.

 

 

[Jabba jenny]

Thanks Aro,

 

Really appreciate info. Must admit, when i did stall training I probably didn't take it all in, very steep learning curve at that stage. Good idea to do more trainng. Funny how you never think of questions when the instructor is there, it's always at a later stage when you do something or read something and then you try to remember what and why.