Bendigo and some aerobatics

[Matt]

After a much talked about break from flying it's now time to start racking the hours (and trip reports!) up again.

 

This weekend Kaz and I were moving houses again (a long and not very entertaining trip report!) to our new base at Sunbury and weren't sure whether the pile of boxes needing to be unpacked and the dodgy Melbourne weather would prevent some much needed airtime. Thankfully the gods (Kaz and the weather) were on side and we decided to spend some time on Sunday exploring some of the local scenery around Sunbury and Gisborne, as well as pop up to Bendigo for a quick visit and to get some fuel.

 

Under grey skies (it is Melbourne after all!) a glance towards Mt Macedon from the field confirmed we had sufficient headroom to get airborne - if you can see the top of the mountain, you've got just over 2000' ground clearance. We departed Penfield and tracked towards Gisborne making sure I didn't climb up into the CTA step which is 1300' above Penfield. We did a quick orbit of Gisborne and took a few pictures of our block of land and then headed towards Kyneton then on to Bendigo.

 

Inbound to Bendigo we hear a couple of Nanchangs departing for some formation "adventure" flying and make sure we keep in touch to ensure separation - very difficult to see a dark green Nanchang against a dark green background - and it wasn't until they were above the horizon that we actually got them sighted. We join crosswind for an uneventful landing and roll up to the bowser for some sticker shock - $1.74 per litre for AVGAS. Methinks the locals make their money from fuel surcharge which is why they don't charge a landing fee!

 

Anyway, after refueling we wander off to find somewhere to defuel ourselves. On our return we're greeted by a couple of friendly locals in Ray and Lawry. Ray runs the recreational flying school there and Lawry is a keen flyer (and talker!) with a Tiger Moth, an Auster rebuild project and what sounds like a squadron of other bits and pieces. Ray kindly offers us a cuppa and a chocolate and we spend a few hours chatting about various incidents which have occured at Bendigo and generally everything flying related. Thanks Ray and Lawry, we appreciated the hospitality and we'll definitely drop in for a cuppa and a chat next time we're up Bendigo way...recommend it to anyone else heading up that way too :thumb_up:

 

Time to head back as we were planning on meeting up with another new friend on our return to Penfield.

 

On return to Penfield we meet up with a new friend Chris Oborn. Not sure if I've told the story anywhere here before but we met Chris about a month back as he was eyeing off our new block of land. As we start chatting I discover Chris is also keen aviator looking for a block big enough for a shed big enough to build an RV8...also turn out he's just started as a Captain with Jetstar having just returned from 7 years in Hong Kong flying 747's with Lion Air and was an Air Force pilot (mostly instructing) for 12 years before that. He was keen to hear that we have a CT4 and even more keen when I asked if he'd be interested in going for a fly together one day.

 

Well that day was yesterday, initially Chris thought he'd just walk around, kick the tyres, smell the interior and remember the good old days. When I said, "well get in and lets go", he was like a 3 year old being offered a new toy. We started off just heading out towards Melton into clearer air and after a few minutes of rattling off performance specs, attitudes, airspeeds, power settings and checklists without pausing we agreed that some things you just never forget. It had been 15 years since he'd flown a CT4 and had flown everything from Macchis, PC9s, Falcon VIP jets, 747s, A320s amongst a list of others but everything came flooding back...it was time for some fun!

 

How about an introduction to aerobatics he asks? Absolutely! So we headed down to the training area and the aerobatics box at Point Cook and proceeded to show me what a CT4 can really do. We started with steep turns (to 90 degrees), accelerated / powered stalls, wing overs - military style - to get used to speeds, attitudes and control inputs, then into rolling maneuvers - aileron and barrel rolls before getting into loops and then stringing sequences together. It would have to be some of the most enjoyable flying I have ever experienced. After an hour or so the cloud base was getting a bit too low for safety margin and we head back to Penfield, chatting all the way back about how much fun it was, how he missed "pure" flying like that after years behind the "desk" of an airliner. He has kindly volunteered his time to teach and get me endorsed for each aerobatic maneuver the CT4 is capable of as well as formation flying and more than likely Night and IFR ratings in the future...need to get the CT4 IFR rated ;). Curious about my performance from someone with Chris' experience I asked for feedback on my flying in all aspects and was pretty happy to hear that my overall flying skills and airmanship were of a high standard for a private pilot with the frequency of flying I do (about 125 hours per year) and that "he'd seen plenty of people fly a CT4 worse who are now flying Hornets"...

 

We've had the CT4 for about 11 months now and I've got about 120 hours on type. After yesterday's flight I have an even greater appreciation for both my and my aircraft's capabilities. I haven't had the opportunity to fly with anyone who has so much experience on the type and felt very comfortable exploring the boundaries of my skills and the aircraft - I'm confident we haven't come close to the latter yet!

 

To say that I'm looking forward to my next lesson is an understatement...:big_grin:

 

Oh yeah - no pictures this time...was kinda busy! Will have video next time, gotta record my progress!

 

 

[slartibartfast]

Sounds awesome Matt. Well done.

 

Serendipity is a wonderful thing. Bumping into someone who can take you just where you want go. What are the odds?

 

Douglams Adams invented a holistic detective named Dirk Gently who said that when he wanted to go somewhere, he picked a car that looked like it knew where it was going and followed it. He found that he almost never got to where he wanted to go, but almost always got to where he needed to be.

 

Good luck with the aerobatic training.

 

Ross

 

 

[Mazda]

Great news Matt, about time you did some aeros and formation!

 

(But if you had stayed a bit closer maybe you could have done some flying up here with someone who flew things a bit more interesting than Macchis! ;))

 

 

[Adrian Lewer]

hi matt, i was up at sunbury on the weekend, was that your CT4 on the apron ? nice little gigger.... much nicer to fly than the fat thing (no offence to 175 owners :) ) next to it i should imagine. we will be back this weekend for the mini flyin.

 

 

[Matt]

Hi Ferret, yep that's our CT4 and the fat thing (175) belongs to our mate Phil. We'll be at Penfield on Saturday for the fly in - if you do come along, be sure to find us and say hi.

 

Cheers,

 

Matt.

 

 

[planedriver]

Thats awesome Matt.

 

I certainly got a buzz just reading about it.

 

Looking forward to your next post.

 

What a great oportunity to learn more under such skilful guidence.

 

Your poor old CF4 probably wondered who was cracking the whip making it do manouveres is had'nt had to do for quite some time, but probably enjoyed every bit of it.

 

Keep us posted.

 

Rgds

 

Alan

 

 

[Matt]

hi Alan, it sure is awesome.

 

Since that initial session we've now gone into a more formal training approach using the Air Force mass briefings (training syllabus) for the CT4.

 

Session 1 was an overview of all the basic manoeuvers the CT4 is approved for which included aileron rolls, slow rolls, barrel rolls, loops, stall turns, roll off the top and spins.

 

Session 2 we started with the basics of unusual attitude recovery (a must for everyone - regularly!), inverted flight and aileron rolls to get used to the sensations and attitudes of flying other than straight and level.

 

Session 3 we then progressed to barrel rolls, loops, stall turns and slow rolls using the attitudes learnt in the previous session as a basis i.e. the attitude to maintain inverted straight and level flight is the target attitude for the halfway point of your slow roll. The slow roll is challenging to do and very challenging to do well as the control inputs are full, crossed at times and in a low powered aircraft with high drag the nose attitudes required during the inverted and wings vertical components are quite high requiring a lot of control input. I found getting used to stall turns a bit of a challenge as well, the control inputs as you slow to 0 airspeed and 0 G at the top require some finesse and coordination or you end up practising your unusual attitude recovery...hence the reason for that component at the start.

 

Session 4 we consolidated everything learnt so far, making sure that all manoeuvers were consistent to the left and right, applying airmanship principles etc. We then had a look at the roll off the top which requires high airspeed and G application (175KIAS and 4.5G) to ensure you're at an appropriate airspeed at the top of the loop to roll upright...or once again you'll be practising those U/A recoveries. Before finishing the session we looked at incipent spin entry and recovery...I must admit to being a bit apprehensive when it came to spins. I'd only experienced them twice before - in a Tiger Moth and a Yak52 with little communication from the pilot at the time about what he was doing and what would happen - I like to be well informed about what's going to happen! I had also heard and read tales about the spin characteristics of the CT4...to the point that one of the aerobatic training books I have states that the "CT4 was restricted from spinning"...I can tell you there's a couple of thousand Air Force, Army and Navy pilots (and now me) who would suggest otherwise. After the initial demonstration I was somewhat underwhelmed by the aircraft behaviour and how effective and efficient the recovery technique is...and after a couple I was pretty comfortable with entering and recovering myself.

 

I must say I'm looking forward to our next session this weekend. As I mentioned before, with each session I grow more confident with my abilities and by fully exploring the boundaries of my aircraft's performance envelope I am becoming more confident with the aircraft and knowing that it won't bite if I do certain things, it will bite if I do certain things and what to do when it bites.

 

For those used to plodding around straight and level, uncomfortable with anything more than a 60 degree angle of bank or apprehensive about recovering from unusual attitudes, spins, stalls, flying at high angle of attack - go find yourself a good aerobatics school and have a few lessons. I would recommend it to everyone, even if you're not interested in ever doing aerobatics, it's a great way to gain confidence and skills if you ever end up in a situation that is outside your normal operating envelope.

 

Cheers,

 

Matt.

 

Here's a link to a video we put together during a session a couple of weeks ago (link is also in the Flying Movies section)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L9QrvlFDgM"

 

 

[Mazda]

That's great news Matt! :thumb_up: (And happy birthday to Kaz!)

 

 

[djpacro]

we looked at incipent spin entry and recovery .... somewhat underwhelmed

I guess that you didn't aggravate it to make it go flat?There was a good reason why spinning was restricted - have you seen the civil Flight Manual for that type (I assume that you use the old RAAF manual)?

 

 

[planedriver]

Good stuff.

 

Enjoyed the video as well. Glad I had'nt eaten breakfast before watching it. co's my stomack aint any where near as strong as yours:sorry:.

 

Cheers

 

Alan

 

 

[Mazda]

Dual spins of two turns in CT4s were encouraged in the RAAF. Solo student spinning was not permitted - at least not in the early days of the CT4's service.

 

 

[Bruce Robbins]

hi Alan, it sure is awesome. Since that initial session we've now gone into a more formal training approach using the Air Force mass briefings (training syllabus) for the CT4.

Matt,

 

Nice to see you exploring the envelope. Yours and the CT4, and thanks for letting the rest of us peek over your shoulder.

 

If you have trouble getting to sleep with your inner ear still doing loops, the following link should assist. Once you'ved memorised all the theory, you'll be able to answer the proverbial posed by Professor Julius Sumner Miller (Why is is so??) as well as demonstrate.

 

I'm sure Kaz is trembling with anticipation!

 

http://www.flightlab.net/download.html

 

Cheers,

 

Bruce

 

 

[Matt]

Thanks Bruce, looks to be some interesting reading in that lot...something to look at tonight.

 

Regarding Mazda's post - the CT4A (RAAF) flight manual descbribes "incipent" spins as 1.5 turns and "erect spins" or "fully developed spins" as 2 or more turns requiring "usually less than 5 turns" to recover. I don't have the briefing notes with me at the moment but recall that as Maz states, spinning was prohibited for solo students without prior permission of the CFI. Intentional inverted spinning was also prohibited (for students and instructors) without specific authority of the CFI.

 

Good to see some discussion on some other forms of "recreational flying".

 

Cheers,

 

Matt.

 

 

[Mazda]

True Matt, there's something special about real three dimensional flying. I wish more people would do it - there is so much fear of the unknown! So many people seem to tense up even at the thought of stalling or steep turns.

 

Aeros are FUN! They capture the real essence of flight and freedom. Plus the skill and confidence gained could save lives.

 

For those that have never tried, if you have the opportunity do try to book in for even a small amount of aeros/spin/emergency manoeuvre training - it's like opening a door to a new world of understanding. (And fun of course! It's not nearly as scary or sickness inducing as you might imagine). If you just want to see what it is like, find something interesting to do it in too for an unforgettable experience, maybe a Pitts.