A Return to Acro

After a failed helicopter distraction it’s time to return to my roots. The acro is rusty but the g’s are real.

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Sierra Hotel, Amigo! Nice flying!

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Awesome. Hey…when you do those four-point rolls…is there ANY rudder input at all or is that ALL aileron?

F-ing amazing. I’d hurl in sixty seconds. I am always truly impressed by these types of flying.

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Wow!

I had to watch that twice. I don’t think I have ever seen a full routine from a single perspective before and got mesmerised by the control surface deflection… particularly elevator and rudder.

Never, ever flown a plane before… But I know (literally) what back in the saddle feels like. Good ain’t it :wink:

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So many wings rotating around like that, who’s to say that ain’t a helicopter… :wink:

Awesome stuff! You even looked cool under g load.

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Whoa!

I should not be having breakfast while watching your video :laughing:

Did some basic aerobatics with an instructor years ago and enjoyed every minute of it :+1:

My 5y old daughter loves the colour of your aircraft :small_airplane:

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That’s beyond awesome!

Oh My God Wow GIF

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I don’t think I am applying any rudder to coordinate the rolls. There is a lot of rudder on the knife-edges. With all aileron (or slow) rolls you imagine a little nickel-sized circle just above the horizon. The nose must track perfectly around the perimeter of that circle. Doing that takes a bit of rudder and lots of elevator. That’s to score well. You can also just slam the stick into your thigh and do nothing else and it will come out so-so.

Me too! When flying I am just reacting to what I see, mostly through the sighting device on my left wing. Only when watching the video do I realize all the inputs. You’ll see a lot of aileron as the speed slows in things like the humpties and hammers. That’s due to torque. Push humpties are especially easy to torque. They feel great but I hate them!

Kids LOVE that little plane. At the end of the video I am parked by the pumps with the diner behind me. People bring kids over all the time. I’ll let them sit in it and play with the stick. Anyway, red is a very triggering color with kids. Biplanes also especially appeal to them.

They felt GREAT! This flight was number 7 over the past three days. Before that, I hadn’t flown since November. I was surprised how quickly the tolerance came back. These aren’t sustained fighter-pilot g’s. Those must really hurt. These are little +6 and -3 jabs. They feel terrific once you get used to them. I wish I could convince pilots new to acro how great the forces feel after a bit of acclimation. So many pilots give acro a try and think it’s not for them because it is so uncomfortable. I HATED it at first! Also, it is MUCH worse when someone else is doing the flying. It looks more impressive than it is. Normal flying done well is hard. It takes finesse and subtle control. Acro is mainly banging the controls against their stops. Every pilot has the skill to do this. The real trick is convincing the brain of this truth.

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Is that a reference to one particular youtuber? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

(incl that gif?)

@apollon01
No disrespect but…
Season 3 What GIF by PBS

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Awesome!

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This one here :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Ugh had no idea

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Thanks for posting man, great to see you back in the little red hot rod. Does it have the power/weight to put on sustained G like you would in a lufberry? Ever done mock dogfights vs an imagined opponent (shadowboxing with planes) or even a bud in a similar kite?

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That was bloody awesome to watch. Wow

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Fantastic. Thanks for sharing.

It amazes me how you remember the routine. I think I’d get 3 moves in and forget and just go stirring porridge.

Also no idea how you keep your lunch down. :rofl:

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cool stuff!

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I’ve never mock dogfighted (dogfought?). I’ve done some very light formation acro, which is probably safer. The power to weight is probably similar to an early war mount like a P-40. I can sustain 3g in a level circle (roughly 70° bank). It’s a fairly draggy airplane. By Pitts standards it is also a bit chunky. They should weigh about 820 lbs. Mine’s about 900 :shushing_face:

I’ve puked a couple of times; fortunately always at the hanger. What makes me feel sick is when I get a snap wrong. Instead of breaking cleanly they can wallow, called “burying the snap”. Doing that on a push feels awful. I puked after my first outside loop. That was mainly because I was scared. The scene in Waldo Pepper ruined me. I rushed it and pushed -5. It was the happiest puke of my life!

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