Aircraft Technical Books, LLC (970) 726-5111 http://www.ACTechBooks.com Advanced Aerobatics Aircraft Technical Books, LLC (970) 726-5111 http://www.ACTechBooks.com Other books by Geza Szurovy Basic Aerobatics by Geza Szurovy and Mike Goulian Cutting the Cost of Flying Fly for Less Learjets by Geza Szurovy (Motorbooks International) Profitable Photography, Start and Run a Moneymaking Business Renting and Flying Airplanes Worldwide Other books in the P RACTICAL FLYING S ERIES Handling In-Flight Emergencies by Jerry A. Eichenberger Cockpit Resource Management: The Private Pilot's Guide by Thomas P. Turner The Pilot's Guide to Weather Reports, Forecasts, and Flight Planning 2nd Edition by Terry T. Lankford Weather Patterns and Phenomena: A Pilot's Guide by Thomas P. Turner Cross-Country Flying by Jerry A. Eichenberger Avoiding Mid-Air Collisions by Shari Stamford Krause, Ph.D. Flying in Adverse Conditions by R. Randall Padfield Mastering Instrument Flying 2nd Edition by Henry Soliman with Sherwood Harris Pilot's Avionics Survival Guide by Edward R. Maher The Pilot's Air Traffic Control Handbook 2nd Edition by Paul E. Illman Advanced Aircraft Systems by David Lombardo The Pilot's Radio Communications Handbook 4th Edition by Paul E. Illman Night Flying by Richard F. Haines and Courtney L. Flatau Bush Flying by Steven Levi and Jim O'Meara Understanding Aeronautical Charts 2nd Edition by Terry T. Lankford Aircraft Technical Books, LLC Aviator's Guide to Navigation(970) 726-5111 3rd Edition by Donald J. Clausing Learning to Fly Helicoptershttp://www.ACTechBooks.com by R. Randall Padfield ABC's of Safe Flying 3rd Edition by J.R. Williams Flying VFR in Marginal Weather 3rd Edition by R. Randall Padfield The Aviator's Guide to Flight Planning by Donald J. Clausing Better Takeoffs and Landings by Michael C. Love Aviator's Guide to GPS 2nd Edition by Bill Clarke Advanced Aerobatics Geza Szurovy Michael Goulian Aircraft Technical Books, LLC (970) 726-5111 http://www.ACTechBooks.com McGraw-Hill New York San Francisco Washington, D.C. Auckland Bogotà Caracas Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan Montreal New Delhi San Juan Singapore Sydney Tokyo Toronto Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Szurovy, Geza, date. Advanced aerobatics / Geza Szurovy, Mike Goulian. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-07-063302-9 (pbk.).—ISBN 0-07-063303-7 (hard) I. Stunt flying. I. Goulian, Mike. II. Title. TL711.S8S9798 1996 797.5'4—c1c20 96-18009 CIP McGraw-Hill A Division of The McGrawRiU Companies Copyright ©1997 by Geza Szurovy and Mike Goulian. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 10 QSR/QSR 0 9 8 ISBN-13: 978-0-07-063302-5 (PBK) ISBN-10: 0-07-063302-9 (PBK) ISBN-13: 978-0-07-063303-2 (HC) ISBN-10: 0-07-063303-7 (HC) The sponsoring editor for this book was Shelley Chevalier, and the production supervisor was Suzanne Rapcavage. It was set in Palatino Roman by Jana Fisher through the services of Barry E. Brown (Broker—Editing, Design and Production). Unless otherwise noted, photography by Geza Szurovy. Printed and bound by Quebecor Dubuque. McGraw-Hill books are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. For more information, please write to the Director of Special Sales, Professional Publishing, McGraw-Hill, Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2298. Or contact your local bookstore. Information contained in this work has been obtained by The McGraw-Hill Com- panies, Inc. ("McGraw-Hill") from sources believed to be reliable. However, nei- ther McGraw-Hill nor its Aircraftauthors Technical guarantees Books, the accuracyLLC or completeness of any information published herein(970) and 726-5111 neither McGraw-Hill nor its authors shall be re- sponsible for any errors, http://www.ACTechBooks.comomissions, or damages arising out of use of this infor- mation. This work is published with the understanding that McGraw-Hill and its authors are supplying information but are not attempting to render professional services. If such services are required, the assistance of an appropriate profes- sional should be sought. 4IPS, This book is printed on recycled, acid-free paper containing a minimum 11 of 50 percent recycled, de-inked fiber. For Rick Massegee in loving memory Aircraft Technical Books, LLC (970) 726-5111 http://www.ACTechBooks.com DISCLAIMER All material in this book should be used as a source of general information only. It is the responsibility of every pilot intending to learn aerobatics to receive appro- priate comprehensive dual aerobatic instruction from a qualified aerobatic in- structor and comply with all regulations and procedures in effect. It is the responsibility of the pilot in command to consult all official sources of information relevant to every aspect of a proposed flight and personally assure compliance with all laws, regulations, and procedures. Aircraft Technical Books, LLC (970) 726-5111 http://www.ACTechBooks.com Contents Acknowledgments xv Introduction xvii 1 The world of advanced aerobatics 1 What is advanced aerobatics? 1 The importance of basic skills 4 Advanced competition flying 5 The International Aerobatic Club and the competition scene 6 The FAI Aerobatic Catalog and the concept of constructing figures 10 The aerobatic box 11 International competition 11 IAC achievement awards 13 Deciphering Aresti 15 2 Getting off the ground 19 Theory revisited 19 Energy management 19 Lift and angle of attack 20 Gyroscopic precession 21 Slipstream 24Aircraft Technical Books, LLC Torque 25 (970) 726-5111 Pilot proficiency http://www.ACTechBooks.comand condition 26 Aircraft considerations and choice 27 Aerobatic objectives 31 Pilot proficiency 31 Aircraft performance 31 Aircraft price and operating cost 32 The importance of advanced instruction and coaching 33 And bear in mind 34 Federal Aviation Regulations 34 Your parachute 35 Preflight inspections 35 Technical inspections at competitions 35 Don't forget to smell the roses 35 3 Horizontal inside snap rolls 37 Flying it 39 The finer points 40 Common errors 41 Leo Loudenslager's world-champion snap roll secrets 43 4 Vertical rolls 47 Flying it 49 Setting the vertical line 50 The roll 52 The finer points 52 Style 52 Common errors 53 Failure to establish proper vertical alignment 53 Sideslip 55 Elevator input on the vertical line 56 Patty Wagstaff on perfecting the vertical roll 57 5 Hesitation rolls 59 Flying it 59 The finer points 63 Common errors 63 "Bobbling" the points 63 Losing altitude 63 Varying roll ratesAircraft between Technical points Books, on LLC the vertical line 65 (970) 726-5111 Pitts, an Americanhttp://www.ACTechBooks.com legend 67 6 Outside maneuvers 71 Flying it 71 The outside half loop from inverted 72 The full outside loop 74 The finer points 75 Common errors 76 Going as much as 90° off heading at the top of the loop 76 The outside loop gets too big 77 The bottom of the loop is hooked 77 7 Rolling circles 79 Flying it 80 A 90° inside rolling circle to the left from upright 80 A 90° inside rolling circle to the left from inverted 81 A 90° upright outside rolling circle to the left 81 A 90° outside rolling circle to the left from inverted 85 The finer points 86 Common errors 86 The airplane snaps out of the maneuver 86 The maneuver looks segmented 86 The roll rate accelerates 86 When rolling outside, the nose drops (dishes) 87 8 Tailslides 89 Flying it 89 The finer points 93 Common errors 93 Failure to reduce power soon enough 93 Sideslip 94 Wing low on the vertical line 94 Know your parachute 95 9 Advanced snap rolls 97 Vertical snap roll 97 Flying it 98 The finer points 99 Common errors 99 The snap roll is performed too soon 99 Failure to accelerate the snap roll sufficiently 99 Inability to performAircraft Technicalthe maneuver Books, LLCwithout straight reference(970) lines726-5111 on the ground 101 Outside snap rollshttp://www.ACTechBooks.com 101 Horizontal outside snap roll 102 Vertical outside snap roll 103 Common errors 103 The stall is not initiated aggressively enough 103 The outside snap roll is not accelerated sufficiently 103 Fractions of snaps 103 Common errors 104 The recovery is bobbled 104 Acceleration is insufficient 104 From a garage to the top of the world: Story of a world-class monoplane 105 10 Advanced spins 107 Inverted spins 114 Flying it 114 The finer points 115 Accelerated and flat spins 115 Upright accelerated and flat spins 116 Inverted accelerated and flat spins 118 Common errors 119 The inverted spin is attempted before the pilot is ready 119 Failure to develop internal timing for performing inverted spins 119 The accelerated spin is accelerated before it is fully developed 120 Failure to apply the required amount of control inputs in a flat spin 120 Advanced Aerobatic Maneuvers in History 121 11 Gyroscopic maneuvers 123 Origins 123 The Lomcevak 123 Difficulties in judging and restriction to the four-minute freestyle 124 The torque roll 124 The Zwibelturm 124 The knife-edge spin 124 Infinite variations 125 Flying them 126 The four-minute freestyle 127 Training for it 128 Trends 128 Aircraft Technical Books, LLC World champion(970) Xavier 726-5111 de L' Apparent's http://www.ACTechBooks.com four-minute freestyle tips 129 12 Advanced sequence composition 131 Aircraft performance 131 Low vertical performance and roll rate 133 High vertical performance and roll rate 134 Pilot skill 135 Presentation style 136 Ballet 136 Rock and roll 136 Sequence review 136 Sportsman 136 Intermediate 138 Advanced 138 Unlimited 140 Diana Hakala on freestyle construction 145 13 Presentation 147 The importance of good presentation 147 The performance zone 149 John Morrissey, U.S.