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Backcountry Pilot • May the Force be with You.

May the Force be with You.

Share tips, techniques, or anything else related to flying.
3 postsPage 1 of 1

May the Force be with You.

The force is energy. If you manage all the energy out there, the force will be available to you. Manage all wind energy, not just on takeoff. We fly in rivers of air. Use headwind to increase relative wind over the wing on takeoff, of course. Use the headwind component of a base and final into a crosswind to decrease ground speed and decrease radius of turn and don't land at a faster ground speed in a headwind component than in a no wind. Manage the dynamics of thermal energy by flying slow in up air and fast through down air rather than trying to maintain altitude resulting is just the opposite. Manage the lift advantage of drainage system ingress and egress using ridge lift and maneuvering so as to always have access to down drainage egress if needed. Read "Stick and Rudder" to learn the Law of the Roller Coaster and how to manage airspeed as altitude and altitude as airspeed. Read "Stick and Rudder" to learn how to use the appearance of the desired touchdown spot and things near it and around it to judge proper deceleration based on the apparent rate of closufre with the desired touchdown spot. Learn to arrive, "all slowed up and ready to squat." Read "Stick and Rudder" or an airplane design manual to realize the importance of, "what the airplane wants to do." The airplane wants to zoom when it has zoom reserve airspeed and it wants to dive when it has less than trimmed airspeed. The airplane wants to dive slightly in shallow to medium banked turns andit wants to dive significantly in steep turns to prevent stall. The airplane cannot stall itself, a pilot pulling on the stick is required. The airplane is not designed to stall, the pilot is taught to do that in turns by pulling back on the stick. Ground effect is free energy if we stay level and low on takeoff rather than lose energy to friction with the wheels on the ground or lose zoom reserve airspeed energy by pitching up to Vx or Vy as appropriate. Vx is only available at low DA and only appropriate on very short runways. At high DA it does not exist. Vy is only appropriate where obstructions at end if acceleration to the most airspeed we can obtain in ground effect force us to pitch up to just over the obstruction. Vy is only appropriate for climb out over rising terrain where turn to down drainage egress at a safer airspeed is not available. Why are we taught to trash free ground effect energy for far too little altitude to recover from inadvertent stall at an airspeed, Vy, much too slow to safely maneuver around problems and to better terrain? Maneuvering flight is mostly dynamic. Airspeed is life down low. We fly as fast as possible so as to have zoom reserve airspeed (with or without the engine working) to zoom up wings level to slow and thus decrease the radius of any necessary turn and we give up that altitude gained (the law of the roller coaster) before slowing to stall airspeed and we release that back pressure in the turn of any bank angle at 1g, the energy management turn. We can't go up forever, we can't go down for ever. We level the wing to end the turn and pull up wings level. We use the airspeed developed in the dive to return to near start altitude. The law of the roller coaster. Release the back pressure and forget worries about which wing will stall in slipping or skidding turn. Release the back pressure in all low turns and don't stall low even once. It is dynamic work down low. The law of the roller coaster. Forget continuous up. Maneuver using available airspeed or available altitude. Forget continuous down. Forget maintaining altitude at all cost. The airplane will help you do the right thing. The force will be with you.
contactflying offline
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Re: May the Force be with You.

Low altitude work, including around the airport and ACS ground reference maneuvers, is very dangerous using only high altitude orientation. Maneuvering flight that relies only on engine power is very dangerous. Down here, The Force is critical. Ground reference maneuvers flown as if there was no difference than if we were at 10,000' is dangerous high altitude orientation. Pulling back on the yoke to maintain altitude in turns the pattern is dangerous high altitude orientation. Vx or Vy as appropriate, inappropriate except on really short field work, is dangerous high altitude orientation. The complete lack of energy management, other than power management, instruction is dangerous high altitude orientation. ACS V speeds and maneuvers implied principals, rather than "Stick and Rudder" implied principals, are dangerous high altitude orientation. Legal and airspeeds, altitudes, and procedural tracks are appropriate Instrument Flight Rules, but they do not work in the uncontrolled and fluid low altitude world. No modern pilot knows what contact flying is because contact flying is no longer taught.
contactflying offline
Posts: 4972
Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2013 7:36 pm
Location: Aurora, Missouri 2H2
Download my free "https://tinyurl.com/Safe-Maneuvering" e-book.

Re: May the Force be with You.

You still teach it and preach it Jim . I never tire of your sermons . Thanks for your time , effort and dedication to safe low level maneuvering flight .
umwminer offline
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