The hat may not look very stylish but it sure beats getting melanoma.

Yea, Mark, I did that AOPA course a while back under similar circumstances - and that video did get my attention.

My girlfriend gets that melanoma sometimes....oh,no-- she gets melodramatic, that's it.

Strata Rocketeer wrote:
A little more than a chandelle and not really a hammerhead, except the attitude at the top...notice the yaw string.

I don't have any glider time at all,tell me about that yaw string. How do dat thing work? Is it on the outside of the canopy? I'd heard of yaw strings, I thought they hung down inside the canopy and took the place (or supplemented?) a turn (slip/skid) ball. On the outside, it'd just stream along with the airflow. I guess if you were uncoordinated (flight-wise that is ) it wouldn't be aligned with the airplane?

Eric

zero.one.victor wrote:... On the outside, it'd just stream along with the airflow. I guess if you were uncoordinated (flight-wise that is ) it wouldn't be aligned with the airplane?
Eric

Correct. It's on the outside of the canopy. If you're skidding the loose end points to the inside of the turn, if you're slipping it points to the outside of the turn (hope I'm not having a dyslexic moment). In practice it's very intuitive to use and much more sensitive than a ball and glass.

A properly completed wing over will have little or no control input at the top of the maneuver and the glider will just barely coast over the top in perfect coordination.

Yep, you're dyslectic .

MTV

Depends which end is doing the pointing.
Jeremy

With all the turn talk, I had to go out and try some. Here's a fairly tight turn, about 150 ft. radius. The image in my album is from the gps track overlaid on a topo map. I tried to put the image in this post, but I don't think it worked.

Oh yeah, the turn was made flaps up, 40mph indicated, ~50degree bank, and
enough throttle to maintain altitude.

tom

I'm sending this from a laptop I borrowed from the nurse here in the hopsital.... I was out in the 170 today trying to do a minimum-radius canyon turn, take a photo of the yaw string during my cool 90 degree bank, and overlay my route on a topo map (all at the same time) when I crashed.
Thanks a lot for getting me started on that, you guys.......

Eric

Jeremy,

Sorry, my comment was meant to imply that stuff will MAKE you dyslectic.

His directions were correct. The Yaw string follows the relative wind.

Works on helicopters as well. Never really could get my mind around that one, though.

MTV

mtv wrote:
Works on helicopters as well. Never really could get my mind around that one, though.

MTV

I'm with you on that one...I would have thought that the rotor wash would disrupt the string.

The string will work on any pusher type aircraft where there is not propwash to disrupt the relative airflow over the string. Lake, Long EZ, various ultralights, etc. I never tried it on a twin, but I would think it would work there as well.

Isn't the relative wind in a helicopter always down?

No, actually the reason it works in a helo is that the rotor acts as a wing, and produces "disc lift".

So, as long as you are above translational lift, the yaw string works just fine. Doesn't work as well in a hover.

I am NOT a helicopter pilot, so please correct if you are.

MTV

Savannah Tom,

Your embedded Topo with GPS track came thru fine..That IS a tight turn, what are you flying?

For anyone with a bent to explore this minimum radius thing further, I have taken the graph I found on the internet, commented it extensively, and made it into an Excel file that anyone can download and play with on a rainy day. It's located on BCP.org's server at this URL:

http://www.backcountrypilot.org/resources/turnRadius.xls

You all be careful out there!

Rocky

I'm flying a homebuilt Savannah. It stalls clean at 35 mph. The spread sheet was fun to play with. I had to modify it a bit to acomodate my slow airspeed.

tom

RockyTFS wrote:Savannah Tom,

Your embedded Topo with GPS track came thru fine..That IS a tight turn, what are you flying?

For anyone with a bent to explore this minimum radius thing further, I have taken the graph I found on the internet, commented it extensively, and made it into an Excel file that anyone can download and play with on a rainy day. It's located on BCP.org's server at this URL:

http://www.backcountrypilot.org/resources/turnRadius.xls

You all be careful out there!

Rocky

zane wrote:Isn't the relative wind in a helicopter always down?

Depends on whether the helo pilot is talking......

Sparky writes quite a bit about this in the Mountain Flying Bible. I don't have time to write the cliff notes to what he says. Pick it up, it's a good read.

I am going to have to go try all this coordinated turn read the directions stuff. Since I fly so slow any way I just pull full flaps full throttle hard left rudder left aileron and pull back hard. Am I dead or alive. I shouldn't have put myself there in the first place. My wife hates being in the back when we practice that one.

="Savannah-Tom"]I'm flying a homebuilt Savannah. It stalls clean at 35 mph...tom
Savannah Tom,

Whoa! If it stalls at 35 clean, what'll it do when it's dirty? I 'spect you could just get out, and walk along side of it? Do you have leading edge slats? I wanna see this ship.

Berk

Berk wrote:Do you have leading edge slats? I wanna see this ship.

Berk

Yes, it does. Makes it climb well, take off and land short, but cruise slowly.

tom

There's one of these (actually it's probably a Zenith 701) based at Harvey Field in Snohomish. Painted with a stars-and-bars scheme.
Has anyone built one of these (Zenith or Savannah) with tailwheel gear? Seems like a natural.
Usually 912 powered, eh?

Eric