Fundamentals of Upset Recovery: Startle Factor

Comments

1. John G. Dye says:

   January 9, 2010 at 11:31 pm

   Sir, first let me commend you and your staff for addressing a deadly problem that the FAA, "flight schools" and the airlines seem to ignore. I have been teaching aerobatics, upset and spin recovery for just over 30 yrs. and am delighted at your commitment and success ! I just finished viewing the "Startle Factor" and had a question. At 4:33 you are discussing an inverted aircraft and a "pull" response. In an unstalled condition this obviously does "bury the nose" but then you say that if the aircraft is stalled it will "deepen the stall". In teaching inverted stall recovery I do teach slight aft stick after the power is at idle in the Pitts and Extra 200 aircraft. If I misunderstood the segment I ask your forgiveness ! Thank you again for the wealth of information available on the APS site. Best wishes. Sincerely, John G.Dye CFII-A-MEI-AGI ATP 727,737,757,767,A-320,BA-3100
2. pransbury says:

   January 15, 2010 at 10:53 am

   Hi John,

   Thank you for the kind email, feedback and excellent query. In response to your question, I would like to highlight this is an area where aerobatic instruction and upset recovery instruction can diverge somewhat. You are correct that in teaching inverted stall recovery from a true negative angle of attack stall as would be seen in an over-zealous outside loop, for example, a movement aft (towards the pilot) of the elevator would unstall the aircraft re-attaching airflow to the wings. In upset recovery training, we are referring to an over-banked positive angle of attack stall where a push (away from the pilot) is required to re-attach airflow. As positive angle of attack stall recovery requires the same elevator motion in the cockpit (ie. push) irrespective of flight attitude, the unfortunate typical response by pilots experiencing their first over-banked positive angle of attack stall recovery is to continue to pull which further buries the nose, deepens the stall and steepens the dive angle towards the ground. If it is OK with you, I would like to release this thread for public viewing as this is an important distinction between aerobatic instruction versus upset recovery instruction.

   Sincerely,
   Paul BJ Ransbury
3. Steven Rhule says:

   October 27, 2011 at 7:12 am

   What is the roll of the yaw damper during upset recovery? Currently flying a BE-400XP. Thank you.
4. Paul BJ Ransbury says:

   October 28, 2011 at 6:34 am

   Hi Steven - this is a really good question. Thank you for posting it. I do see you posted a similar question on another page on our site which I will delete as we are providing a brief response here.

   Assuming a properly functioning yaw damper, the yaw damper can be a valuable mitigation device in an airplane upset. Given that nearly 50% of all loss of control in-flight events are due to the stall, an active yaw damper can usually aggressively manage yaw excursions assuming the pilot is not wildly and inappropriately making rudder inputs. This is quite important in a stall as uncorrected yaw in a stall can lead to an unrecoverable spin condition. Depending upon the airplane, however, the yaw damper may, or may not, remain engaged when disconnecting up auto-pilot. If it remains engaged and appears to be functioning correctly, it is important the pilot does not make indiscriminate rudder inputs (which are very common in an upset, by the way) that can quickly lead to loss of control in-flight and/or a catastrophic failure of the tail assembly. If the yaw damper disconnects when disconnecting the autopilot, it is important that the pilot does not incorrectly or inappropriately make aggressive rudder applications during an upset (stalled or otherwise) unless required due a forced asymmetric condition of some kind that is compounding the upset event/threat. If you don't know what to do with rudder in an upset, you are much better NOT attempting to use it than start guessing.

   All this is addressed in great detail during upset prevention and recovery training at APS. If you have further questions, please call our office toll free at 1-866-359-4273 to discuss this matter in detail for your specific airplane type. You can ask for our VP of Flight Operations and Standards, Clarke 'Otter' McNeace.