SPLIT-S
MANEUVER
(What
NOT TO DO in an Over-bank)
During the Upset
Recovery Training Course at APS, we put our clients into a wide
variety of scenarios that prepare them for the over-bank or "upset"
flight condition. In any overbank scenario, the ultimate goal is to
keep the aircraft flying (ie. unstalled), re-orient the lift vector
to an upright attitude and then initiate recovery to a climb away
from the ground. If you haven't been through upset recovery training
or had aerobatic instruction previously, this is much easier said
than done.
The Split S -
Page 120
Emergency Maneuver Training: Controlling Your Airplane
During a Crisis
IMPORTANT
NOTE: It must be emphasized that the Split-S Maneuver shown
in this video (below)
is an exercise in what NOT TO DO in an overbank situation. We find
it to be a very effective and dramatic technique to demonstrate the
risks, life-threatening dangers and challenges of the split-s pull
through response to an over-bank situation in-flight. As a few of
our members have already observed, in an over-bank situation the
pilot needs to continue
the roll around to upright flight using an unloaded aileron roll type maneuver.
At APS, the demonstration of this
Split-S Maneuver takes place in the second flight of the 3-mission, 5-mission or 6-mission course immediately following an in-depth flight training session on
cross-controlled stalls. In the cross-controlled stall exercises,
the aircraft often ends up in an over-banked flight condition
(especially the skidded
turn traffic pattern stall). Now, it's important to recognize
that it doesn't matter how we got over-banked, the fact is that we
are there and need to respond correctly with an unusual
attitude recovery. Scenarios leading to an over-bank flight
condition include; wake turbulence upsets, a spiral dive, pilot
distraction, cross-controlled stalls and/or wind shear, just to name
a few.
Statistically (at APS), a whopping 80%
of pilots exposed to their first over-bank scenario initially react
with the panic response of "PULL TO MAKE THE HOUSES SMALLER". This
is understandable considering the vast majority of pilots spend
99.99% of their flight time at less than 45 degrees of bank where
PULL does mean THE HOUSES GET SMALLER. Unfortunately, in an
over-bank scenario (usually in excess of 75 degrees of bank at APS),
a pull or aft movement of the control column only buries the flight
attitude of the aircraft steeper into a dive. To drive home the
adverse consequences of pulling in an overbank scenario, the clients
at APS get to fly through a full Split-S maneuver with both power-on
and power-off to witness first-hand how all the maximums and/or
limitations of the pilot and aircraft are immediately forced upon
them because of burying the nose from a pull. What maximums are we
referring to in the Split-S? They are:
- Rapid
Altitude Loss (usually 1000s of feet)
- Rapid
Acceleration Above Maneuvering Speed and Possibly
Beyond Vne
- High
G-load.
- Not to Mention the Inherent
Disorientation of the Maneuver Itself
-
Note in this video that
we do not exceed the Normal Category G-limit of 3.8 G. Of course,
the Extra 300L has a 10 G envelope which adds a huge margin of
safety to the APS training, but we recognize that clients come to
us to be exposed to the flight envelope of their aircraft ... and
that is exactly what we do to the best of our ability during the
entire training program.
So
what's the moral of this story? Simple.
In an over-bank scenario DON'T PULL
... immediately apply Unusual
Attitude Recovery Techniques to
re-orient the lift vector, minimize
altitude loss and get away from the
ground. Please take a moment to click
on the image to the right. Would
you roll upright from this in-flight
upset condition the first time you
were there? We can only hope
... if not, have a look at the video
below to see what happens when we
pull through. Better yet, come get
some life-saving (and fun) training
from APS or any other recognized aerobatic
training flight school... Safe journeys
to all! :)
Please let us know what you think
of this video by submitting
a rating to APS. |
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SPLIT-S
MANEUVER
(What
NOT TO DO in an Over-bank)
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