Topic #7 - Practice to remove zeroes on Spins
02-10-2006, 03:09 PM
#1
Topic #7 - Practice to remove zeroes on Spins
Welcome back to the forum!!
I hope you're getting the chance to work on your plane's "[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3775092/tm.htm]setup[/link]", you're practicing the maneuvers to meet the criteria in the [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3832418/tm.htm]judging guide[/link], and you might even be practicing some [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3867399/tm.htm]Unknowns[/link].
The next thing that will make us more competitive is finding techniques to remove zeroes from our scores on spins, stall turns, and snap rolls. This will be a big advantage over our competitors because there are a lot of zeroes on spins and snap rolls. There are not quite as many zeroes on stall turns, but they are even more critical because stall turns always have a very high "k" factor.
These three maneuvers look very different from pilot to pilot because of the different techniques pilots use to fly them. What's critical for being competitive is finding a technique that gets us a score every time.
This week we'll discuss removing zeroes from the spin. Spins are discussed on Page F&JG-42 of the [link=http://www.mini-iac.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=90]Flying & Judging Guide[/link]. A spin entry is wind corrected with rudder and the altitude must remain constant until the plane stalls. We'll end up with the nose high, and possibly some yaw for wind correction when the plane stalls. The constant altitude is pictured here in the judging guide. Read the information along with this picture.
This part of the judging guide tells us that in a perfect spin "the nose will fall and at the same time the wing tip will drop in the direction of the spin. Failure to achieve this should be considered a "forced entry" and downgraded one (1) point per ten (10) degree deviation."
Not all judges are trained and know the criteria. There are some judges that will zero our spin if they don't see the nose drop first to prove to them that our plane stalled!! We can actually fly a "perfect" spin and get scored a zero instead of a ten. I would recommend that to get a score every time you should fly spins with a technique that allows the nose to drop first, then enter the autorotation. A trained judge will give us a one (1) point deduction for each ten (10) degrees that the nose drops without the wing also dropping, but we'll keep ourselves from getting the unexpected zero from an untrained judge.
There is a discussion of several different techniques in our IMAC [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3873880/tm.htm]Spin Question[/link] thread. As you'll see, there are many different techniques and lots of different results. Our setup has a big impact on how our plane spins.
I'll describe my technique for flying spins. It has worked very well for me. I've only zeroed spins when I lose patience and deviate from this technique. As soon as I've gotten back to wings level completion of the maneuver prior to a spin, I switch to a higher elevator rate. This higher rate for me is typically 16 or 17 degrees compared to 11 or 12 degrees for normal precision flying. I bring the engine to idle and gradually feed in elevator to maintain a constant altitude. When the plane has lost most of it's airspeed and the nose is pitched up enough , I change the elevator rate switch back to the normal precision rate and the nose immediately starts dropping. As it's dropping I move the sticks into the corners. I try to limit the nose drop before autorotation to ten (10) degrees. I know I'm giving up the one (1) point for the nose dropping first, but I won't be getting any zeroes!!! It works well every time and I can always control which way I'm going to spin.
You can see some spins being flown at the end of the 2006 Basic sequence video that was recently posted on the Flying Cirkus "Videos" page.
http://www.teamflyingcirkus.com/videos/
I hope this helps. There are lots of zeroes on spins for newer pilots. If we practice a technique that gets us a score every time, we've taken another big step towards being the most competitive we can be!!
We'll be back the next two weeks to talk about techniques for removing zeroes from stall turns and snap rolls.
Here's to another weekend of "perfect practice" for everyone!!
Dean
I hope you're getting the chance to work on your plane's "[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3775092/tm.htm]setup[/link]", you're practicing the maneuvers to meet the criteria in the [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3832418/tm.htm]judging guide[/link], and you might even be practicing some [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3867399/tm.htm]Unknowns[/link].
The next thing that will make us more competitive is finding techniques to remove zeroes from our scores on spins, stall turns, and snap rolls. This will be a big advantage over our competitors because there are a lot of zeroes on spins and snap rolls. There are not quite as many zeroes on stall turns, but they are even more critical because stall turns always have a very high "k" factor.
These three maneuvers look very different from pilot to pilot because of the different techniques pilots use to fly them. What's critical for being competitive is finding a technique that gets us a score every time.
This week we'll discuss removing zeroes from the spin. Spins are discussed on Page F&JG-42 of the [link=http://www.mini-iac.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=90]Flying & Judging Guide[/link]. A spin entry is wind corrected with rudder and the altitude must remain constant until the plane stalls. We'll end up with the nose high, and possibly some yaw for wind correction when the plane stalls. The constant altitude is pictured here in the judging guide. Read the information along with this picture.
This part of the judging guide tells us that in a perfect spin "the nose will fall and at the same time the wing tip will drop in the direction of the spin. Failure to achieve this should be considered a "forced entry" and downgraded one (1) point per ten (10) degree deviation."
Not all judges are trained and know the criteria. There are some judges that will zero our spin if they don't see the nose drop first to prove to them that our plane stalled!! We can actually fly a "perfect" spin and get scored a zero instead of a ten. I would recommend that to get a score every time you should fly spins with a technique that allows the nose to drop first, then enter the autorotation. A trained judge will give us a one (1) point deduction for each ten (10) degrees that the nose drops without the wing also dropping, but we'll keep ourselves from getting the unexpected zero from an untrained judge.
There is a discussion of several different techniques in our IMAC [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3873880/tm.htm]Spin Question[/link] thread. As you'll see, there are many different techniques and lots of different results. Our setup has a big impact on how our plane spins.
I'll describe my technique for flying spins. It has worked very well for me. I've only zeroed spins when I lose patience and deviate from this technique. As soon as I've gotten back to wings level completion of the maneuver prior to a spin, I switch to a higher elevator rate. This higher rate for me is typically 16 or 17 degrees compared to 11 or 12 degrees for normal precision flying. I bring the engine to idle and gradually feed in elevator to maintain a constant altitude. When the plane has lost most of it's airspeed and the nose is pitched up enough , I change the elevator rate switch back to the normal precision rate and the nose immediately starts dropping. As it's dropping I move the sticks into the corners. I try to limit the nose drop before autorotation to ten (10) degrees. I know I'm giving up the one (1) point for the nose dropping first, but I won't be getting any zeroes!!! It works well every time and I can always control which way I'm going to spin.
You can see some spins being flown at the end of the 2006 Basic sequence video that was recently posted on the Flying Cirkus "Videos" page.
http://www.teamflyingcirkus.com/videos/
I hope this helps. There are lots of zeroes on spins for newer pilots. If we practice a technique that gets us a score every time, we've taken another big step towards being the most competitive we can be!!
We'll be back the next two weeks to talk about techniques for removing zeroes from stall turns and snap rolls.
Here's to another weekend of "perfect practice" for everyone!!
Dean
