Tips for flying in the bumps

[DarkHelmet]

How does on de-sensitise yourself to fly in turbulence? I fly a 10 year old Aerotrike Safari in Gauteng and the bumps give me the heebie jeebies. So do mountains. I am venturing further over my envelope every time and find the slow but sure approach is starting to work. I am getting less stressed as time goes by.

A thread elsewhere mentioned that you start flying later in the morning and earlier in the afternoon.

Suggestions welcomed

[Fairy Flycatcher]

You are going about it the right way... Just fly more and slowly push the envelope. Don't push it so hard that you give yourself a fright. That will put you way back.

Consider a Ballistic parachute (GRS - Abe on the forum - Good price). Many people feel much more confident with one on.

Also take some time and study accident reports. This will show you how little weather and turbulence has to do with crashes, and also the kind of weather conditions which can contribute towards them.

Relax in your aircraft. I find that you don't correct the wing as much as stop it from going the opposite way. Remember your trike's undercarriage acts like a pendulum, and for every reaction its going to go swinging the other way. So each bump is cushioned in a "double-action" way. Correct the bump, and then stop the aircraft correcting itself in the oposite way.

We do a great excercise with students. When the wind is about 10-15kt cross, a bit thermic (about 11:00 this time of year), you fly down the runway keeping your wheels 1m above, not sinking, not rising. This teaches you amazing precision movement, and makes flying in turbulence a lot easier.

My last "advanced" training (re-training) student, about half-way through the lesson, suddenly got the feel for it, much more sudden than I expected. Her arms were still working hard, but she piped up and said " Wow, the weather has suddenly settled. Its become so smooth" I could not stop laughing! :D :D The weather had not settled at all! In fact, now half an hour further into the lesson, it was quite a lot worse... she just suddenly "got it"

Currency has a lot to do with it. Stay CURRENT

If you are working really hard, you are probably doing something wrong. Its about feel and timing, but its not a feel which comes quickly or easily for most.

Also, be very carefull of flying too fast. This can make things a whole lot worse. Every trike has its best speed range / settings for turbulence. As you can't adjust your particular wing in flight, try to fly it at about 50mph next time, and see how much easier it gets. This works well on the Stranger 14.8 ( Your wing)

Best option though, is to tell your clients in DBN you have to come see them, and come do some low-level flying in the bumps with me

Annie

[The Agent]

Time , Time and more time thats what will do the trick.

Rome was not built in a day , because I was not there.

[RV4ker (RIP)]

dont fight the turbulence, try and rest your arms on the bar

Like this

[DarkHelmet]

That aerie really looks familiar RV

[DarkHelmet]

Demon? So resting on the bar you sort of just hang there and let the cart adjust as the wing rocks it about?

[DarkHelmet]

I will add it into my pushing the envelope flights! Thanks for the tip! (or is it - thanks for the elbow?)

[Tobie de Beer]

DarkHelmet,

You should join me for a flight in CKL midday - she flies slow enough to actually 'tell you the story of what is happening in the air' rather than shaking you around. As FairyFlycatcher said: it helps to fly slower - but be carefull to stall - CKL has some exelent stall behavior characteristics. She trims at 35 knots! and you can easily fly her at 32 knots!

I think changing your mindset might help: insead of thinking: how will I survive turbulence, rather think: how can I use turbulence (or the understanding thereof) for my own safety.

I also find that understanding what causes the turbulence you fly in, helps a lot:

Thermic Activity
Ridge Lift
Mechanical Turbulence - beware!
Shear Layers - different winds at different levels

We have a rule of thumb for mechanical turbulence: stay away/expect = Wind speed x Object height. Obviously the units you choose can greatly influence the outcome! However: ( dist[m] = speed[m/s] x height[m] ) I would consider the death zone, and the ( dist[m][ = speed[km/hr] x height[m] ) the safe zone border and ( dist[m] = speed[km/hr] x height[ft] ) as the turbulence free border.

Dennis Page wrote a book: Understanding the Sky. Surf the net and see what it is about. (eg: http://users.lazerlink.net/~pagenbks/usreview.htm ) you can probably get if from Laura Nelson: funwings@global.co.za or some of the uL instructors.

You would notice that we placed a lot of streamers next to the runway. Use them to see what air you're flying into. Especially on landing. If they tell a story of changing winds: climb out and try again. - and beware of the easterly! the mechanical turbulence coming over the hangers make landings very interesting!

P.S. I'll still start a thread about the towing with lots of pictures - I've been very busy the last few weeks.

[DarkHelmet]

I cannot wait Tobie - you guys are out there Saturdays? I don't want to interfere with your towing job though

[Tobie de Beer]

Hardly ever, but it can be arranged - I must get your number!

[John Young]

Fact 1– I don’t like severe turbulence. [Instructor said - “Nor do we”].
Fact 2– I will never like severe turbulence. [Instructor said – “Nor will we”].
Fact 3– I can fly in severe turbulence.

I will try Demon’s “elbow shock absorber” technique for fun.

But two short anecdotes that made me think –

Two trike pilots in formation, one an inexperienced pilot with radio not working and relying on experienced pilot for comms. Turbulence becomes nasty and inexperienced pilot flies a little ahead to catch experienced pilot’s attention to gesture that they return to base. Experienced pilot initially does not notice because, with both hands off the bar, he is busy turning a chart over on his lap.

Secondly, an A Grade told me that after having to fight / fly / correct against severe turbulence for some time, he got g@tvol and let the bar go with the expression “Do as you damn please ….” Nothing eventful happened. Trike just kept flying and correcting itself which is why ….

I going to try Demon’s tip.

Obviously in both cases, the trikes were set-up correctly.

Regards
John ZU-CIB

[Ballistic]

Tobie what is the effect of wake turbulence on the poor glider ur towing

[RV4ker (RIP)]

B

Check the video's. I think like with Gliders it above the turbulance...

[DarkHelmet]

Ballistic - I also wondered about that until I saw the pics.

Note that the trike is still on the runway while the glider is airborne already.

Wake turbulence (not prop wash) only occurs once you get airborne. It washes down behind your flightpath so if the glider dips below the tug it can be a problem.

I am no expert on this though - just an observation and application of some text book knowledge...

Experts? FF? Tobie?

[Tobie de Beer]

I've never really found the wake as such but only the propwash, wich is quite down from the level where we tow.

Remember we are climbing at about 400 ft/min and going at only 32 Knots, that is about 16m/s forward and about 2m/s upward meaning we climb out at about 7 degrees.
The propwash however in practise if feels more like 30 degrees down!

Also the wake is already 5 seconds old by the time you get to it. - never gave me any trouble. - keep the trike on the hirizon and fly!