Posted on 10/19/2004 8:17:09 AM PDT by mabelkitty
On FNC now...
I hear you. I've got a Lanciar 235 now. Transitioned from a Luscombe. Quite a difference, even if I did have the twin experience.
Someone who hasn't flown an airplane has no idea how fast things can happen. Especially while going from a slow one like a 172 and going to a high performance one like a T210, or your Lanciar.
That is essentially what happened to John Kennedy Jr.
The high performance airplane was more than he could handle and it got upside down. He should have taken more time until he could handle it. That is exactly why I slowed down to the speed of the 172 and worked into it slowly.
Two further corrections, rotation around the vertical axis causes an incipient spin followed by a fully developed spin and a skid is also uncoordinated (the result of the empennage skidding to the outside). Either way, full rudder deflection to the left or right will cause an uncoordinated configuration. Combine that with exceeding the critical angle of attack (beyond Clmax) and you will have a good time. Incidentally, how was your upset training?
I have heard that people who flew with Kennedy one time, refused to make it a second time. Basically he could not fly an airplane. He was like one of these people I met on the off shore crusing curcit who thought they could buy their way through everything.
It kind of makes you wonder when John Kerry will find out being a little over confident might hurt you. This happens to people who start to believe their own BS. He is all the time talking about what a great pilot he is.
You have to know how to deal with the torque if an engine on a twin conks out. In any plane, if an engine conks out on a right/left banking climb out, you've got to know what to do. Furthermore, if one gets into an icing condition while climbing (like - horrors - rime icing) and the intakes ice up, and one loses an engine, and flies into IFR condition, well ya gotta know what's going on. I can't imagine somebody having a twin engine rating and not be instrument certified. But then, many an experienced pilot has rode their plane right into a smokin' hole in the ground, the whole time way pulling back on the yoke for all their worth...
And why is that? Because when you're stalling you feel like you're falling, and what's only natural to do when you're falling? Yep, grap a hold of the thing nearest to ya, and what's nearest to a pilot that feels like he's falling? Its contra-intuitive to point the nose at the ground.
Another thing to deal with in such situation, if an engine flames out on you, the plane is going to want to roll (often right onto its back). And that can not be allowed to happen. So you're going to have to deal with that quickly, with simultaneous rudder and aileron, and the prop has to be feathered too. Its one thing to deal with all that if the torque and thrust vectors are coincident with the longitudinal axis, but if they're offset laterally along the wing, well, that's an entirely different beast to tame.
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