Posted for "Chat Daniel" <cdaniel@fnbsouth.com>:

My two cents...I am not trying to throw a wet blanket on you having fun
in your plane.   As a matter of fact I probably cut up too much in the
air.  However, I fly an RV-8, which is rated for aerobatics...plus 6 and
minus 3...and I regularly do sportsman aerobatics in this plane.  A couple of points.  Speed is the potential for more g's and slick
planes are not ideal for aerobatics.  The RV and the Lancair have those
two things in common...speed and slick.  The RV, however is rated for
aerobatics...the Lancair is not.

You're boppin along at cruise and decide to show your friend in the
right seat a roll.  You are close to your gross weight with him in the
plane and full fuel.  It's a little choppy out but nothing you haven't
flown in so you pull the nose up and left aileron.  Half way around you
realize you didn't have the nose high enough to start the roll and
already your nose is below the horizon.  The power is still in as you
start to get nervous but keep rolling.  You finally get the wings about
level but now you are 60 degrees nose low and your speed is building
very quickly.  You glance at your airspeed as it shoots by VNE.  You
start to recover the nose and the g's required surprise you.  Suddenly
you hit some turbulence.  If you are lucky, you recover with the wings
still attached because you were pulling 3 or 4 g's before the wind hit
you.

My point is I have done the above before in a plane that was stressed to
handle it.  When a pilot who is not trained in aerobatics or just does
them occasionally in a fast, slick plane that is not rated for it...you
had better be careful.

An RV-4 pilot decided to let his friend, who flies a Pitts and regularly
does aerobatics take the stick.  From cruise (170-180) the Pitts jock
rolls inverted and starts a split S.
They pulled in excess of 8 g's and bent the tail.

Have fun and fly safe.

Chat