Out of Control Flight

I just got introduced to Out of Control Flight (OCF). I was tired this last week. I did 6 flights in 4 days and the final flight was the most difficult and prior-to-flight-study-intensive. It’s amazing how worn out I feel after a flight. I’m seated; how tired could I get?! Very. My brain is complete useless mush after flying.

We learn stalls and spins. Spins are intense. I essentially raise the nose and cut the power so the wings don’t produce the necessary lift. Then, add rudder and start plummeting towards the earth, rapidly. At this point, the nose is back down and you enter a spiral, of sorts. The maneuver is started at least 9,000’ high and need to be recovered by 5,000’. 5,000’ is the OCF bailout altitude! That’s right, I said bailout. We wear parachutes every flight. When I first started this training, I was like, ‘Uhhh….why do we even need those things?!’ Simply, we play Icarus (sp?). Icarus, however, with his waxed wings and prolonged flying too high for too long had a cost that outweighed the benefit. For us, the benefit outweighs the cost. So I wear a parachute. Back to the spin. It’s INTENSE. You follow the procedures, hold the controls, and hope for the best. It works though.

The skidded turn stall is ridiculous. It is simulating when we’re in the landing pattern and our last turn onto Final is about to overshoot the runway. To correct for overshooting the runway, pilots add more rudder than normal to point the nose “at the numbers.” At low speeds and with a lot of rudder, the airplane skids and the result is EXTREME. The plane immediately flips inverted and commences its Death Spiral toward the earth. We demo this at 9,000’ but if it were to happen in the landing pattern, _____. What’s extreme is how fast we got flipped upside down and started spiraling. Wow.