Thursday, March 10, 2022, 16:00
online only
(for the zoom link contact michael.spira@psi.ch, johannes.schlenk@psi.ch or
antonio.coutinho@psi.ch)
John F. Crawford, ex-PSI
Abstract:
Piloting an aircraft is not an exceedingly difficult skill, but it is
very unforgiving of any carelessness or mistake. If control is lost, the
result can be a High-Speed Spiral Dive, more ominously called a
Graveyard Spiral. In bad visibility, a pilot with no gyroscopic
instruments, or unskilled in their use, has little hope of recovering
control of a spiralling aircraft.
Most training concentrates on avoiding the spiral in the first place, but I would like to argue here for a different approach: that airbrakes (in a glider) or flaps (more common in power planes) can stabilise the aircraft. I would like to explain why this behaviour is to be expected on physical and aerodynamic grounds, and then present a series of smart-phone videos showing that it really works, in different categories & models.
I would also like to touch on what can be done to introduce the concept
to the aviation world.