Practice -- driving the field

Practice . . . (driving the field)

Entry (T.O.) & right rudder:









Exit turn to center and climb out:

I guess i missed the point? Is this for slow flight control? I zig zag between the runway lines on one wheel then the other.Very easy with a cub.

Do the same thing, only keep the mains on the ground, and the tail in the air and go from runway light to runway light. When you master that do it on the right wheel on one pass and the left wheel the next pass.

Shear -- lose lift in the turn -- full power full left rudder and let torque spin it on the way down:



straighten the wings


stick forward and bounce it off (full power)





straighten up -- gain speed and control


and turn . . . (can't forget to turn)




and straighten up for climb and the next pass . . .


I practice this a lot, for the above reason. If it happens while I'm driving a field or river filming, I have a chance to save it. The practice saved it above.

Practice ..Driving the Field

Thanks Flagold; Nice pics, You have reminded us that we need to polish those skills lest we suffer from '' the sleeping foot disease"

What you trying to show us Matt?? My cross wind landings look like that all the time! :lol:

It's a Husky, guys & gals!! That is probably "normal" technique.

Matt are you a professional photographer? If so what types of work do you do? Is it mainly air stuff? Thanks.

Just curious, what is that huge slab of concrete that the airplane is over? Is that a parking lot?

Pzinck:

Not anymore, I haven't picked up a 2 1/4 camera in so long I probably wouldn't know how to handle it. I've moved into video -- edit and score for myself and a few others (Tampa Indie film). Will be filming an adventure on the Mississippi shortly in the boat below and just completed one (a Jeep adventure) from Fla to Oregon.

I used to do a lot of underwater footage:

and scenic stuff:

now into video almost exclusively:

http://www.golddredgervideo.com/matt/ferry.wmv

Christina: B-17 airfield. Same one my Uncle trained on in 1943.

Wow. It just looks so huge. I don't think I've ever seen a runway that big.

Yep -- sure is a wide one . . .

Regards

Some nice pics,if you just get the blemishes (husky) out of them.Just kidding.Sounds like you are enjoying life.Hope to travel some soon myself.If i stopped buying airplanes i could do a little adventuring.I have been dreaming about a helio,so trips are out of the question.

"If i stopped buying airplanes i could do a little adventuring" -- we sure see eye to eye about that! It's a disease . . .

pzinck: "I guess i missed the point? Is this for slow flight control? I zig zag between the runway lines on one wheel then the other.Very easy with a cub."

Tim: "Do the same thing, only keep the mains on the ground, and the tail in the air and go from runway light to runway light. When you master that do it on the right wheel on one pass and the left wheel the next pass."

I missed you guys earlier replies:

That is one thing the SC has the advantage on over the Husky in my opinion -- ground maneuvers. What you both describe, plus the wheel-walking routine, etc. are much harder in the Husky. It just doesn't like being on the ground as much as the SuperCub does. The wing-level air maneuvering (cross controling) is easier though, and safer than the SuperCub because the more clean wing doesn't have the tendency to slow as much when you turn the ship on it's axis. That same clean wing has it's disadvantages on landing (more difficult to get in a tight spot). If you go to altitude, and try a wings level right turn (right rudder while rolling in left aileron to keep the wing level) 45º -- note the airspeed on entry (I use 80 -- in both SC and Husky) then note the airspeed on completion you'll have an idea of how much a non-powered turn will slow your wing and how close to the stall you can get. Down low, these turns are made with power to turn to a different heading without dipping the wings -- and when the turn is made to the escape route (you have that route down mentally before ever entering the chute you're going to "drive" down (or don't enter it at all), then back-stick can be applied and banking of the wings accomplished (you're really trying to keep the gear from going into the ground while turning to a different heading in a high-wing and the wing from going into the ground/brush in a low-wing). I clear any (tight) chute I'm going to film in from the ground before I take the airplane in and look for outstretched branches, and humps in the ground that are virtually invisible from the air. This technique is also useful to learn in momentarily drawing a wing back to slip by a bush or pole and can be practiced at home while watching TV, etc. If the pole is on your left, stick goes to the right, left rudder (keep the wings/gear level), watch the obstruction go by straighten up immediately and land or do whatever you're doing.













This is not flight instruction, so contact your SuperCub instructor on how to do it safely.

Elevated Shot (DF)

Elevated shot so you can get a feel for the distance you can maneuver from the far side of the runway to the near side and back to the far side.

Pics removed for bandwith problems.

I used to have some direct overhead shots of this maneuvering in a Stearman if I come across them I'll post them. To guys in the bush it's nothing new -- drive around a tree, slip an elk that runs out, etc. etc.

Matt,

Your "driving the field" stuff must be pretty important, or at least more often practiced, since on your other thread you demonstrated your inability to hit your spot on an unobstructed runway.

Just my observations, based upon the pictures you provided.

SB

I have come to believe all of it is important; however, we all have certain maneuvers we do over and over that become routine, and when they become routine we tend to get bit with the unexpected (see above pics) and so we're right back to practicing it all . . .(below, a driving wings level turn to port)

Watch the movie link above if you want to see the pics associated with this post.

I generally practice not driving like a drunken sailor.

Wait for a day when the wind's blowing a gusty 30 across the runway, which is tree-lined, and drive it straight on and off the runway repeatedly. That's something to practice, to strive for. That's the situation that'll await your return home one day soon.

There aren't any bridges obstructing my home fields, so I have no reason to practice flying under one.

SB

We will have to simply disagree. As a pilot is trained in more and more aspects of flight maneuvering, practice is an ever increasing task (on the runway) for the job(s) at hand (be that be cropdusting, filming, or dropping a bomb) in all regimes and axis of flight. It all begins with quality flight instruction.

Folks, these posts with way too many embedded pictures take about 10 years for anybody on dial up to download. Ideally, please use thumbnails (as described in the website q&a area featured in cubdriver this month) or links.

I tried a 26K link from my in-laws this weekend and it would take about 25 minutes to load this one thread...

Thanks!

sj

Flagold, thanks for the pics and info. We can all look at them, read your comments and take them for whatever we think they are worth. Don't be discouraged by some that don't agree. Disagreement sparks health debate. I, for one, appreciate the time and effort you have put into sharing your views with the rest of us and the views of those who might not agree.

By the way, I was refereing to SB not SJ's suggestion of using thumbnails.

RMREBOB:

I don't take it personally. I think some of the resistance must be that certain individuals think these things are simply made up maneuvers or out of my head, etc., not realizing at one time there was an active school in the U.S. teaching these techniques and a lot more. The school was backed by Fred Ayres of the Ayres Corporation and bore his name. It was active from 1975-1982, was run in a military manner by WWII vets who had served with Chennault in China, developed skip bombing and many other techniques. The Air Force thought enough of it to send A-10 IPs to the school from Dothan to be trained. Part of these films come from my attempts to document what we learned there. To date, I have found 2 other pilots that were in the school, but no living instructors to date.

It does baffle me though, why a person would unquestioningly put on a hood, take off into zero vis and fly instruments, but question learning simple maneuvering techniques when the aircraft in question is a simple VFR airplane designed for maneuvering techniques . . .

Steve: I went in an removed a whole bunch of the pics to improve loading an hopefully get things back on technique. If you think it's a problem -- my blessing to delete the whole maneuvering string.

My Dad became a spray pilot later in life. He was fortunate to be picked to attend a school that Ohio State Univ. had in the mid sixty's west of Columbus. Ernie Bowers ran it I believe and one of the manuevers was to fly through staggered pylons in a level attitude simulating going around a utility pole in a swath run. They had cubs, Pawnee's,a 220 Stearman, and an Ag Cat. He turned down Ag Cat time for more cub experience figuring that was what he would start with. He later bought a new Aero Commander Quail and a Thrush. That school only lasted one year I believe because they dinged up so many planes. He always felt it was a great learning experience and also didn't bend anything.
Marty

Marty:

The Ayres Corp school progression was: SuperCub, Stearman, 235 Pawnee, AgCat, Thrush. As in your Dad's case you could trade time between the 235 Pawnee, AgCat, and Thrush for the Ag program. Going between the pylons was done, as was going from side to side on the RW with the SuperCub and Stearman and then you'd demo it in the aircraft checked out in and then take it to the field for live work if you hadn't been washed out in the Stearman or SuperCub first.

Of course, the AOPA (fast becoming nothing more than an insurance agency) would probably recoil in horror that anyone be taught maneuvering -- they just sent out a DVD with the gist being anyone maneuvering is irresponsible . . . Oddly, what are considered "advanced" maneuvers today were just maneuvers to the earlier generation of pilots, and not knowing when you needed to perform a maneuver, and how to perform it was irresponsible. Go figure.

BTW: with a notch of flap, the 180 makes an awesome maneuvering airplane. The only person in my class that bent metal was me, had a Thrush quit on TO and punched the tailwheel up through the fuselage when I landed it hard. They taught all kinds of low-level work but Ag was the main thrust for most pilots.