RV-8 and Spinal Fusion Surgery

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

This morning, I made five no-bounce landings in the RV-8, something much harder to do in the -8 than in almost any other plane. On the last one, in a slight crosswind, I rolled each main wheel on, one at a time. But I also did a steep turn at 2.75 Gs, and my back gave a slight warning, in line with what my surgeon said. (I had spinal fusion, L1 ? L5, eleven months ago, and that surgery is highly invasive with a prolonged recovery time). Since the cause is skeletal, not physiological, there?s little hope for G tolerance improvement.

What this means is that my effective G tolerance for flying is about two Gs, plus safety margin. I still get a kick out of landing the -8 well, and there?s still room for improvement in my tailwheel skills on rollout.

I ponder what age (66) and surgery have done, inevitably and predictably, while celebrating the numerous and spectacular opportunities I?ve had in my flying career to date. The RV-9A will have amazing IFR avionics once we get the pre-existing wiring cleaned up and cleaned out, and the -9A will do things that the RV-8 won?t, but the -9A doesn?t give you the visceral satisfaction of the RV-8.

The time will come to sell the gorgeous RV-8, and it?s not here yet. But it is on the horizon.

[Icarus]

Glad to hear you're making satisfactory forward progress Ed.

Sell the -8 and we can go in on a Yak-55?its like laying down on your back, you could avoid as much compression on the disks during maneuvers!! Don't tell my wife it was my idea...

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

Paul, if your wife finds out and kills you, do I get the -55 free and clear?

[Icarus]

I don't think that is how it would play out.

If she kills me?I have to assume it would be because she found out about the Yak. I'm sure at that point she'd sell you the half share!

Glad you're flying?glad somebody gets to!!

[gerrychuck]

Originally Posted by Ed_Wischmeyer

Since the cause is skeletal, not physiological, there?s little hope for G tolerance improvement.

Not necessarily, Ed! You are assuming that the source of your twinge was skeletal, but that's not necessarily the case; just because you have had bony fusion doesn't mean that there isn't residual soft tissue dysfunction. In many cases, that is in fact the source of ongoing symptoms, and could improve further. Position of the spine is also critical; if your low back goes into a flexed "c-curve" position, it will be more vulnerable to g-force. A lot of the seats in our planes have minimal lumbar support and can really contribute to this. If you can maintain a neutral position with a slight backwards curve (very mild "swayback") in the low back it will greatly decrease these problems. Lumbar support in your seatback cushion, or a lumbar roll on top of it, can make a really big difference. Your fused back will have permanently lost some of that natural backwards curve (the lumbar lordosis) however, so the amount of lumbar support you need will be very individual and might take some experimentation. Find the sweet spot, however, and you may very well have greater g-tolerance than you realize. The party may not be quite over yet!