Ed_Wischmeyer
Well Known Member
Background: just bought an RV-8 and discovered that the combination of back surgery 18 months ago, abdominal surgery a year before that, and fluid on the lungs in the last year had decimated my G tolerance.
Update: Had an unfilled prescription for more physical therapy for my back, so (as somebody suggested) I started that regime. No surprise, my core strength was pretty puny, and the therapist had a whole bunch of not very macho exercises that I could do, even with the limitations of my back. There's been a bunch of progress, and 3Gs seemed doable on a few maneuvers.
So I tried a loop at 4Gs. The maneuver itself was kind of okay, but I had minimal situational awareness during the maneuver, and that's probably not surprising. The SA was nowhere near what it was when I used to fly a Decathlon and check all the parameters all the way around (three decades ago...)
Some abdominal muscles registered surprise at the 4G exertion, and again, that's probably not a surprise. But there was what felt like skeletal discomfort, and that makes me think that post-surgery at age 64, I may have to declare a personal limit of 3Gs.
So what are the entry speeds and techniques for 3G maneuvers in an RV-8? (170 HP, c/s prop, no inverted systems.) All things considered, I'm not willing to go experiment and see what works and what doesn't.
The maneuvers I'd like to do (ha!) are point rolls, super slow rolls, rolling 360s, and tumbling maneuvers, but those aren't RV maneuvers (but they're all less than 3G maneuvers, plus and minus). I've seen positive G four point rolls in a Pitts, but I have no idea how to do those.
Comments? Suggestions? And I think that reality suggests that I be very conservative in my risk management...
Thanks!
Ed
Update: Had an unfilled prescription for more physical therapy for my back, so (as somebody suggested) I started that regime. No surprise, my core strength was pretty puny, and the therapist had a whole bunch of not very macho exercises that I could do, even with the limitations of my back. There's been a bunch of progress, and 3Gs seemed doable on a few maneuvers.
So I tried a loop at 4Gs. The maneuver itself was kind of okay, but I had minimal situational awareness during the maneuver, and that's probably not surprising. The SA was nowhere near what it was when I used to fly a Decathlon and check all the parameters all the way around (three decades ago...)
Some abdominal muscles registered surprise at the 4G exertion, and again, that's probably not a surprise. But there was what felt like skeletal discomfort, and that makes me think that post-surgery at age 64, I may have to declare a personal limit of 3Gs.
So what are the entry speeds and techniques for 3G maneuvers in an RV-8? (170 HP, c/s prop, no inverted systems.) All things considered, I'm not willing to go experiment and see what works and what doesn't.
The maneuvers I'd like to do (ha!) are point rolls, super slow rolls, rolling 360s, and tumbling maneuvers, but those aren't RV maneuvers (but they're all less than 3G maneuvers, plus and minus). I've seen positive G four point rolls in a Pitts, but I have no idea how to do those.
Comments? Suggestions? And I think that reality suggests that I be very conservative in my risk management...
Thanks!
Ed