Hi Rich, great video and thanks for making it publicly available.
You're welcome! I've wanted to present these scenarios for a while now.
I completely agree with the statement above and I think it was my own personal experience and assertion that, what I think you're calling the NRC technique, is a bit more broadly applicable in an upset situation because it doesn't require the pilot to get back mentally in the game before making configuration changes that will pretty universally be good (power off and neutralize). As Gene Beggs mentions in his book, and I'm sure you've seen in countless lessons with students, there's a natural tendency to brace hard on the rudder pedals for some period of time - an indication of the brain freeze that might inhibit more proactive and proper inputs.
When starting out in aerobatics out exploring my own personal limits, there were times when a botched maneuver left me momentarily stupified. But with this technique engrained, in the blink of an eye I could have the power off and controls neutral, and I found that very often that was the only input required to recover. What might I have been doing with the controls otherwise for the indeterminate time spent mentally catching up and figuring out which rudder to press?
I'm sure there's a bit of the first learned/primacy issue here at play with me having studied with Bill first starting out in aerobatics training with him. Speaking not as an experienced instructor or accomplished acro driver, but as a student of the sport that's spent the last several years in a Pitts on the steep learning curve, I remain convinced that the upset recovery technique that Bill teaches is more useful and safer for a novice wanting to become upset proof than having learned PARE or Beggs.
I have no problem with the teaching of useful techniques tailored to specific situations. The issue is that we have to be very careful in public forums like this to always discuss such techniques in the proper context; to avoid talking in general terms rather than remaining crystal clear about the conditions under which certain techniques may be applicable.
Notwithstanding the above, there is also an aspect of this discussion that is either unrealized, or that may be disregarded as trivial when it is actually absolutely crucial to the implementation of unusual attitude recovery actions, namely: the psychophysiology of human beings under stress in the cockpit of airplanes. There is nothing simple whatsoever about any of the recovery actions we're talking about from a human factors standpoint.
Pilots under the duress of an unusual attitude must be taught to supplant instincts with exacting control movements. Pilots whose brains truly have locked up, or who have otherwise become mentally incapacitated by an unusual attitude, will be incapable of implementing any recovery scheme whatsoever. Instinct will then take over, yet instinct will not result in the proper actions being taken (except perhaps by chance). Self-preservation reactions almost always are contrary to pro-recovery actions in an airplane.
For instance, when you trained with Bill, you undoubtedly had to:
- Learn to override your natural instincts
- Learn to ignore (or at least squelch) the visual drama and physical sensations of the unusual attitudes
- Learn to remain (or regain) mental control over the situation
- Learn to maintain an awareness of your body position relative to the positions of the controls
- Learn to implement a specific, rehearsed, and mentally pre-programmed set of recovery actions
- Learn to reduce the power to idle
- Learn to precisely move ailerons and elevator from wherever they are to their neutral positions
- Learn to move the rudder from wherever it is to its neutral position
- Learn to recognize when the event is over to return to level flight
If the above were not true, no one would need any hands-on training; all we'd have to do is tell others "just do this!" But that's clearly not the case. We have to train the mind and body to deal with the abnormal situations. Moreover, none of the above elements will ever become instinctive; none of the above will be possible if the pilot becomes panicked (i.e., the brain becomes disengaged from what is happening). The conscious brain must always remain in charge of the body.
The above remains true whether the pilot is learning to implement NRC, or Beggs, or PARE in the Pitts because the underlying psychophysiological process is identical for all human beings. Given the above, it's debatable whether or not a particular viable technique is "easier" to implement than any of the alternatively viable techniques. When training for unusual attitudes, we are as much (or perhaps more) learning to cope while under the stress of unusual attitudes/emergencies as we are learning to apply a specific set of recovery actions.
In the case of the botched pivots during Hammerheads in the Pitts, it remains unclear what the difference is in terms of the physical action the pilot must take with the known rudder position at the time of departure from controlled flight. The pilot must cause the rudder to move from left to right whether applying NRC, Beggs, or PARE. With NRC, the pilot moves the rudder "opposite" and stops at neutral, whereas with Beggs and PARE the pilot moves the rudder "fully opposite." The pilot in any case must still be able to recognize which direction to move the rudder and then act accordingly -- the direction of movement is identical, only the magnitude differs.
What's not apparent in the Pitts video during the inverted spin scenario, but is in the article that will be published in May, is the reason why Beggs was chosen as the recovery technique for that particular scenario. When the Pitts finally does depart into that inverted spin, you experience an instantaneous whip of -2.5 to -3 g's into the first turn, and -4.5 g's in the second if allowed to go that far -- yes, it is THAT violent. This spin has by far the highest rate of rotation I've ever experienced in spins. In addition, there are many occasions where there are lateral g's imposed as well. Pilots are suddenly pushed up and away from the spin, thrust into their seatbelts and heads into the canopy. Headsets have been known to fly off as well. It is practically impossible not to pull the stick aft when that happens, aggravating the spin even further. Tactically speaking, it is difficult to perform a hands-on recovery of any type during this nasty spin. Luckily, Beggs remains effective in the Pitts and actually is the "simpler" technique given the unusually violent nature of the departure.
Rich
