Lakeland R-C Club

Oconomowoc, WI
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Welcome to the aerobatics page of the Lakeland-RC Website.  We hope this page is informative for you, and also a little entertaining.  The intent of this page is to help you understand the various aerobatic maneuvers that you will hear about, read about, or see being performed.  This page currently contains links to various other pages and a copy of the Aresti Aerobatic Symbols catalogue.  The intent is to update this page with descriptions/definitions and video of the various maneuvers as time permits.

The Basics

 

The Loop:

Inside Loop:

A vertical circle entered from straight and level flight. A positive pitching movement is used at all points in the loop to draw the circle, so that the airplane's canopy is pointing inwards. Both the inside and outside loop are sometimes casually referred to as a 'loop the loop'.

 

Outside Loop:

A vertical circle entered from straight and erect level flight, canopy is pointing outside of the loop. Loop can be above or below the straight and level entry altitude, from erect or inverted attitude. (Draws extreme negative G)

 

Roll;

360° revolution about the longitudinal axis - the wings will be rotating around the fuselage

 

Inverted Flight;

Rolling of the airplane 180° about the longitudinal axis - the canopy will now be pointing towards the ground and the wheels pointing toward the sky

 

45° up line:

The object is for the airplane flight path to be 45° from horizontal, as viewed by a ground observer. The actual angle flown when viewed by the pilot would differ depending on whether the figure is flown into or with the wind, and wind strength. This maneuver is used in other advanced maneuvers, such as the Cuban 8.

Intermediate/Advanced

 

Slow Roll:

Model rolls at a uniform rate through one (1) revolution in either direction. Center is inverted portion of maneuver.  The slow roll requires control input from aileron, rudder and elevator

 

Immelmann:

Half loop "up" followed by a half-roll.  The transition to the half-roll should fluid, with no breaks between the end of the half-loop and the start of the half-roll

 

Split "S":

Half roll followed by a Half loop "down".  The transition to the half-loop should fluid, with no breaks between the end of the half-roll and the start of the half-loop.  The Immelman and the Split "S" are basically the reverse of each other.

 

Torque Roll:

The airplane is pulled vertical (~1/4 throttle is a good starting point) and started to go into a hover, without sustaining the hover. Roll the airplane about the roll axis (now vertical).  After one revolution, or more, allow the airplane to begin to fall out.  Time the fall-out so that the airplane is able to fly out of the maneuver upright and level.

 

Flat Spin:

This one is not quite as easy to explain in simple terms to get the full effect.  A flat spin is entered due to an aggravated stall that results in rotating about the center of gravity of the aircraft wherein the aircraft follows a downward path, in this case with the aircraft having the wings parallel to the Earth and the nose at or slightly higher than the horizon.  Check out this video for an example....

 

Lomcovak:

This maneuver is in the autoration or tumbling maneuver family.   Involves tumbling the airplane simultaneously nose over tail and wingtip over wingtip.  Introduced by Czechs such as Ladislav Bezak and others

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPM8qveStJ0 (great video with Pitts bipe showing a Lomcovak and other maneuvers)