Upset Prevention and Recovery

[jlunseth]

No idea what the airspeed was, the Vne on the Extra is over 200, but we never got over 175, at least not when I was watching the ASI.  What we were actually working on was to get a “seat of the pants” feel for 0.5 Gs in a push and 2,5 in pull up, the instructor had the G meter I didn’t, but you don’t really want to pull more than that it just feels wrong. In the spin though, the Gs are not bad at all. As far as the G loads are concerned the whole idea is to do it by feel. Yes, pulling up will not break a spin or stall. Air France 447 demonstrated that if it needed to be demonstrated.

In recovering from a full spin, it is actually important to hold the stick full back when rudder is applied. The purpose is not to bring the nose up. Given the down angle of the aircraft, the elevator will blanket the rudder, so pull the elevator full back to reduce the blanketing, stick full back.  Then push forward. Not very important in the 300XL though, the rudder is behind the elevator to avoid the blanket.

When they were talking about the blanket effect in class, it occurred to me that my mooney has a large “V” in the elevator at the rudder.  One obvious reason is to prevent mechanical interference, but I wonder if the purpose is also to reduce blanketing of the rudder in a full spin?