Wind Correction Recommendations

[Alky6]

Was out practicing the basic IMAC sequences and had a decent crosswind. On a vertical upline one has to crab the fuse to keep the plane tracking straight up. So here is my problem, and hoping I can get some recommendations. When you reach a point when it is time to make a direction change, say a humpty bump (or sharks tooth, etc.) - what do you do about the wings not being "level" when you start to pull at the top of the upline of a humpty bump? The plane is not going to continue in that vertical plane because the wings aren't level and you will end up with a half loop at whatever degree crab you're in. What do you do? do you stop the crab just before pulling? Try to correct with Ailerons during the pull? Help! I am sure there are many ways to sking the cat on this one.... Hope that makes sense.

Thanks in advance!
-Paul

 

[bigblueswope]

Great question. Can't wait to read the answer.



BJ Swope

 

[Pistolera]

Yes, excellent question. OK....wings level AT ALL TIMES during straight and level flight, vertical lines, 45 deg lines, OR during any radius, such as 1/4 or more of a loop. Assuming all you had was a crab (YAW) angle during the upline.....as you pull, or push over the top, you must ease in aileron as needed during the radius to keep your wings LEVEL. the crab (YAW) angle stays in during the radius.

For each 5 deg that the wings are NOT level their is a 1/2 point deduction in score. There is ZERO point deductions for yaw angles....PROVIDED that the TRACK of the aircraft is vertical, 45 deg or level, as appropriate. If it is still drifting in or out because of too much or not enough yaw, then the same 1/2 point/5 deg deduction applies to the track.

Clear as mud now!?!?!

 

[Robotech]

To thicken the mud a little, in the hammer you must "uncorrect" before the stall. The plane must not show any pitch or yaw before rotation. 1/2 point for 5 degrees either way.

 

[Alky6]

Thank you, thank you, gentlemen. Have some things to work on... Has been a bit of a mind-F*** for me. LOL

 

[thurmma]

@Alky6 it only gets better or worse, whichever way you look at it We were flying in some pretty good crosswinds this weekend for our final contest of the season and it was a challenge to say the least. I found myself actually adding more throw in my rudder to get the plane straightened up before the stall on my hammers. My uplines were at almost a 45 degree crab to keep them straight! One heck of a challenge AND a good time!

 

[Pistolera]

Some very good practice when no crosswind exists is to fly upright on the X axis (L to R or R to L) and use rudder WHILE KEEPING THE WINGS LEVEL to skid the plane either towards or away from you.....at the end of the "box" do a 1/2 loop up to inverted and do the same thing going the opposite direction. When you get tp the other end of the "box" do another 1/2 loop down to upright. If you skidded(Yawed) to make it do out on the first pass, then yaw it to bring it back in on the next pass. KEEP THE WINGS LEVEL the whole time you're doing this.

Learning to yaw the plane to adjust its track in and out is one of the fundamentals of precision flight.

Another tip when you are flying inverted across the box (X axis)......to make the plane yaw so it goes out (away from you) move the rudder stick in the same direction the nose is pointed. To bring it in....move the rudder stick towards the tail.

 

[Pistolera]

To thicken the mud a little, in the hammer you must "uncorrect" before the stall. The plane must not show any pitch or yaw before rotation. 1/2 point for 5 degrees either way.

Correct on the pitch, but any yaw is fine and NOT down-gradable on hammers.

 

[tl3]

To thicken the mud a little, in the hammer you must "uncorrect" before the stall. The plane must not show any pitch or yaw before rotation. 1/2 point for 5 degrees either way.

As Earle already pointed out, wind correction in yaw during hammerheads is perfectly acceptable. The hammerhead is a vertical plane maneuver in the pitch axis, so if you are wind corrected in pitch then you must return the aircraft to a vertical attitude for the pivot. Any drift that occurs during the pivot is not downgraded. Once the pivot is complete; the aircraft establishes a vertical downline, the pitch wind correction will need to be re-established.

 

[Alky6]

Great info here! So I get the skidding (yawing) portion and assuming the across the box is the x axis, the elevation is the z-axis and let's say then the y-axis is the distance horizontally from the nut behind the sticks (away from you or closer to you), is there a penalty for turn around maneuvers that move you in the y axis? In @Pistolera 's example, if the sequence was exactly what you describe for practice (other than the portion moving in and out in the y direction) would there be any deductions? Or does every turnaround maneuver supposed to have a y-axis value of zero (assuming some arbitrary data point). Am I over complicating this?