Aerobatics
If you have already seen an aerobatic display from a skilled pilot, you may have asked yourself: “What would that manoeuvre be?“ Well, here is an overview of the most performed aerobatic manoeuvres. So if you see an aerobatic display the next time, you can recognise the manoeuvres. Descriptions contained in these pages are NOT intended as instruction. No pilot should attempt these figures without training from a competent aerobatic instructor, but you can use this information to perform aerobatics in your flight simulator!
Rules to live by
Pilots can’t perform aerobatics whenever and wherever they want. Aerobatics are prohibited over congested areas, over groups of people, near airports, and inside certain types of controlled airspace.
The pilots must also stay inside a zone, called the “box”. The box is a 1005 m (3300 feet) long and 1005 m wide area with the top at 1067 m (3500 feet), the bottom depends on the level of competency from the pilot. Beginners have to fly higher than more experienced pilots, the lowest limit in competition is 100 m (330 feet). There are 5 levels in aerobatics competitions: basic, sportsman, intermediate, advanced, unlimited.
At airshows, the pilot has his own limits which are approved by the aviation authorities.
Aerobatic Hieroglyphs?
To choreograph their competition routines and airshow displays, pilots use a special notation called the “Aresti System”. The K-value shows the difficulty of each manoeuvre. Each manoeuvre begins with a dot and ends with a vertical bar. Normal flight is displayed by a line, inverted flight by a dashed line. The pilots put a copy of their notes on the instrument panel to help them remember each manoeuvre. By each of the aerobatic manoeuvres described below, the corresponding Aresti symbol is displayed.
Manoeuvres
1. The Loop
The loop is a vertical circle in the sky, this is a fundamental aerobatic manoeuvre that is one of the first the pilots learn. Actually, performing a loop is more than just pull back on the stick, otherwise it will look more like an egg than a perfect circle…
2. The Aileron Roll
In an aileron roll, the airplane rotates 360° around its longitudinal axis, with the nose tracing a tight circle around a point on the horizon. In an Extra 300S, which has a roll rate of more than 400 degrees per second, an aileron roll happens quickly. Watch a Video
3. The Cuban Eight
This is a combination manoeuvre of two three-quarter loops with a descending half aileron roll on the back side of each loop (because otherwise the airplane stays inverted). The Cuban Eight is the first combination manoeuvre learned to beginning aerobatic pilots. The public see this manoeuvre as an eight lying on its side.
Watch a Video
4. The Spin
A spin is a stall in which the airplane corkscrews at a steep decent angle and low airspeed. The airplane’s twisting motion looks like a series of rolls, but it’s actually autorotation (a yawing motion caused by the position of the rudder). Watch a Video
5. The Hammerhead
The Hammerhead is a zero-airspeed turn. From vertical flight, the airplane turns around a wingtip and then heads straight down. This manoeuvre is often used by competition and airshow pilots to reverse direction and to change altitude into airspeed for the next manoeuvre. Watch a Video
6. The Split-S
This is an old fighter-pilot trick to reverse direction and convert altitude into airspeed for a quick getaway. The Split-S is a combination manoeuvre, consisting out of a half aileron roll to inverted followed by a descending half-loop.
7. The Immelmann
This manoeuvre is actually a reversed split-S: a climbing half-loop followed by a half aileron roll (from inverted) to normal flight. Again this is a pilot trick to reverse direction and convert altitude into airspeed for a quick getaway. Watch a Video
Many variations based on the described manoeuvres exist: many of them can be performed reversed, inverted, or can be combined with other manoeuvres. Also every aerobatic pilot has its own invented manoeuvres, and we have not talked yet about the many possibilities formation flying offers…
