Intermediate Flying in a Super Decathlon

Sunday morning I took the D out to take a glance at the intermediate figures would feel like. Looking over the sequence card, the routine should be flyable in a Super Decathlon…in the hands of someone that knows what they’re doing.

I have been flying Sportsman sequences for the past few years. Loops, rolls, spins, rolls on lines, hammerheads, and any combination thereof are found at this level of competition. You will not see any negative g pushes, snap rolls, or many hesitation rolls until you get to the intermediate. This is exactly what I was looking at when I headed out to the practice area. I wanted to look at a P-loop, vertical upline with a push to level, and a pull-push-pull humpty with a quarter roll on the downline.

First up, the P-loop. Draw the letter “P”. Imagine you are the airplane and you starting from left to right at the base of the looping portion of the P. Simple as that. It is a loop with a vertical downline on the back of the loop. On the sequence card they have a snap put at the top of the loop but seeing as how I have yet to snap the Decathlon I just wanted to fly the loop and see what my energy state (altitude, airspeed) would be coming out of it. The figure is easy to fly (without the snap mind you) and I moved on quickly.

Figure 2 is a vertical upline with a push to level flight. From straight and level you pull vigorously up so that you are going straight up. Wait a second or two and then push the nose back down so that it is level with the horizon again. It sounds simple but keep in mind that your airspeed is bleeding off faster than you can blink when you are going straight up. You have to have enough airspeed after the push to fly away from the figure without descending. I knew my airspeed would be low but I wasn’t prepared to see the airspeed indicator all the way at 0 mph after I pushed level. The first challenge presents itself. The D is so draggy that even with an entry of 150mph, I had bled off all my airspeed after only a short vertical line. The problem is that you need to fly away from the figure. The next figure is a spin which is a great combo, but you cant go right from the push to the spin. This would score horribly with the judges, most likely a 0. I’ll need to enter the figure faster.

The last item up for viewing was the pull-push-pull humpty with a quarter roll on the downline. From level, pull up to vertical, count a few seconds and then push the nose over in a half loop all the way until you are pointing straight down. Before pulling out of the dive, roll the airplane 90 degrees. Congrats. Figure flown. These are fun (see previous post about trying this out a few months ago) so I was comfortable trying it out. The pull out was pretty hefty. I was watching my airspeed during the pull out and it was climbing fast. If you pull hard enough, you can control your airspeed. I pulled hard enough so that I arrested the airspeed at a safe amount. Once I was level again I was stunned to see I had pulled 5.1g. That is way more than I ever pulled in this plane before. It felt fine on me or the airplane. I shouldn’t need to pull that much. I should be able to manage my energy better so I can keep the G down below 4.5.

What have I learned? Everything in the intermediate sequence is faster, harder and requires a refined touch to make it work. If I can pull this off in the Decathlon it will be a huge personal achievement. I like the challenge and I cant wait to take this further.

(Yeah I know this post is not my normal style of writing. I had to post quickly. I'm packing my stuff to move in a few weeks and time is valuable. A post will follow about this little change o' scenery)