Flight Training - July 2022 - 34

That is, until pilot encounters stalls, spins, and
unusual attitudes. Then, all of a sudden, the old truism
just isn't true anymore.
Beyond 90 degrees of bank, pulling on the yoke
can make the houses get bigger, sometimes at an
alarming rate. Similarly, during stalls and spins, the
airplane may be in an extreme nose-down attitude
yet pulling on the yoke doesn't raise it. It's as though
the airplane has developed a mind of its own, or it's
possessed. All of it feels terribly bewildering and
wrong-especially during an unintentional loss of
control in flight.
This tension and confusion is just the area that
unusual attitude training is meant to address. And
the AOPA Extra 300L is an ideal aircraft to cut
through the fog.
The two-seat aerobatic aircraft is rated for
plus or minus 8 Gs with two people aboard, so as
long as it's got altitude, it's strong enough not to be
bothered by a heavy-handed pilot's mistakes. And
all pilots make mistakes, especially during novel
or ambiguous situations they haven't encountered
before, and when exposed to high gravitational
forces that are foreign to them.
Also, the Extra has " honest " flying qualities. It has
no quirks or peculiar corners of the flight envelope.
Its performance is spectacular, but its behavior is
precise and predictable.
Bruce Williams, a veteran flight instructor who
owned flew the Extra 300L for two decades before
donating it to AOPA, said the biggest benefit to spin
training is the hyper-awareness to stalls and spins
that comes from repeatedly flying at the edge of
an airplane's critical angle of attack. The crossover
point from controlled flight to an aerodynamic stall
becomes easily identifiable and well known.
AOPA will produce and share video content that
emphasizes these points during the time the association
operates the Extra.
" Practicing recoveries from accelerated spins,
flat spins, and multi-turn spins is all well and
good-but it misses the point, " Williams said.
" The unintentional stalls and spins that result in
accidents tend to take place at low altitude where
recovery may be impossible regardless of pilot
technique. The key is teaching stall/spin avoidance
in such a way that pilots never unintentionally lose
control of their aircraft in the first place. "
In the Extra, pilots can explore turning stalls,
deep stalls, accelerated stalls, secondary stalls, and
cross-controlled stalls knowing that they aren't taxing
the airplane's capabilities. No matter how badly
they bungle a maneuver, this unlimited aerobatic
airplane will recover without complaint.
It's the aerial equivalent of learning to drive in
snow by going out to a big, vacant, icy parking lot and
doing donuts, one after another. Sure, it's fun to do,
and for many teens in cold climates, it's the highlight
of driver training. But its real purpose is safety.
In the Extra during a right-turning stall, for
example, at high engine power, it's common for the
airplane to snap to an inverted position when it
reaches its critical angle of attack and departs controlled
flight. That's an eye-opener the first few times
it happens, but it's no crisis.
The recovery procedure is identical to all other
stalls: Lower the angle of attack (by releasing back
pressure on the control stick) to break the stall.
Then adjust pitch, power, and bank to recover to
level flight.
The Extra flies like other airplanes-there's just
more of everything. More power, more roll rate, and
the rudder and elevator authority. Every pilot tends
to over-control at first, then they settle down and
quickly get the hang of it.
The Extra's wings are symmetrical and there's
zero angle of incidence-so the airplane flies pretty
much the same right-side up or upside-down. The
wings have no dihedral, so there's no inherent stability
or rudder coupling. If you're flying straight and
level and a wing dips, you can't pick it up with opposite
rudder. Roll and yaw forces are totally separate
and independent.
Aside from its control sensitivity, however, much
about the airplane is conventional and feels familiar.
There's an aural stall warning and light airframe
buffeting before the stall break. Visibility through
the bubble canopy is excellent, especially from the
The aileron roll is a fun, confidence-building maneuver in
the Extra, largely because of its extremely rapid roll rate.
There's almost no adverse yaw, so the only control input
required is aileron.
CHARLES FLOYD
Flight Training - July 2022

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