AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2022 - 66

WE'RE ON THE BACK SIDE OF A LOOP
over western Maryland's verdant fields. The
Extra 300L's nose is pointed straight down, the
sleek airplane is quickly accelerating-and then it
happens. The front-seat pilot abruptly hauls back
on the control stick, the stall warning chimes, and
the wings exceed their critical angle of attack and
stall. The Extra buffets, and then-its protests still
unheeded-snap-rolls a quarter turn.
Momentarily relaxing back-pressure on the
stick fixes everything. The angle of attack is
reduced, smooth airflow reattaches to the airplane's
symmetrical wings, and a firm, 4-G pull
returns the Extra to level flight.
" What the heck just happened? " the bewildered
front-seat trainee asks. " What was all
that shaking about? And why are we 90 degrees
off heading? "
This " teachable moment " was provided by
the AOPA Extra 300L, a two-seat, unlimited
aerobatic airplane donated by veteran instructor
and former Microsoft manager Bruce
Williams. The AOPA Air Safety Institute is
using the extremely capable aerobat for upset
recovery training and creating educational
videos designed to help pilots avoid loss-ofcontrol
accidents.
Upset recovery training gives pilots a
deeper understanding of a concept we're all
taught academically but struggle to internalize-namely,
that an airplane can stall at any
attitude and any airspeed.
The pilot inadvertently stalled the Extra-
even though its nose was pointed straight
down at an airspeed well above its power-off
stall speed-because he was alarmed by the airplane's
extreme nose-down attitude and sought
to recover immediately. The combination of the
Extra's light but authoritative elevator and the
pilot's adrenaline-boosted startle response produced
an aerodynamic stall that the pilot didn't
want or expect.
Suppressing that " panic pull " reflex is one
of the biggest benefits of upset recovery training.
Such education can be a lifesaver if it
allows pilots to recognize the harbingers of an
inadvertent stall, particularly at low altitude.
Loss-of-control accidents account for about 48
percent of all fatal general aviation accidents,
and they most often happen during the baseto-final
turn, after takeoff-especially at high
density altitudes-a partial or full engine failure,
or while performing go-arounds.
66
AOPA PILOT / December 2022
Williams, who helped develop Microsoft's
hugely popular Flight Simulator X program,
taught aerobatics, upset recovery, and spins in
the Extra 300L for about 20 years before donating
his airplane to AOPA.
The Extra can easily perform every spin
permutation including inverted, flat, and accelerated
varieties, but Williams says the main
benefit that pilots get from spin training is learning
spin avoidance, not spin recoveries.
" By practicing multiple spins, pilots get
remarkably good at recognizing high angles of
attack and yaw-the two essential elements for
the onset of a spin, " he said. " They can easily recognize
and avoid these precursors so that they
don't stall. And if they don't stall, they can't spin. "
Spin recoveries are excellent confidence
builders, but such knowledge is largely academic
because the low-altitude stall/spin
accidents that lead to fatalities often take place
at traffic pattern altitude or below where recovery
is likely impossible.
" Even if a pilot's spin recovery technique
is flawless, it won't help if there's insufficient
altitude to recover, " Williams said. " The key to
reducing accidents is avoiding inadvertent stalls
and spins in the first place. "
UPGRADING THE EXTRA
The AOPA Extra 300L was originally equipped
with a mechanical attitude indicator and directional
gyro in its six-pack instrument panel, but
those were replaced early on with Garmin GI
275s-two in the rear cockpit and one up front.
The new displays stay oriented throughout 360
degrees of pitch and roll, and allowed ASI to test
under-the-hood recoveries from extreme inflight
upsets (see " Rudder and Wrench: Trust
your Instruments " p. 84).
The GI 275s and the Garmin GNC 355
com/nav unit that drives them also improve the
airplane's cross-country capabilities and reliability.
The Extra has been displayed at Sun 'n
Fun and EAA AirVenture in 2022, and it's scheduled
to attend an upcoming AOPA Foundation
High School STEM Symposium in Memphis,
Tennessee, late in the year.
AOPA is also providing aerobatic flights as
incentives for some of the educators who teach
the AOPA High School STEM Curriculum.
About 10,000 students are currently enrolled
in the free program designed to introduce high
school students nationwide to aviation careers.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2022

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