AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2023 - 20

PROFICIENT PILOT
Seeing red
Loving an outside loop-not
BY BARRY SCHIFF / AOPA Foundation Legacy Society chairman
MY FIRST EXPOSURE to aerobatics was in 1956. I was getting
checked out in a Ryan STA, a beautiful low wing monoplane
with tandem, open cockpits. It also had a narrow, inverted,
inline engine that contributed to the sleekness of the World War
II trainer.
I was in the rear cockpit and my instructor was up front. We
communicated using a Gosport tube, a system of hollow rubber
tubes that was the forerunner of the electronic intercom. The idea
was to shout into a funnel at one end of a tube. The other end split
into a Y such that the ends terminated at holes in the other pilot's
helmet near where earphones would normally be. The instructor
had a similar system for screaming at the student. This scheme
made it possible for pilots to communicate with one another
depending on how loud one yelled and how well the other listened.
On this flight, I should have been a better listener.
" Hey, Barry, " came the barely audible voice. " Want to do an
outside loop? "
I heard only the word " loop " -a mild aerobatic maneuver. I
never heard " outside. "
" Sure, " I yelled into the Gosport. " Why not? "
I had expected the throttle to advance and the stick to come
back, but everything happened bass ackwards. The instructor
shoved the nose down and I lifted off my seat, but thankfully was
restrained by a gaggle of straps and belts. Considering what was
to follow, it might have been more merciful to simply have fallen
out and ended everything right then and there.
The negative Gs increased, and as the blood rushed to my
head I began to see red-literally and figuratively. Redout, I later
learned, is the opposite of blackout and occurs during negative
Gs. The victim sees red because negative Gs drive excessive
blood to the head, reddening the field of vision.
Thankfully the loop did not last long, but its aftereffects did.
In the short term, I had difficulty climbing out of the airplane
and walking without a wobble. I felt nauseated and had a
headache that lasted all day.
In the long run, it discouraged me from developing any
enthusiasm for aerobatics. I eventually began to feel like an
outcast because it seemed I was alone in my disdain for G loads.
Aerobatics affects different pilots in different ways. Short
people, for example, have more tolerance for Gs than tall people.
20
AOPA PILOT / September 2023
This is because the heart of a tall person needs to pump blood
a greater distance to the brain.
I finally decided that I had hidden my feelings about
aerobatics long enough and began to come out of the closet.
What surprised me was discovering how many others felt the
same way. During a survey of 42 pilots, I found that most did
not care for the discomfort resulting from aerobatic flight.
Some thought that aerobatics was an expression of masochistic
self flagellation. A psychologist suggested, however, that many
do not openly admit these feelings because of a fear that they
might be regarded as lacking machismo. OK, I admit it. I am
not a macho pilot. (I have discovered that confession comes
easier with age.)
Flying is multidimensional and represents different things
to different people. Some prefer dizzying snap rolls while others
find it more challenging and gratifying to keep the cross pointers
centered during an ILS approach in a turbulent crosswind. It
is obviously up to each pilot to pursue what they consider the
most satisfying aspects of flight.
Is it necessary to learn aerobatics to become a proficient
pilot? Some would argue that a pilot should be capable of
flying an airplane to and within every limit of its operating
envelope. Others claim also that a pilot should know how to roll
an airplane, for example, because the maneuver might be needed
to recover from a low altitude upset caused by wake turbulence.
I disagree. Even if a pilot did know how to roll, would anyone
have the instinct to do so at low altitude? Any of us would probably
be more likely to react by attempting to counter any rolling
tendency caused by wake turbulence with opposite aileron.
However, none of this means that I oppose spin training. I
do not. Pilots should know how to both avoid and recover from
spins. But this does not necessitate winding up an airplane into
a five- or a 10-turn spin. It requires only learning to recognize
an incipient spin and then initiating a timely recovery.
Don't misunderstand me. I do enjoy mild aerobatics such as
aileron rolls, loops, and spins,
but I absolutely do not love
a lomcevak (even though I
respect those who do).
BarrySchiff.com
BARRY SCHIFF has been
flying for 71 years and
instructing for 67 of them.
http://www.BarrySchiff.com
AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2023

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