The Down Range Forum

Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: ratcatcher55 on April 26, 2010, 01:19:19 PM

Title: For the aviation buffs
Post by: ratcatcher55 on April 26, 2010, 01:19:19 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=nKU0uQki5Dc

Nicely done!

I did like the formation with the Lighting, Mustang, Sabre and Warthog.
Title: Re: For the aviation buffs
Post by: billt on April 26, 2010, 02:47:26 PM
Very good! I like to watch Svetlana Kapanina perform in her Sukhoi 31. At around 2:38 into the video, she hangs it on the prop vertically, completely motionless. Bill T.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKLaJDIoWfI

Title: Re: For the aviation buffs
Post by: Solus on April 26, 2010, 08:18:49 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=nKU0uQki5Dc

Nicely done!

I did like the formation with the Lighting, Mustang, Sabre and Warthog.


Love the Lightning and Mustang in any formation.   Did I see a Hustler in there too?

Title: Re: For the aviation buffs
Post by: Solus on April 26, 2010, 08:20:51 PM
Very good! I like to watch Svetlana Kapanina perform in her Sukhoi 31. At around 2:38 into the video, she hangs it on the prop vertically, completely motionless. Bill T.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKLaJDIoWfI



WOW...an amazing woman.  I can't help but be impressed by capable women.....I guess that is why M 'ette is so popular around here...we all know she is capable of about anything  ;D ;D
Title: Re: For the aviation buffs
Post by: billt on April 26, 2010, 08:27:28 PM
WOW...an amazing woman.  I can't help but be impressed by capable women.....I guess that is why M 'ette is so popular around here...we all know she is capable of about anything  ;D ;D

She's 40 years old, married with 2 kids, and is a licensed Pharmacist, and can still fly like that. In Russia she's a national hero.  Bill T.
Title: Re: For the aviation buffs
Post by: tombogan03884 on April 27, 2010, 02:05:11 AM
She's 40 years old, married with 2 kids, and is a licensed Pharmacist, and can still fly like that. In Russia she's a national hero.  Bill T.

She deserves to be.

Title: Re: For the aviation buffs
Post by: Solus on April 27, 2010, 07:39:46 AM
A few years ago I heard someone talking about a woman aerobatic pilot here in the States who was turning heads with  her flying.

I don't remember a name, but I seem to recall that she may have been in her teens and that she did amazing things with her aircraft....things not done before.  While that seemed unlikely to me, I wonder if anyone has heard of her and is there video of her skill?

Title: Re: For the aviation buffs
Post by: billt on April 27, 2010, 08:08:50 AM
I don't know of any very young American aerobatic pilots, but I'm sure they're out there. From a competition standpoint the best female American right now is Patty Wagstaff. She flies an Extra 300 which is a German aerobatic monoplane. She is very good, but Svetlana Kapanina has beaten her on an almost regular basis in world competition. Kapanina is famous for her over the top, completely out of airspeed, maneuvers while maintaining total, perfect control. About the only other pilot on the airshow circuit that can do a low altitude prop hang besides Kapanina is Sean D. Tucker. His highly modified bi plane is all but specially constructed for it.

It's one thing to be able to simply do these maneuvers, let alone do them at low altitude. At the low altitude she and others perform at there is zero margin for error.  Bill T.
Title: Re: For the aviation buffs
Post by: Solus on April 27, 2010, 08:18:56 AM
I noticed Kapanina's daring.

Perhaps it was Kapanina or Wagstaff they were talking about.  It was probably around 10 years ago,  Will check Wagstaff.
Title: Re: For the aviation buffs
Post by: billt on April 27, 2010, 09:05:48 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkKZnXAiTQQ&feature=related

This is another video of Kapanina performing in competition, (no smoke), and in freestyle. In competition they have to perform a preselected set of maneuvers inside an imaginary 3 dimensional "box" in a specified amount of time. If she leaves the "box" at any time during her performance she will be penalized. Also if she doesn't complete them in a specified time frame, and remains in the "box" too long, she will have points deducted as well.

In this video she flies a Sukhoi 26. It has shorter wings, and is a lot more skittish to fly. These aircraft are built with inherent instability so as to be extremely maneuverable. The Sukhoi 26 has a very powerful engine as well. Look at the pitch on the non adjustable prop and you can imagine how much power it takes to turn it. Another thing is she has to memorize her entire performance. All she has to go on is the small sketch she has on the instrument panel.  Bill T.
Title: Re: For the aviation buffs
Post by: Solus on April 27, 2010, 09:54:44 AM
Great again.

In the first video, I noticed she was going through turns standing on the ground...

I wasn't sure if she was just memorizing the sequence of turns and stops she needed to make or if she was, somehow, working on timing or mental imaging or even feeling spin forces?

I understand about the instability...

I see aerobatic planes that seem to have the wings position more along the center line of the fuselage than towards the bottom and have little or no 'angle of attack' built in, rather being more parallel with the center line.  And they are symmetric rather than flat on the bottom.

I enjoy watching these videos...like I have the ones posted here on auto racing...nice to have only one place to go for all of this  :D :D
Title: Re: For the aviation buffs
Post by: billt on April 27, 2010, 10:13:32 AM
I like to watch the competition videos a little better because they are forced to literally throw the plane around far more to stay within the confines of the "box". In the second video of her, you can see just how hard she pulls the nose up into the vertical to remain inside the "box". This can cause her to pull in excess of 10 G's. The Sukhoi 26 and 31 are stressed to 20 positive G's. While no pilot would remain conscious at that G rate, it can produce over 15 G's on the wings during an abrupt pull up like that, because of the tremendous air resistance caused by "Pancaking" the bottom of the wing flat against the direction of the airflow.

 Air racers at the Reno Air Races encounter similar forces rounding the pylons. In years past pilots have literally ripped the wings off aircraft doing this sort of thing. In the Red Bull Air Race Series pilots will be disqualified if they pull over 10.5 G's during their pass. The planes have accelerometers in them which are pilot tamper proof that record the G load during the entire flight.  Bill T.