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Spirals, clockwise or counterclockwise?


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Alex,

to quote from 'Paramotoring from the ground up' :

Because of the torque action, turning against the direction of rotation of the prop will be much harder than turning with it. Treat spirals in this direction with particular suspicion.

My advice is practice spirals at a very good altitude until you know what to expect. You can lose a lot of height very quickly, not good at low altitude :(

Cheers,

Alan

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Idiot

Maybe you should ask how to come OUT of a spiral ? And how are your wingovers ?

well id like to ask that question....

im just getting a bit braver with my wing....after 9hrs flying and have started to be a bit more firm with the controls...i always find it a bit daunting to pull a brake in hard...

so...not that i need it yet.....id like that question answered if anyone cares?....

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The best way to exit a Spiral....

SLOWLY!!!

Slowly let the controlling hand up (say 3/4 turns to be sure) while putting a SMALL amount of brake into the outer side brake during the last turn.

when your flying again you will notice the wing surge backwards (depending on how SLOWLY you have exited the spiral,) make sure your brakes are up at this point.

If your heading towards a stall due to not coming out slow enough then you can turn the wing if timed correctly into a dive / wingover to (get rid of the energy)

That is about as brief a brief as you could get....

I do like spirals and do lots of them, but I do them with LOADS of height and never close to the ground.

In a nutshell, you need TRAINING!! get yourself out to do an SIV course because one thing is for sure, if you get it wrong it will be very bad.

If you are going to do it anyway, start with LOADS of height and build up to a full spiral over time and remember to exit SLOWLY and take a RESERVE.

MY OVERALL ADVICE IS: GET TRAINING IF YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW TO DO IT CORRECTLY. Google 'Jocky Sanderson' for the god of SIV Training for many years.

I can only give you my limited advice based on my own experience over time, Jocky will teach you in a week what has taken me years.

SW :D

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Thanks everyone for your advises.

I've been turning counterclockwise but I can't maintain the altitude like the videos on Youtube and I'm descending so I thought maybe I should change the direction but the exit is gonna be extremely hard if I turn clockwise.

My wing overs are deep and with good outside brake to control the pressure.

SIV and Acro course is not that accessible in Western Australia or even in Australia for that matter.

Cheers

Idiot (Alex)

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I deliberately got in quick with a sharp reply because this is one not to beat about the bush with.

As mentioned above it will be easier for you to turn to the right with your Simonini engine but this is a bit of a trap and one that Dell falls into almost all the time. You will notice (if you can bear his videos) that he nearly always does his spirals to the right. It may be easier in that direction but if you find yourself suddenly descending and jump on the power the torque steer will increase the roll into the ground. Although harder to achieve it is safer to spiral away from the natural torque steer so that a sudden power increase will naturally take you away from the ground.

The training suggestion (particularly SIV) is worth its weight in gold.

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[quote=To perform the low level spirals should I turn clockwise or counterclockwise?

Cheers

Idiot (Alex)

Hello,

I suspect you are asking about steeply banked turns or 360s, rather than spirals?

The difference between a spiral and a banked turn is that when spiralling you are descending fast, when performing a banked turn you should not descend. When performing a spiral the leading edge is pointing towards the ground (nose down), you are descending very fast (14 to 27 m/s), it can take several hundred feet to pull out of a spiral in a controlled manner, so the only time that you do a low level spiral is just before you die.

Paul D

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Alex,

Great advice from Paul and Fanman. As one who taught himself (Fixed Wing) aerobatics from a book and took down the wisdom of others over a beer, I can HEARTILY recommend taking qualified advice from an instructor on this an any other extreme manouver. It might cost a little more but you pick up the skills before you find yourself in a position requiring prompt execution of a recovery manouver that you have not formally learnt.

The forum isn't the best place to pick up your flying lessons, in fact it can be dangerous as both Fanman and Paul imply.

Let someone who knows what they are doing train you properly, imagine how scary it is going to be trying to remember (perhaps conflicting) advice from a forum as you get nearer and nearer the ground pulling 2-4g wrapped into a spiral.

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[quote=To perform the low level spirals should I turn clockwise or counterclockwise?

Cheers

Idiot (Alex)

the only time that you do a low level spiral is just before you die.

Paul D

Or indeed a high level one....

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cf ... amotor.pdf

Please also bear in mind when reading this that Kevin was a highly experienced pilot, indeed he was actually an instructor.

You are of course pilot in charge and free to decide your own level of risk and reward.

However to do that you need to be aware of the risks.

And If it can happen to the best....

Steve

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