These
two actions are usually enough to get out of a spin. Here are the
reasons why this is so :-
1. We now have one wing over the critical AOA, and one wing under
it. By bringing the elevators back to a central position, we decrease
the AOA on both wings, so that they both get back under the critical AOA
to a stage where they are producing equal lift. Doing this alone
will not get you out of a spin in EAW, but it is a must.
2. By hitting full opposite rudder to the stalled wing, we are aiming
to yaw the aircraft back so that it meets the airflow straight on.
This cures the AOA Differential, gives the "shaded" wing root full airflow,
and allows both wings to have the same airspeed. This will cancel
out the lift differential between both wings, and will pop you out of the
spin. Be patient, as you may have to wait a few spins until you recover.
Use of the stick.
In the EAW manual it says to push the stick to the side of the stalled
wing as well as applying full rudder to the opposite side that you pushed
the stick. I have found that use of the stick is not neccesary -
the aircraft will soon pop out of the spin without ailerons. Remember
that if the airflow has stalled over one wing, then that aileron is inopperable
anyway . Also, why would you want to keep the aircraft spinning in
that direction anyway? The only reason I can think of for jamming
the stick to one side, is that it helps you to quickly co-ordinate which
side to apply full opposite rudder. Quick thinking is vital here,
but try it without stick, and you will find that it works just as well.
Cutting power.
The EAW manual also says that you shouldn't adjust the power setting.
I feel that this has some merrit, because you want to build up airspeed
as soon as you can, but because one wing is dragging so much, you will
not build up any airspeed until you recover from your spin. If you
happen to be at full power as you enter a spin, you are really just wasting
power and un-neccesarily heating up the engine for no reason. For
this reason, I like to cut the power back down to 10% or so until I have
recovered from the spin, and then hit full power to build up airspeed.
Cutting power to one engine.
Another area that people have experimented with while flying twin engine
aircraft such as the Bf-110, is to cut power to one engine. This
in theory is a great idea, but it requires you to cut the power to
an engine on the correct side at the same time as you are doing all the
neccesary stick, rudder and throttle movements, and then fire it up again
to full power once you've recovered. Unless you can quickly and confidently
do all this at the same time, you are probably losing more than you gain.
However, if you are in a prolonged spin, or can confidently and quickly
do the recovery procedure (Setting a Macro button on your controller would
be a good way), here is the way to do it. In addition to the above
mentioned routine, you should cut the power
to the engine on the same side that you are ruddering to, and apply full
power to the other engine. This adds
to the effect of the rudder, and helps to swing the stalled wing forward,
and push the 'unstalled' wing backwards. The problem here is that
once you come out of the spin, if you are too slow to fire up the engine
again, the engine on the formerly stalled wing will keep pulling that wing
forward, yawing the aircraft too far and putting you into a spin in the
other direction! It is for this reason that I don't bother shutting
down engines. If your initial reaction is quick enough, then you
can get out of a spin before using these extra measures. Feel
free to experiment with it, and let me know if you have any success with
it.
Dropping landing gear.
I have heard that some people have found that
dropping the gear will bring them out of a spin after a few spins (when
coupled to the usual recovery routine). Aerodynamically, I can't
see why this should work, but if it does work for you, use it by all means.
Be wary though, because having the gear down will drain airspeed rapidly,
so retract it the moment you exit the spin. Once again, if your spin
recovery routine is quick enough, you shouldn't need this.
Flat spins.
Flat spins are a peculiarity of EAW that seems to crop up commonly with
the Bf-110. Once you get into a spin situation, sometimes the aircraft
makes itself spin in a horizontal plane. If your initial attempt
at recovery doesn't work, relax the controls, and after a while the aircraft
will get back into a more "conventional" spin, and you should be able to
recover from there. Be aware that sometimes the aircraft slowly stops
spinning, then reverses it spinning motion! Wierd, huh? If
this happens, be ready to switch over your recovery technique. Watch
the airspeed colours carefully to see if you are getting out of the spin
Tumbling spins.
I have only encountered these when attempting "hammerheads" or "tailslides",
and usually in twin engined aircraft. With the latter move, you climb
vertically up keeping the wings perfectly level and your nose straight
up, until airspeed stops and gravity pulls the nose down into a vertical
dive. Sometimes here you will go into a tumbling spin where the aircraft
spins nose over tail, or the nose swings like a pendulum. The longer
you can keep the nose straight up before inverting, the more likely you
are to go-a-tumblin'. To get out of these I try to synchronise the
stick movements with the way the nose is swinging (pull back if the nose
is rising, then push forward if the nose is dropping - kind of like a deep
stall routine in Falcon 4.0 for those who know it.), and eventually the
pendulum motion slows down and a conventional spin begins to take over.
Use the usual recovery techniques from here.
Recovering from your "recovery"
This is an area that needs some attention, because if you don't do it right,
you will find yourself straight back into another spin. As you pop
out of the spin, you are using full rudder. As you snap out of the
spin, you are still near the critical AOA, and if you hold the rudder for
too long you will simply yaw the aircraft too far the opposite way and
start spinning in the opposite direction. At this stage, you should
gently release the rudder, apply full power, and keep the elevators
central. You will probably find yourself diving which is a good way
to build up speed. Continue flying along with gentle inputs to the
elevators and rudder, as you build up speed ensuring that your airspeed
display stays in the green. Gently pull out of your dive, and once you
have saved your skin here, quickly re-aquire your oppenent in the padlock
view, and be ready for his attack, because while all this spinning has
been going on, the enemy will probably have moved into an advantageous
position, and will be preparing to blast you out of the sky!
So, to sum it all up, here is a quick checklist of what you should do the
moment you enter a spin. For an example, lets assume that we are
in an anticlockwise spin with the left wing stalled and dropping fast,
and the right wing producing maximum lift. The neccesary directions
for this example are in brackets.
1. Neutralise the elevators
2. Push the stick in the direction of the spin or the stalled wing
(LEFT / ANTICLOCKWISE)
3. Apply full rudder in the opposite direction to the stalled wing
(RIGHT)
4. Cut the power to 10%
Once you pop out of the spin, then you should: -
5. Slowly release the rudder, and centralise
the stick
6. Apply 100% power, keep the nose down to build up speed until the
airspeed is green
7. Gently pull out of your dive making sure that you don't pull up
and put the airspeed into the yellow.
8. Re-padlock your target and come up with some lifesaving moves!!
On the whole, it is a lot easier to avoid the spin in the first place, and the next section will deal with that.
Click here to go to Avoiding Spins
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