![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Brian-landing-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Years ago I was commissioned to produce a video about a popular aerobatic team.\u00a0 The team consisted of three aircraft (I\u2019m not going to say what make and model because I want them to remain unidentified).<\/h3>\nI decided that I\u2019d shoot a lot of footage of their routine, both ground to air, air to air and in the cockpit of each aircraft with close-ups of each pilot.\u00a0 Then I\u2019d record an interview with each pilot, the audio of which I could use over the shots of them flying.<\/h3>\nIn the course of those interviews, I asked each pilot what his particular job was within the team.\u00a0 Now I already knew what each guy\u2019s job was.\u00a0 Obviously, there was a leader and two wingmen and within the flying portion, their jobs were pretty obvious.\u00a0 I also knew what their jobs were when they arrived at an airshow.\u00a0 One was in charge of seeing that contractual obligations were met and the airplanes were hangared.\u00a0 Another was in charge of getting the rental cars and another in charge of making sure arrangements for fuel had been made.\u00a0 But what I found particularly interesting was the answer each of them had when I asked him what his job was.\u00a0 \u201cWell,\u201d each man would say, \u201cI guess you could say that I\u2019m the energy management specialist of the team\u201d.\u00a0 Huh?<\/h3>\nIt seemed that each guy felt it was his job to manage the energy of these high performance aircraft while they flew in formation.\u00a0 It was so important to the flying of a formation team that each guy thought it was his domain.<\/h3>\nAnd that\u2019s just my long, convoluted way to say that energy management is the critical ingredient of operating EVERY airplane and it must be understood by every pilot.<\/h3>\nI hope that everyone who is starting to learn to fly understands this.\u00a0 It will make the learning process so much easier!\u00a0 As we climb out of the airport, we are storing energy.\u00a0 In this particular instance, that energy is in the form of altitude.\u00a0 Should we lose the engine, we will still have stored energy in the form of altitude.\u00a0 We can use that energy in different ways.\u00a0 If we want to maintain altitude with no power, we will simply continue to increase the angle of attack.\u00a0 The energy will be used in the form of airspeed.\u00a0 We\u2019ll pay for the maintenance of altitude with that airspeed, giving it up in order to maintain our altitude until we have no more to give.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be \u201cbroke\u201d when the airplane\u2019s angle of attack reaches the stall.\u00a0 If we choose to go faster, we can spend energy in the form of altitude, but eventually we\u2019ll be out of altitude.<\/h3>\nWhen you fly, you are the energy management specialist of that team, consisting of you and the aircraft.<\/h3>\nMany pilots fly at the best angle of climb (Vx) for their airplane as soon as they reach that speed on takeoff.\u00a0 They simply want to gain energy in the form of altitude and there may be a little fear of terrain in their thinking.\u00a0 Or they may choose to pursue that climb, simply because it seems like the best way for them.<\/h3>\nIn most cases, I choose to gain speed over altitude in the early stages of a takeoff.\u00a0 There\u2019s a simple reason for my choice of staying in ground effect as the speed increases.\u00a0 It\u2019s because, if the engine should fail, I\u2019ll have a lot of options as to where I\u2019m going to go.\u00a0 If I\u2019d immediately gone to Vx in order to gain altitude, I\u2019d have to dump the nose immediately in the case of engine failure. Instead of concerning myself with where to go, I\u2019d be concerning myself with the maintenance of airspeed in order to avoid the stall.\u00a0 That\u2019s just the way I do it.\u00a0 Is it right?\u00a0 Beats me.\u00a0 It works for me.<\/h3>\nAs with so many things in aviation, there are several ways to manage energy.\u00a0 Every situation is different, but the bottom line is that we are all the energy management specialist of our team.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the course of those interviews, I asked each pilot what his particular job was within the team.\u00a0 Now I already knew what each guy\u2019s job was.\u00a0 Obviously, there was a leader and two wingmen and within the flying portion, their jobs were pretty obvious.\u00a0 I also knew what their jobs were when they arrived at an airshow.\u00a0 One was in charge of seeing that contractual obligations were met and the airplanes were hangared.\u00a0 Another was in charge of getting the rental cars and another in charge of making sure arrangements for fuel had been made.\u00a0 But what I found particularly interesting was the answer each of them had when I asked him what his job was.\u00a0 \u201cWell,\u201d each man would say, \u201cI guess you could say that I\u2019m the energy management specialist of the team\u201d.\u00a0 Huh?<\/h3>\nIt seemed that each guy felt it was his job to manage the energy of these high performance aircraft while they flew in formation.\u00a0 It was so important to the flying of a formation team that each guy thought it was his domain.<\/h3>\nAnd that\u2019s just my long, convoluted way to say that energy management is the critical ingredient of operating EVERY airplane and it must be understood by every pilot.<\/h3>\nI hope that everyone who is starting to learn to fly understands this.\u00a0 It will make the learning process so much easier!\u00a0 As we climb out of the airport, we are storing energy.\u00a0 In this particular instance, that energy is in the form of altitude.\u00a0 Should we lose the engine, we will still have stored energy in the form of altitude.\u00a0 We can use that energy in different ways.\u00a0 If we want to maintain altitude with no power, we will simply continue to increase the angle of attack.\u00a0 The energy will be used in the form of airspeed.\u00a0 We\u2019ll pay for the maintenance of altitude with that airspeed, giving it up in order to maintain our altitude until we have no more to give.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be \u201cbroke\u201d when the airplane\u2019s angle of attack reaches the stall.\u00a0 If we choose to go faster, we can spend energy in the form of altitude, but eventually we\u2019ll be out of altitude.<\/h3>\nWhen you fly, you are the energy management specialist of that team, consisting of you and the aircraft.<\/h3>\nMany pilots fly at the best angle of climb (Vx) for their airplane as soon as they reach that speed on takeoff.\u00a0 They simply want to gain energy in the form of altitude and there may be a little fear of terrain in their thinking.\u00a0 Or they may choose to pursue that climb, simply because it seems like the best way for them.<\/h3>\nIn most cases, I choose to gain speed over altitude in the early stages of a takeoff.\u00a0 There\u2019s a simple reason for my choice of staying in ground effect as the speed increases.\u00a0 It\u2019s because, if the engine should fail, I\u2019ll have a lot of options as to where I\u2019m going to go.\u00a0 If I\u2019d immediately gone to Vx in order to gain altitude, I\u2019d have to dump the nose immediately in the case of engine failure. Instead of concerning myself with where to go, I\u2019d be concerning myself with the maintenance of airspeed in order to avoid the stall.\u00a0 That\u2019s just the way I do it.\u00a0 Is it right?\u00a0 Beats me.\u00a0 It works for me.<\/h3>\nAs with so many things in aviation, there are several ways to manage energy.\u00a0 Every situation is different, but the bottom line is that we are all the energy management specialist of our team.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
And that\u2019s just my long, convoluted way to say that energy management is the critical ingredient of operating EVERY airplane and it must be understood by every pilot.<\/h3>\nI hope that everyone who is starting to learn to fly understands this.\u00a0 It will make the learning process so much easier!\u00a0 As we climb out of the airport, we are storing energy.\u00a0 In this particular instance, that energy is in the form of altitude.\u00a0 Should we lose the engine, we will still have stored energy in the form of altitude.\u00a0 We can use that energy in different ways.\u00a0 If we want to maintain altitude with no power, we will simply continue to increase the angle of attack.\u00a0 The energy will be used in the form of airspeed.\u00a0 We\u2019ll pay for the maintenance of altitude with that airspeed, giving it up in order to maintain our altitude until we have no more to give.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be \u201cbroke\u201d when the airplane\u2019s angle of attack reaches the stall.\u00a0 If we choose to go faster, we can spend energy in the form of altitude, but eventually we\u2019ll be out of altitude.<\/h3>\nWhen you fly, you are the energy management specialist of that team, consisting of you and the aircraft.<\/h3>\nMany pilots fly at the best angle of climb (Vx) for their airplane as soon as they reach that speed on takeoff.\u00a0 They simply want to gain energy in the form of altitude and there may be a little fear of terrain in their thinking.\u00a0 Or they may choose to pursue that climb, simply because it seems like the best way for them.<\/h3>\nIn most cases, I choose to gain speed over altitude in the early stages of a takeoff.\u00a0 There\u2019s a simple reason for my choice of staying in ground effect as the speed increases.\u00a0 It\u2019s because, if the engine should fail, I\u2019ll have a lot of options as to where I\u2019m going to go.\u00a0 If I\u2019d immediately gone to Vx in order to gain altitude, I\u2019d have to dump the nose immediately in the case of engine failure. Instead of concerning myself with where to go, I\u2019d be concerning myself with the maintenance of airspeed in order to avoid the stall.\u00a0 That\u2019s just the way I do it.\u00a0 Is it right?\u00a0 Beats me.\u00a0 It works for me.<\/h3>\nAs with so many things in aviation, there are several ways to manage energy.\u00a0 Every situation is different, but the bottom line is that we are all the energy management specialist of our team.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When you fly, you are the energy management specialist of that team, consisting of you and the aircraft.<\/h3>\nMany pilots fly at the best angle of climb (Vx) for their airplane as soon as they reach that speed on takeoff.\u00a0 They simply want to gain energy in the form of altitude and there may be a little fear of terrain in their thinking.\u00a0 Or they may choose to pursue that climb, simply because it seems like the best way for them.<\/h3>\nIn most cases, I choose to gain speed over altitude in the early stages of a takeoff.\u00a0 There\u2019s a simple reason for my choice of staying in ground effect as the speed increases.\u00a0 It\u2019s because, if the engine should fail, I\u2019ll have a lot of options as to where I\u2019m going to go.\u00a0 If I\u2019d immediately gone to Vx in order to gain altitude, I\u2019d have to dump the nose immediately in the case of engine failure. Instead of concerning myself with where to go, I\u2019d be concerning myself with the maintenance of airspeed in order to avoid the stall.\u00a0 That\u2019s just the way I do it.\u00a0 Is it right?\u00a0 Beats me.\u00a0 It works for me.<\/h3>\nAs with so many things in aviation, there are several ways to manage energy.\u00a0 Every situation is different, but the bottom line is that we are all the energy management specialist of our team.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In most cases, I choose to gain speed over altitude in the early stages of a takeoff.\u00a0 There\u2019s a simple reason for my choice of staying in ground effect as the speed increases.\u00a0 It\u2019s because, if the engine should fail, I\u2019ll have a lot of options as to where I\u2019m going to go.\u00a0 If I\u2019d immediately gone to Vx in order to gain altitude, I\u2019d have to dump the nose immediately in the case of engine failure. Instead of concerning myself with where to go, I\u2019d be concerning myself with the maintenance of airspeed in order to avoid the stall.\u00a0 That\u2019s just the way I do it.\u00a0 Is it right?\u00a0 Beats me.\u00a0 It works for me.<\/h3>\nAs with so many things in aviation, there are several ways to manage energy.\u00a0 Every situation is different, but the bottom line is that we are all the energy management specialist of our team.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“In most cases, I choose to gain speed over altitude in the early stages of a takeoff.\u00a0“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,81,173,174],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4579"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}