{"id":5744,"date":"2016-08-12T06:16:57","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T13:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=3960"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:54","slug":"161-slips-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/161-slips-2\/","title":{"rendered":"#161 SLIPS"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(Written in July of 2016)<\/h3>\n

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(No, this article has nothing to do with Elizabeth Taylor or Susan Sarandon)<\/h3>\n

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At Tailwheel Town, I\u2019ve found that it\u2019s important to design a maneuver for every issue a flyer may have.\u00a0 The two maneuvers described here will help the flier learn to deal with crosswinds.<\/h3>\n

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This little article also has to do with the fact that all the maneuvers taught at Tailwheel Town have something in common\u2026. SOMETHING is always constant.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take the most common maneuver taught here, the alternating sideslip.\u00a0 For those of you who have a copy of \u201cBrian\u2019s Flying Book\u201d, it used to be called \u201cThe Portuguese Roll\u201d but I changed it because everyone was confusing it with the \u201cDutch Roll\u201d.<\/h3>\n

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What\u2019s constant in the alternating sideslip?\u00a0 Heading.\u00a0 In fact, when the most common error in performing this maneuver is made, the maneuver becomes the least taught one in my bag o\u2019 tricks, The Alternating Forward Slip!\u00a0 And what\u2019s the constant in the alternating forward slip?\u00a0 Course.<\/h3>\n

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Let\u2019s describe these two maneuvers, staring with the Alternating Sideslip:<\/h3>\n
\"DSCN4282\"
The airplane is on its left side of the runway and it’s right wing is down as it sideslips to the right…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"DSCN4288
The airplane has now slipped over to the right side of the runway and has just put it’s left wing down to begin the slip back to the left side of the runway. Notice that no matter what side of the runway it is, it’s heading has remained constant… the runway heading. (photos by Jim Mateski, who risked his life by standing on the centerline!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First of all, remember that, for all landings, coordination is thrown out the window as we cross the airport fence.\u00a0 Heading is controlled by rudder and course is controlled by aileron.\u00a0 Performed at low altitude, the alternating sideslip is actually performed in a low approach\u2026 we will not touch down.\u00a0 We begin the maneuver, lined up right over the runway lights on one side of the runway.\u00a0 Our heading is the same as runway heading.\u00a0 Now we bank the airplane to begin a slip to the other side of the runway.\u00a0 But in order to maintain runway heading, we must use opposite rudder\u2026 CAREFUL!\u00a0 NOT TOO MUCH!\u00a0 Most of us use too much opposite rudder.\u00a0 If we fall for that, our heading will no longer be runway heading.\u00a0 Instead it is a heading which is the opposite of our new course over to the other side of the runway.\u00a0 As you back off on that rudder in order to hold runway heading, remember the error you just made, because it will be an important part of the next maneuver.\u00a0 Suffice it to say that while performing the alternating sideslip, our heading will remain the same as runway heading and our course will run back and forth as we move the airplane from one side of the runway to the other.<\/h3>\n

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Now for the other one, the alternating FORWARD SLIP:\u00a0 Keeping our course constant will be easy because someone painted a nice, long dashed line down the runway.\u00a0 They call it the Centerline.\u00a0 We call it the Course line.\u00a0 Our airplane\u2019s course will be constant, which means that we will be straddling that centerline from one end of the runway to the other.\u00a0 But our heading will change from one side to the other.\u00a0 Not only is this maneuver a lot easier to perform, but it is also a lot of fun and when you do it right is one of the most graceful maneuvers we do.\u00a0 As the plane proceeds down the runway, we will use a poopload of rudder on one side.\u00a0 In order to keep the airplane from making a skidding turn in that direction, we will use opposite aileron, banking the airplane in the opposite direction.\u00a0 The result is a forward slip, with the plane right over the center line.\u00a0 As soon as we\u2019ve achieved a forward slip with that heading, we will smoothly change the bank to the other side and the rudder to the opposite side as well.\u00a0 The result is a graceful change from a forward slip with one wing down to a forward slip with the other wing down\u2026 and the course never changed.<\/h3>\n

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A couple of details:\u00a0 The purpose of the alternating sideslip is to give you lots of practice doing exactly the same thing you\u2019ll do to land in a crosswind.\u00a0 But the purpose of the alternating forward slip is to increase your proficiency by practicing a maneuver which has virtually no other purpose!<\/h3>\n

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With the alternating forward slip, we have to be aware of wind.\u00a0 The reason is obvious, but might be missed.\u00a0 Our average heading (the heading which is between the two headings the airplane assumes during the maneuver) will be one that is directly into the wind, not necessarily runway heading.<\/h3>\n

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The practice of these two maneuvers will almost guarantee a much improved ability to handle a crosswind.\u00a0 They\u2019ll also relieve you of ever having to think too much about slips.\u00a0 All you have to remember is \u201cRudder for heading, aileron for course\u201d.\u00a0 Period.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

” For those of you who have a copy of \u201cBrian\u2019s Flying Book\u201d, it used to be called \u201cThe Portuguese Roll\u201d but I changed it because everyone was confusing it with the \u201cDutch Roll\u201d.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3981,"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":[71,149,174],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5744"}],"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=5744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}