What would you do?

[tom.]

You are flying along in... well... let's say an older 172. You encounter wake turbulence strong enough that you roll about 80 degrees before you even know what's happening. Do you:

a.) go with it, roll the rest of the way around?

b.) Fight it, try to roll back to level?

Never happened to me, but when you have teenagers in flight training I guess you can expect to discuss stuff like this.

 

[HPNPilot1200]

You are flying along in... well... let's say an older 172. You encounter wake turbulence strong enough that you roll about 80 degrees before you even know what's happening. Do you:

a.) go with it, roll the rest of the way around?

b.) Fight it, try to roll back to level?

Never happened to me, but when you have teenagers in flight training I guess you can expect to discuss stuff like this.

Even if the CG was far enough forward to put the aircraft in the allowable 'utility' category, I would still roll the wings to level. Why do a barrel roll? I certainly wouldn't recommend it, especially with the chance of further wake turbulance. If the plane was banked and flipped more than 90 degrees, I might consider pulling it through in that direction, but I'm not sure. Time to ask the CFI next time I see him.

Correcting the problem by rolling wings level is the best option IMO...and a barrel roll could get yourself into more trouble than you originally had. I also wouldn't "fight" the controls, but apply a smooth application of both alieron and rudder to roll wings level and then apply elevator to recover from any altitude loss after sufficient speed has been maintained.

Talk to your CFI about this one.... It's a good question for a CFI, and getting the answer in verbal form may also help. You will probably learn a lot more from it.

If you aircraft rolls 80 degrees due to wake turbulance, you have a greater problem than recovering from it....but that's for another discussion.

Jason

 

[Richard]

You are flying along in... well... let's say an older 172. You encounter wake turbulence strong enough that you roll about 80 degrees before you even know what's happening. Do you:

a.) go with it, roll the rest of the way around?

b.) Fight it, try to roll back to level?

Never happened to me, but when you have teenagers in flight training I guess you can expect to discuss stuff like this.

Unusual attitude training kicks in. You don't fight it, you correct it.

If I was at alt and felt proficient in rolling that type a/c I might consider going through with a complete roll. But by the time I had considered it I would have already made the correction back to wings level.

I've considered this very question before. My answer comes down to would I perform aerobatic manuevers in a non-aerobatic a/c? I still need to get myself down to Rich Stowell's outfit at Santa Paula.

 

[Nav8tor]

Since I've never done any aerobatics I think my instinct would be to fight the roll and try to level the wings by rolling back in the opposite direction. Logic tells me that the best thing to do is to go with it and continue the roll all the way around since the airplane already has momentum in that direction.

 

[Bill]

I would give full aileron and full rudder counter to the roll. If the roll continued in the original direction and I went past 90 degrees, well, then, I'd have to make the call. I may at that point go full pro-roll input.

As Richard says, usually it's automatic. Last night I was doing approaches in gusty wind, and had the wings picked up to 60 degrees, and was at near full aileron and rudder deflection without thought, and back to neutral as soon as level.

 

[jesse]

Well. I know for me there is an instant reaction to correct for such things. The only point in which I can see myself continuing a roll would be when I was past 180 degrees inverted. 90 degrees is not your turnaround point. You have 360 degrees of roll. At 90 degrees you have 270 degrees left if you try to continue, or 90 degrees if you roll back.

A 90 degree bank or slightly inverted is no big deal, and can be easily corrected for. Generally my technique is something like:

1.) Roll back out, at the same time I generally pick the nose up with the rudder. I do this because:
a) I want wings level.
b) I want to stop the situation from getting worse, I don't want more airspeed. This is why I'll be picking the nose up along with rolling out at the same time from the start.
2.) Once your wings are coming back level you slowly phase out the rudder and continue to pick the nose up with the elevators.

This part is important
When you start to get to a very steep bank, 90 degrees +, DO NOT PULL BACK ON THE YOKE. If you pull back on the yoke you are not going to be making yourself more level. You will just be loading your wings up, it's a good way to lose them. The only want to pick the nose up is with rudder.

Generally unusual attitude recovery is taught simply as rolling out, and then correcting pitch. I sort of do this at the same time with the rudder.

It's your call what you want to do.

 

[poadeleted20]

Depends on what my roll rate is at that point. If it's high enough that I can't stop it, I complete the aileron roll. If it stops at 80 degrees, I roll it back wings level. And be darn careful what you do with the yoke, because if you bury the nose, it will bury you. You'll probably need enough forward yoke as you go through 180 roll to zero-g the plane to avoid the nose falling straight down, which can lead to redline airspeed before you can recover -- that's what happened to the USAir 737 near PIT a few years back. Use rudder only to control yaw/coordinate with aileron (center the ball) because you don't want to try knife-edge flight in a C-172.

 

[Jeff Oslick]

Unusual attitude training kicks in. You don't fight it, you correct it.

If I was at alt and felt proficient in rolling that type a/c I might consider going through with a complete roll. But by the time I had considered it I would have already made the correction back to wings level.

I've considered this very question before. My answer comes down to would I perform aerobatic manuevers in a non-aerobatic a/c? I still need to get myself down to Rich Stowell's outfit at Santa Paula.

Get the upset-training. It is absolutely worth it. I did it about 6 years ago, and I want to do a "refresher". I didn't do mine with Rich Stowell, but Rich trained my sister, who is now an aerobatic instructor herself. She highly recommends Rich's course.

The answer is - it depends on your roll-rate and airspeed. If you got flipped to 80 degree bank very quickly, the aircraft's inertia is likely better used to continue the roll through inverted, rather than waste energy trying to reverse the roll direction. The main thing that needs to be avoided is getting into a Split-S, which, if entered, is a recipe for over-stressing the airframe.

Jeff

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

After one flys a given aircraft in moderate or greater turbulence for a number of flights, a feel for yoke input/back pressure-feedback relative to Va should develope in the pilot to the point that when being tossed by really wicked wind, that feel should help the PIC make the critical decision of whether to fight to regain straight and level flight or roll with the overwelming punch from the wind, as it were. In either case it's a fairly hairy situation and solution.