Throughout the tech tips manuals (Volumes 1-4), there is an excellent series of articles on spins, spin aerodynamics, spin recoveries, and the development of the Beggs-Mueller spin recovery technique. IAC member and Chair of the IT Tech Committee Tom Myers has identified some of those articles as well as others from Sport Aerobatics which were published after the technical tip manuals were assembled for your reading pleasure.
Articles added for 2023 In the Loop
January 2023 - Technical Tips | Volume 1 (Sport Aerobatics articles from 1971 to 1979)
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"Spins, Will Your Aircraft Recover?" By, Donald A. Kennedy
The spinning motion of an aircraft is extremely complicated
to analyze. Most theoretical studies have involved a large
computer and the NASA spin tunnel at Langley Field. The reason for this is that the normal theory for most aircraft studies assumes
that various aerodynamic parameters vary linearly with small
changes of the aircraft's equilibrium position. This clearly is not true
for the spinning motion of the aircraft. However, there are many
aspects of the spin that are well understood and the basis of research and experience in the past forty years.
Read the full article. Pdf attached at the bottom of this webpage.
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February 2023 - Technical Tips | Volume 2 (Sport Aerobatics articles from 1980 to 1983)
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Aircraft C.G. and Mean Aerodynamic Chord"
By, Jim Young and Dan Rihn
A question often asked during any gathering of aerobatic pilot is,
“How much does your aircraft weigh?” It is a good question for
we’ve all seen how important it is to have a light fuel/pilot/aircraft
package powered by high horsepower. But have you ever thought
of walking up to a competitor and asking, “By the way, where is your competition C.G. on your mean aerodynamic chord?”
Read the full article in the PDF attached to the bottom of this webpage.
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March 2023 - Technical Tips | Volume 2 (Sport Aerobatics articles from 1980 to 1983)
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The Spin - Myth and Reality, by Eric Müller
This subject could really fill a library. In contrast to all the more or
less scientifically written texts, I want to try to assemble here one or two simple but important facts, with the object in mind of
giving the aerobatic pilot — or indeed any pilot who finds
himself getting desperate in an unintentional spin — an easy method of getting out.
I know my theories are correct, because, in addition to studying every existing text on the subject, I have practiced spins
intensively myself, taking in the widest possible variety of aeroplanes that come into the class of "conventional" design
(i.e., excluding canards, T-tails, etc.)
Read the full article in the PDF attached to the bottom of this webpage.
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April 2023 - Technical Tips | Volume 2 (Sport Aerobatics articles from 1980 to 1983)
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"Spins - In the Christen Eagle II"
5-1 Introduction
This section of the manual describes spin avoidance and
spin recovery procedures for the Eagle II aircraft. Spins of all
types are frequently experienced during aerobatic flight:
Unintentional spins may occur after faulty performance of
some aerobatic maneuvers, and intentional spins are required
in competition aerobatic sequences. This section is not an
attempt to describe sophisticated spin techniques for
competition: it is designed to provide a broad background of safety information for pilots who will be encountering various types of spin situations for the first time.
Read the full article in the PDF attached to the bottom of this webpage.
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May 2023 - Technical Tips | Volume 3 (Sport Aerobatics articles from 1984 to 1986)
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"Spins - with Gene Beggs", by Gene Beggs, IAC 2803
In last month’s issue of Sport Aerobatics January 1984), I promised I would next share with you a method of “Spin
Prevention” that I have used to good advantage in the past few years. This little “trick” has kept me out of trouble on numerous occasions. I think you will find it to be very helpful.
In your Pitts or Eagle or other aerobatic aircraft have you ever
pushed or pulled up from too low of an entry speed to do a vertical snap, vertical roll, etc., only to have it mush out and quit flying?
You are sitting there thinking, “If I even so much as move the controls, this little turkey is going to spin”! Ever had that happen?
If you are like most of us, you have.
Read the full article in the PDF attached to the bottom of this webpage.
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June 2023 - Technical Tips | Volume 3 (Sport Aerobatics articles from 1984 to 1986)
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"Spin Recovery - by Eric Müller, IAC 7244
Ever since the publication of my book, FLIGHT UNLIMITED in December 1983, and the attendant interest in my “Spin”
chapter, I have been delighted to see how much controversy
has been stimulated by my recommended spin recovery
technique – especially in the U.S.A., where yet again you have proved yourselves more open to experiment and innovation than anywhere else in the world.
Gene Beggs. whose articles endorsing this recovery technique
have been appearing in editions of Sport Aerobatics, has
earned my undying respect for "coming out of the closet" on
spins and spin recovery, actually admitting that there were
grey areas in his grasp of this subject even with umpteen
thousand flying hours and a pocketful of pilot and instructor
ratings. It should be remembered that Gene and I had never
met or even spoken in December of 1983, and at the time of
his ready my 1981 article, THE SPIN: MYTH AND REALITY, I was
just some bozo from the other side of the Atlantic who was
proclaiming a revolutionary and pretty hair-raising idea about
letting go of the stick during a spin...
Read the full article in the PDF attached to the bottom of this webpage.
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July 2023 - Technical Tips | Volume 3 (Sport Aerobatics articles from 1984 to 1986)
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Gene Beggs, IAC 2803, authored several articles for Sport Aerobatics, in which he answered questions from readers about their experiences with spins.
One of the letters in this series was from a 73-year-old man who, along with a few of his friends, were homebuilders and had built a biplane of very “small dimensions” with a light English “Pobjoy”
engine, 80 HP with a three to one reduction gear. He flew
the biplane to 9,000 ft. AGL and attempted to execute 10
full turns.
READ the rest of the letter and Gene's reply on
the pdf attached at the bottom of this webpage.
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August 2023 - Technical Tips | Volume 3 (Sport Aerobatics articles from 1984 to 1986)
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In this article Gene Beggs, IAC 2803, replies to some of his
column readers who doubt that his spin recovery method
would not work in in aft CG conditions for the Decathlon,
Pitts S-2A or S-2B with 220 to 230-pound pilots plus parachutes.
"Let me assure everyone that it indeed does work in all three
aircraft mentioned above!” wrote Gene. “During the course of the past two years of teaching my advanced spin course in the Pitts S-2A, S-2B, the Eagle II and the 180hp Decathlon, I have
never seen a time in which the aircraft did not recover beautifully form any spin using the power-off, hands-off, opposite-rudder method of emergency spin recovery.”
Read the full article in the PDF attached to the bottom of this webpage.
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September 2023 - Technical Tips | Volume 3 (Sport Aerobatics articles from 1984 to 1986)
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Design Deficiency, by Gene Beggs Contributing Editor
After my years of spin tests and after spinning dozens of
different models of aircraft, I now believe that in those
extremely rare instances when we encounter a spin mode
in an aircraft where the power-off, hands-off, opposite-
rudder method of emergency spin recovery will not work,
that we have discovered is not a flaw with this "new" method
of emergency spin recovery, but rather a design deficiency in
that model of aircraft.
In the overwhelming majority of spinable aircraft, the power-off, hands-off, opposite-rudder method of emergency spin
recovery that I advocate works beautifully in all spin modes in
spite of being different from the method of spin recovery shown in the aircraft flight manual.
Read the full article in the PDF attached to the bottom of this webpage.
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October 2023 - Technical Tips | Volume 3 (Sport Aerobatics articles from 1984 to 1986)
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Herendeen & Beggs Add to Story, By Gene Beggs
Back near the first of the year, I spent a most interesting and
enjoyable week in Santa Paula, California, as the guest of K.D.
Johnson, the owner of Aerobatic Safety Unlimited, formerly
known as the "Pitts Stop". Ken is the Pitts dealer on the west coast.
The purpose of my visit was to conduct my spin training course.
During the week I also had the pleasure of flying with the one and only, Bob Herendeen! The primary purpose of our flight was to compare notes and techniques for performing and recovering from inverted and upright flat spins.
Read the full article in the PDF attached to the bottom of this webpage.
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