Palmerston North Aeroneers

Inside loops

Due to its simplicity, the inside loop is among the first aerobatic maneuvers a pilot learns. It is named after a 360 degree circle with the pilot on the inside of the loop. Simply applying power while pulling back on the elevator stick will cause the aircraft to loop upward into vertical flight, continue into inverted flight, continue into a dive, and return to horizontal flight.

Outside loops

An outside loop follows the same path as an inside loop, but is performed with the pilot or cockpit on the outside of the circle the aircraft describes.

Immelmann turn

Side view of the Immelmann turn: (1) Level flight; (2) Half loop; (3) 180° roll to bring aircraft back level flight. The Immelmann turn is named after flying ace Max Immelmann. It has become one of the most popular aerial maneuvers, being commonly used in airshows all across the globe.

To execute the Immelmann turn, the pilot pulls the aircraft into a vertical climb, and eventually completes half a loop in the aircraft from this climb, inverting the aircraft. The pilot then executes a half-roll to regain level flight.

Stall turn

The stall turn, also known as a Hammerhead. In a stall turn the plane goes upward, decelerates, yaws 180° under stall, and comes down nearly the same path it goes up, as if it gets hammered on the head.

Slow roll

The slow roll is just what the name implies. It is accomplished by inputting either right or left aileron. However, unlike most axial rolls, the slow roll is performed using less than full deflection in the ailerons. The result is a graceful maneuver, but because the aircraft is knife-edge or inverted for a long duration of time, rudder and elevator have to be used to maintain a straight flight path.

Four-point roll

The four-point roll is a quick series of quarter rolls. The pilot gives four separate, but very brief aileron inputs. The first rolls the aircraft to knife-edge, the second rolls the aircraft inverted, the third rolls the aircraft to opposite knife-edge, and the final input rolls the aircraft back to upright.

Snap rolls

The snap roll is an aggressive roll. The aircraft rotates about all axes at the same time, the predominant rotation being about the longitudinal axis.

Cuban-8

The Cuban 8 is a combination move involving both regular and inverted flight. The figure 8 maneuver is started from straight and level flight, and then pulling up and over into inverted flight. Rolling 180 degrees puts the airframe back to normal orientation to cross over in the middle of the eight and then pull back up into inverted flight again. Rolling out the second time and descending back to cross the 8 again completes the maneuver.

Rolling circle

Control stick inputs for the rolling circle (left-turning right-rolling), showing the typical amount of elevator and rudder input as a function of rolling position.

Rolling circle is a maneuver in which an aircraft rolls continuously while turning in a circle. This is arguably one of the most difficult maneuvers to perfect, since varying pitch and yaw corrections are necessary to keep the heading level while maintaining constant roll rate and turning radius.

Lomcevak

The Lomcevak maneuver is when the aircraft's tail spins pitching down about its wing while the entire aircraft is continuously stalled.