Evaluating Aircraft Performance

[Baumer]

Having read (and reread) several threads recently about aircraft performance got me thinking. One argument thrown back and forth, has to do with information provided in POH's and other source documents in particular. As such this argument leads to a certain amount of interpretation that I'd like to focus on.

This is more to discuss performance issues and come to common terms, and is not intended to drive a discussion about a particular plane or problem.

As a first point of discussion I'd like to look at the power on, flaps down stall of the F4U-4.

This is the version of the Pilots Handbook I have;


And this is what it states about the POWER ON, FLAPS DOWN stall;


Now take an F4U-4 and replicate that stall, perhaps I'm not flying it correctly, but I could not get it to " roll-off violently" and drop 600 to 900 feet. (yes I have stall limiter off    )

To me the stall was rather gentle and easily managed with rudder, but I'd like to hear what everyone thinks, in comparing the handbook statement to how it "feels" in game.

I'm sure someone relatively new to Aces High will have a very different perspective of the same stall.

<S> Baumer

[FLS]

How much alt did you lose in  recovery?

[Baumer]

Only 200 to 300 feet depending on how long I held the stick back.

[FLS]

I suppose the altitude you start at and fuel weight would have an effect too.

As to the "violent" stall, there's a big difference in perception of maneuvers when your chair doesn't move compared to feeling like the floor just dropped out from under you.

I believe I read somewhere that the F4u-4 had an easier stall recovery than previous models but I don't recall the source.

I'll play with the stall when I get home and let you know the results. I've stalled all the F4u's many times but I don't recall the details.

[Saxman]

The thing here is that while the stall is milder it's the case universally, so it's not just the F4Us.

[Baumer]

I am not trying to point out a fault in the F4U-4, I am trying to discuss the difference between actually flying a test and how it's written in the POH.

I have talked with several CAF pilots who fly the -4 Corsair and they would not classify the wing drop as "violent" rather more as a clean stall separation with left wing drop that's correctable (with quick action). So what I'm getting at is the verbiage of a POH may be more cautionary than what actually happens just to have the pilot err on the side of safety. 

[Saxman]

Ah, I getcha.

Incidentally, I was thinking about the official pilot training film for the Corsair that was linked here a while back, and IIRC the flaps-down, power-on stall was nowhere near this sudden, violent insta-spin that people seem to think should happen.

[gyrene81]

By some counts the "violent response" was speculated to be a result of over compensation in an attempt to recover. Not sure how violent the reaction would be but it's a sure bet that over compensating in panic would make the situation much worse.

[mtnman]

Ah, I getcha.

Incidentally, I was thinking about the official pilot training film for the Corsair that was linked here a while back, and IIRC the flaps-down, power-on stall was nowhere near this sudden, violent insta-spin that people seem to think should happen.

Here's a link to that film-

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1056703518162002454#

Pretty cool film overall, interesting to watch, interesting to realize this was "cutting-edge" at the time.

The in-flight stall footage starts at about 12.5 minutes in...

The wing-drop at stall looks to result in about 1/4 of a roll.

[FLS]

Baumer I had the same experience as you. I could do a stall that looked like the video but it was easy to recover in less than 600 ft. With 2 notches flaps I fell further into the 600-900 range.