Pitch, Power, Airspeed, Altitude?

dakovich

Well-Known Member
little quiz our chief flight instructors gives out to everyone...lest see what you think:

its an action, response kind of thing (ie. if you do this, what will happen to this and that)

Action: throttle
-increase power: what happens to airspeed/altitude
-decrease power: ?? airspeed ?? altitude
Action: yoke control
-limited back pressure: what happens to airspeed/altitude
-limited forward pressure: ?? airspeed ?? altitude ??

Action: yoke control again
-continued back pressure: ?? airpseed ?? altitude ??
-continued forward pressure: ?? airspeed ?? altitude ??

Action: aircraft trimmed for takeoff
-full throttle and add yoke back pressure: ?? airspeed ?? altitude??
-full throttle and NO back pressure: ?? airspeed ?? altitude??
 
[ QUOTE ]

Action: throttle
-increase power: what happens to airspeed/altitude
-decrease power: ?? airspeed ?? altitude


[/ QUOTE ]

-increase: airspeed decreases, altitude increases.
-decrease: airspeed increases, altitude decreases.

These do vary among types of airplane.

[ QUOTE ]

Action: yoke control
-limited back pressure: what happens to airspeed/altitude
-limited forward pressure: ?? airspeed ?? altitude ??

Action: yoke control again
-continued back pressure: ?? airpseed ?? altitude ??
-continued forward pressure: ?? airspeed ?? altitude ??


[/ QUOTE ]

More specific please. Do you mean pulling back to the stop? Pulling and releasing?

[ QUOTE ]

Action: aircraft trimmed for takeoff
-full throttle and add yoke back pressure: ?? airspeed ?? altitude??
-full throttle and NO back pressure: ?? airspeed ?? altitude??

[/ QUOTE ]

-add yoke: decrease below whatever speed takeoff trim and full throttle provides, altitude increases, enough back pressure, stall.

-no yoke: speed eventually settles out at whatever speed takeoff trim and full throttle provide, altitude increases.

Results will vary in different airplanes.
 
I'm really confused.
blush.gif
...looking for a scantron.
 
sorry, we all got confused the first time our chief instructor gave us those questions (and we're CFI's)

his basic thing is, what would happen if you were trimmed for some certain airspeed and all you did is increase power...oh lets say 600 rpm or whatever. will airspeed go up/down/or stay relativly the same...and what will happen with altitude, will it go up/down/ or stay relativly the same.

same thing for the yoke control stuff, when he says limited yoke movement he means pulling back about 2 inches on the yoke and holding it. when he says increasing yoke movement he means pushing forward until the yoke hits the stops, or pulling back until the yoke hits the stops (aka: all the way forward or back and hold it)


and as for the trimmed for takeoff scenerio stuff, well, i dunno. my chief wanted me to post this stuff on here to see what other people thought would happen.
 
Tell your chief to grab a jetcareers account and ask. It's free! We could use a few more experienced CFIs on here.

I do think he should reword his question though so it doesn't sound so ambiguous.
 
I'll play . . .

Action: throttle
-increase power: what happens to airspeed/altitude

Depending on the relationship between thrustline and CG in your particular aircraft, the addition of thrust may cause a slight pitch-up or -down. Either way, the airspeed will initially increase causing tail down force to increase, and the aircraft will pitch-up as aerodynamic forces overcome the effect of the thrustline. The extent of the pitch increase will be dependent upon the amount of excess thrust, and will result in a pitch that provides an airspeed that equalizes nose-down and tail-down forces. It will be darn close to the airspeed that you were trimmed for in level flight, but may vary due to the amount of prop wash effecting the horizontal stab.

-decrease power: ?? airspeed ?? altitude

Same as the above description, but in reverse.

Action: yoke control
-limited back pressure: what happens to airspeed/altitude

The increase in back pressure causes an increase in tail down force, resulting in an increase in pitch. Assuming that no change in power was made, the airspeed will decrease and altitude will increase. The new pitch attitude, as in the above examples, will result in a condition of equilibrum between the nose down force associated with the CG and the tail down force associated with the horizontal stabilizer and elevator. It will be a slower airspeed than the starting IAS.

-limited forward pressure: ?? airspeed ?? altitude ??

Same as the last description, in reverse. Decrease in tail down force, loss of altitude, increase of airspeed, pitch attitude resulting in an airspeed that provides equilibrium.

Action: yoke control again
-continued back pressure: ?? airpseed ?? altitude ??

Depends on the aircraft, the amount of elevator authority, and the thrust available. Assuming a regular ol' GA aircraft, the airspeed will decrease and the altitude will increase until the airspeed decays to the point of a stall. If you don't recover, you'll be riding a bucking bronco or a mellow buffet, depending on your craft, while still holding a low airspeed but losing altitude. It's entirely possible that the airspeed could begin to increase above the normal stall speed as you enter the realm of accellerated, deep stalls.

-continued forward pressure: ?? airspeed ?? altitude ??

Extreme nose down attitude with a dramatic increase in airspeed and a significant loss of altitude. If you're in an aerobatic airplane and you started high enough, you might manage to do an outside loop. If not, you'll probably rip the wings off as you exceed Vne or play in the world of negative G's.

Action: aircraft trimmed for takeoff
-full throttle and add yoke back pressure: ?? airspeed ?? altitude??

Again, depends on the aircraft, its thrust, and the elevator authority. In a GA plane, you'll probably lose airspeed from the get-go, or at the best, maintain your current airspeed for a moment before seeing the IAS needle plunge toward the '0'. As above, altitude will increase initially until the stall is reached, then decrease, while airspeed will decrease throughout.

-full throttle and NO back pressure: ?? airspeed ?? altitude??

Significant pitch-up moment, decrease in airspeed, increase in altitude, with the strong potential for a stall as airspeed bleeds off and the elevator remains effective due to the prop wash in a non-T-tail. In the right airplane, it would be possible to stabilize at the airspeed for which you were trimmed and see a positive rate if the initial pitch increase didn't cause a stall.

So, how'd I do?
Smilecrunch.gif
 
Everything largely depends on the aircraft. Some aircraft will pitch up to maintain the trimmed airspeed, some will just go faster in the short term.

Are we talking jets, light twins, single-trainers? UFO's?
 
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So, how'd I do?

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pretty much hit the nail on the head. we try not to complicate it too much with the aerodynamics until students get a little bit more into the training and at that point they start to corrolate things just as you explained.

its all really basic aircraft control stuff, but a lot of pilots (experienced and not) really couldn't answer these questions...if you have the opportunity go and try these things. and if you're a CFI try it with your students.

[ QUOTE ]
its all theory

[/ QUOTE ]

really its not, its more of a practical thing. EVERYONE tries to theorize what'll happen (i know i did) and most of the time they're just guessing because they've never actually done these scenerios. kind of like when an instructor/school/FBO/college/academy rushes their students through their training by giving them loads and loads of theory and NO real world experience on how the thing actually works and feels and reacts.
 
I agree completely. The lack of a basic understanding of cause and effect and the pitch, power, trim relationship hurts the private student but destroys the instrument folks. A lot of the studs that I inherited from previous instructors spent as much time trying to fix errors in aircraft handling as they did actually attending to instrument material. It's amazing how many people will pull power and pitch down for a descent and forget to put power back in when they level off . . . or forget to pull power out when they level off . . . or pull the power almost to idle . . . or forget about that neato trim wheel . . . or . . . or . . . BLAH!
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If we just took the time to instill the proper concepts and relationships in the student during private training, we'd eliminate so much of their pain as they move on into the world of advanced aviation.
 
On a related note, going back to my early Air Force flying days and the instrument training we had.

NOTE & DISCLAIMER: pulling this all out of the old, very old, memory bank. So take it for what it’s worth…something akin to reading the NASCAR rule book!

Air Force called it (and still may if AFM 51-37 still exists),

"Control and performance" instrument flying.

Cockpit instrumentation is broken into two categories.

Control instruments…power and attitude. Power may be thrust as with a jet, or rpm as with a prop. EPR, N1, rpm, all examples of a power instrument. Attitude, pretty simple…ADI or in the old days “artificial horizon”. The old, “skys up, grounds down” thingee.

Performance instruments…all else, i.e. airspeed, VVI (or VSI), heading, that kind of “what are we doing now” stuff.

OK, armed with these two basic things off we go.

Flying along in flight, fat (some of us), dumb and happy! Trimmed up, on altitude, airspeed, and headed in some direction.

We decide to do something. Change altitude, at a constant airspeed..

OK, off to the “control instrument”…the ADI. Push forward on the stick/yoke and using that control instrument make a change. Set 2 degrees nose down. Great, wonderful, we’re halfway there. Now over to the performance instruments. Altimeter…showing a decrease in altitude…great! VVI…showing we are descending a 500 fpm. Airspeed…oops increasing. So now to the other control instrument…reduce power. Back to the performance…air speed holding steady now. Great…just completed what we wanted to do…descend at a constant airspeed.

Life is good, but like life nothing ever stays the same.

Suddenly we look down and lo! and behold we are increasing airspeed (performance instrument) again! Damn…thought I had that taken care of. Quick check of that control instrument, i.e. power and double damn! same as before. Ah ha! Now a quick check of the other control instrument…the ADI. Eureka! I have found it! We are now 3 degrees nose down! So make a correction on the ADI and go back to the performance instrument, the airspeed and SUCCESS! we are now back where we wanted to be.

In a nutshell this is the “control and performance” concept of how the Air Force taught moi to fly instruments.

While there are some pretty complex instrument maneuvers we did, i.e. the four types of “Vertical-S” with the fourth the most complex, they ALL had one thing in common. The SAME idea of control and performance to accomplish the maneuver!

An editorial note: The vertical-S “D” was like this.

Starting from level flight, constant airspeed.

You began a climb of 1000 feet, with a VVI of 1000fpm, while turning left in a 30 degree bank, maintaining the same airspeed you had when you started. After that 1000 foot climb, you changed from a 30 degree left bank, to a 30 degree right bank, and simultaneously you changed from a 1000fpm climb to a 1000fpm descent, and descended 1000 feet. ALL the time you kept the same airspeed. This maneuver could go on as long as you wanted. Once, twice, or 20 times. Depending on how much you really wanted to practice PRECISE aircraft control! Trust me, this demonstrated very quickly if you had or had not mastered the control and performance concept of instrument flying. Especially in a big, old, ponderous KC135! And NOT using the fight director…what we called “raw” data.

So much for the war story! Next event, the NASCAR Nextel Cup race in the land of the fruits and nuts….! (has nothing to do with aviation as much as it has to do with what I’m going to do next!)
 
Hey dakovich

Where did you take that picture in your avatar? That plane used to be based at my home field in Hampton, GA.
 
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