Tail-slides in a Pitts

[Inverted]

Even if you do observe G limits, sometimes the design creates an environment where damage will occur. My Citabria had some issues we found during a rebuild several years ago. Loose nails, loose rivets, a cracked rib, several non structural components cracked, etc... After some reseach, we found out that almost all of the issues were considered normal wear and tear for that airframe.

That is 100% correct. Our flight school has operated at least 3 Citabrias, and 1 Decathlon for 12 years. Honestly after watching the fantastic maintenance done on them, and numerous trips to the factory etc, I would probably never own one. They are not very well built aircraft. They are for sure not met with consistent quality. I have ferried 2 brand new Decathlons, both had several gripes before I was able to ferry.

Our 7GCBC went about 600 hours before one day we noticed that there were several areas on the tube structure that had several unfinished welds. Its scary.

 

[Inverted]

Oh and why I don't tail slide American Champion aircraft is that 2 of our Citabrias have had the elevators break at the welds. The left and right elevator half's are welded in the middle, and has a bracket to attach the cables that go to the stick. twice we have had that weld snap, and had an airplane come back with a half working elevator.

 

[trafficinsight]

Oh and why I don't tail slide American Champion aircraft is that 2 of our Citabrias have had the elevators break at the welds. The left and right elevator half's are welded in the middle, and has a bracket to attach the cables that go to the stick. twice we have had that weld snap, and had an airplane come back with a half working elevator.

Yeah he was pretty well horrified even before he looked at the airframe.

Sent from outer space using tapatalk!.... DRRROID!

 

[Pilotforhire587]

I think it would be cool to have an aerobatics sub forum on here to have a dedicated place to talk about manuevers and post videos. It would be cool for every one to share in addition to helping people like me, trying to get into a new aspect of flying, learn more.

 

[USMC-SSGT]

The only time I would tail slide a super D was teaching recovery techniques to a botched maneuver in the aerobatics course. It was a simple demo of waiting too long in a hammerhead or freezing and not completing the maneuver. Even then it would only tail slide a very small amount.

As inverted mentioned the simple plane preservation recovery technique I would teach would be to "jam" the controls. Push the rudder pedal to the floor either side and pull the stick back and to the left or right. That would trap the ailerons and rudder and the upwards deflection on the elevator would not only jam it but also flip the airplane over once you had airflow in your limited slide.

 

[ctab5060X]

That is 100% correct. Our flight school has operated at least 3 Citabrias, and 1 Decathlon for 12 years. Honestly after watching the fantastic maintenance done on them, and numerous trips to the factory etc, I would probably never own one. They are not very well built aircraft. They are for sure not met with consistent quality. I have ferried 2 brand new Decathlons, both had several gripes before I was able to ferry.

Our 7GCBC went about 600 hours before one day we noticed that there were several areas on the tube structure that had several unfinished welds. Its scary.

Scary can be seeing the this airframe taken down to its individual compontents during a rebuild/resotoration. I gained a ton of knowledge about how everything fit together as well as a ton of respect for the airplane during flight.

Oh and why I don't tail slide American Champion aircraft is that 2 of our Citabrias have had the elevators break at the welds. The left and right elevator half's are welded in the middle, and has a bracket to attach the cables that go to the stick. twice we have had that weld snap, and had an airplane come back with a half working elevator.

The elevator construction is not the best in the world. Then agian, the airframe suffers from many known issues on that end of the airplane. Elevator welds breaking, rusting and deterioration of the lower rudder frame, rusting and deteriorating of the lower longerons, etc. That is why I am of the opinion that if you own an aircraft, a membership in a type club (if it exists) is not a bad idea. It is also not a bad idea to be personally involved with the maintenance and try and keep notes of items so you can see if a trend is developing.