Thread: Tail Slides
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Old 07-12-2006 | 02:34 PM
  #10  
Nightflyer
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From: Crewmember
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Originally Posted by vagabond
What's a tail slide? My instructor didn't do that during my discovery flight, did he? Maybe I'll do it next time I fly.
Not a good idea to try this in your Cessna...

In the T-2C Buckeye (the only airplane I have done this in), we called it the "Zero Airspeed Departure", but it is essentially the same thing. You pull the plane straight up into the vertical, and do your best to hold it there until it runs out of steam, and you start to fall backwards, straight down, "on your tail". By dumping the tip tanks, and observing the fuel dumping straight up, you can prove you are falling down, even though the nose is pointing 90 degrees to the horizon. You will also feel a negative G sensation for a few seconds. On the way up, at a certain airspeed, I think it was 60 kts, you can fully deflect the flight controls in any direction, without any response from the plane, because there is not enough wind over the control surfaces. Eventually, the nose pitches down and you pick up enough airspeed to recover control. This is a fairly benign maneuver, and I have never seen a student puke because of it. However, once the spins start, towards the end of the flight, all bets are off. Never thought I'd miss doing 3 spin hops a day.
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