air disturbance

Butch

Active Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2020
Messages
116
Location
Jackson Ca
Aircraft
Bensen Gyro
Total Flight Time
50 hrs
I believe that this is a good question to ask. When I as training in the Magni I felt quite confident as there were no occurences. Then on one of my last lessons I was at the controls and all of a sudden it felt like some kind of wind gust came up which made me feel like I was just floating there with no foward momemtom. It is hard to describe but I did not panic or make any stick corrections and then it stopped back to normal. It was a little scary and I said to my instructor WHAT WAS THAT. He did not hear me as I got back no answer but it has puzzled me to this day. Mabe someone can explain to me what that was
 
The more I think aout it . It was more like the gyro lifted and then like it was weightless. I fear tat if I would have pushed the stick foward that it would have put me in a bad situation
 
The more I think aout it . It was more like the gyro lifted and then like it was weightless. I fear tat if I would have pushed the stick foward that it would have put me in a bad situation

Did you get lifted off your seat. If not you were not weightless
 
Did your airspeed change?
Did your altitude decrease or increase?
 
I had a similar experience but suspect, being very new at the controls, listening and feeling for every minor change in flight, I maybe found a column of rising air.

Having hours in a flexwing I would have thought I would be used to it, but, different machine, different techniques and constantly questioning what I am doing, may heighten sensations.
 
Sounds like turbulence to me. Updrafts, downdrafts, turbulent air of any kind can create this type of sensation. One gets used to it with experience. At first one feels one has to respond to every change with a control input, but one usually just lets the aircraft move with the air except in extreme circumstances to avoid over controlling.
 
Up- and down-drafts are a normal and inevitable part of flying. They're very common on the nice, sunny days when there are puffy cumulus clouds all around. Every aircraft must be designed to handle them safely -- just as an umbrella must be designed to shed water.

Any gyro with a large H-stab can be expected to point its nose into the airstream. If the airstream suddenly comes from below, the nose should drop. If from above, the nose should rise. The normal pilot technique in a stable gyro is to hold the stick still using a normal grip. The H-stab will do the work for you.

A pitch-unstable, or even pitch-neutral, gyro, is different. In such a gyro, the offset gimbal head is the key to safety in up- and down-drafts. You must let the gimbal head do the work (as the nose may actually go the wrong way). This means "floating the stick." "Floating" is holding the stick so lightly that it is free to move a bit fore-and-aft in response to the light forces created by the gimbal head. Relax your hand and you'll see and feel the movement generated by the gimbal head. It can be subtle.

BTW, if you went through a full training syllabus, you should have received plenty of training on this point. If you didn't, get more training with an instructor who is willing to explain and let you practice while he/she is flying with you to keep you out of trouble.

In NEITHER type of gyro should you fight up- and down-drafts wit the stick. IOW, if you feel the gyro balloon upward, don't shove the stick forward. Just ride it out.

Until you are comfortable and confident in these techniques, fly in the early morning or evening, when the air is smoother. And be sure you know whether the gyro you are flying is pitch-stable (why would you select an unstable one???).
 
Just to point out that "H-stab" is the horizontal stabilizer (the horizontal part of the tail). Student pilots sometimes don't yet know the lingo/jargon 😋
When I was on staff in the Army, the policy in written communications was to spell things out entirely with first use of an acronym or shortcut phrase. This can be very helpful, especially to newcomers.
 
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Seems to happens more noticably with a nice tailwind. I compare it to riding over swells/waves in a boat.
Doesnt seem to change altitude or airspeed much, just a continuous rocking motion. As a matter of fact, on a long XC after you land the ground is still moving! :)
 
Cheese: Definitely! Some gyros will give you that sensation (boat in a following sea) even in dead-calm air.

In calm air, it won't be caused by up-down air (there isn't any in really smooth air). Instead, it MAY be what designers call the long-period or "phugoid" oscillation. This oscillation turns up in FW planes as well as gyros. In gyros, it may be a result of a slight cycling of rotor RPM. A cycle lasts some 8-10 seconds -- a long time if you count it out. I'm strictly speculating about the cause here.

But I recall the persistent sense of this regular slow-mo oscillation when driving home after a long, cruising gyro flight in my old Air Command. Ditto after a day on a boat.
 
Yip definitly up/down draft. Had this happen (again) just the other day. After checking the "windy app" on the phone i could see a conversion of wind direction over an area in my flight path and sure enough i passed through it. All of a sudden we are going up real quick and gained around 2 hundred feet in around 10 - 15 seconds. Yes it felt like hitting a wall and the missus in the back seat got the "willy's up until i explained what was happening. I just slowed up a small amount and rode the free ride and all was good. the gyro is a tandem dominator.
 
Seems to happens more noticably with a nice tailwind. I compare it to riding over swells/waves in a boat.
Doesnt seem to change altitude or airspeed much, just a continuous rocking motion. As a matter of fact, on a long XC after you land the ground is still moving! :)
Exactly. I tell my friends/passengers similarly to what you have said. Like a boat, we will go up and down on the waves but we will never sink. I think people expect at times a car-like ride. Sometimes chickens, sometimes feathers. It depends on the conditions of course. Anyway good analogy.
 
I always tell my victims ( passengers )😁.......that we are in a fluid environment.....we can go up, down, left, right and even backwards depending on our control inputs and whatever the winds and thermals want to throw at us.

In no way does this suggest that we don't control the machine. After a few minutes.....they understand what I am referring to. Once they know to expect the different movements.....they become more comfortable.

The other point I try to make is that we don't " fight " the controls.....we will ride some thermals and gusts.......the aircraft wants to fly.....we simply tell it how fast....how high....and which direction to go. 👍🏻😁

Patrice "Freckles" Bruneau a Carolina BarnStormer
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ultracruiser41 .... that is a great picture .... should go on a calendar or poster or something.

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Thanks….. that was a photo taken by our own Paul Stackhouse…… all natural….. no photoshopping for the Barnstormers! 😁
 
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