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The Joy of Flying

6. The Wingover

Often erroneously described as a Chandelle, which is different. The Wingover involves a climbing turn with 90 degree bank established exactly at the point where the aircraft has also turned 90 degrees - in this case it will be to the right. The bank is then reduced as the aircraft naturally drops and turns - the idea being a quick way of turning 180 degrees without producing high positive G. We start with a climbing turn at around 100 knots

As the climb steepens the bank is increased - the speed is decaying quickly, the ideal being that we are close to stall just before the next bit....

Continuing the turn and increasing the bank angle, the speed is very low now and the nose is beginning to drop. we let it do what it wants...

..Here we are 90 degrees to the right of our original track and the aircraft has begun to “flop” downwards in pitch, with very light G forces. This is a lot more confortable than a tight turn with 60 degrees bank. In a matter of a few seconds we’ve efficiently changed direction by 180 degrees and in relative comfort...

...followed by an equally comfortable shallowish dive.

back to the beginning

...now let’s go for a spin