Leading a whifferdill

[Lawndart]

Part III of the expanded technique articles. Completely dedicated to everything behind leading the formation, from the end of one maneuver to the beginning of the next.

As anyone who's ever flown Lead for any extended time would tell you, the hardest part of flying Lead is the setup phase. The time you spend turning the formation around in a whifferdill (lazy eight), horizontal turnaround or any other improvised, yet very much planned turnaround. A Loop or Roll for example becomes easier over time, since you always fly it the exact same way every time and also lasts about a third of the time compared to a whiffer. The maneuvers themselves are much more pre-planned and flown to exact parameters, where as the turnaround is the opposite with the exception that you still need to arrive at a certain distance from the show line on speed, altitude, time and stabilized in power, pitch and heading. A whifferdill also varies based on how well or (likely) how bad of a job you did on the previous pass that now needs to be fixed in order for the next maneuver to look good and hit show center. How you accomplish this is something you'll need to learn over time and knowing when to power up and when not to for example, depending on the number of variables that could vary each time you make a turnaround.

Learning to fly Lead starts with trying to be extremely smooth and consistent in everything you do and then progresses to also being able to accomplish the entry headings, speeds, power changes etc. In the first phase, don't even worry about trying to be over a certain landmark for the maneuver, just focus on making the tiniest inputs knows to man on your stick and be prepared to take the critique (yes, you'll need to get a hard shell and listen for any input from your wingmen after each maneuver, they will only get pickier as time goes along and it will make you a better Lead knowing their problem areas with your flying or even flying the maneuvers in their positions). Once you have a natural smoothness in everything you do and can separate inputs, sing the ditty (ahead of time) and have become consistent in the various pull-ups, rolls, loops and turns you're ready for the next step. The one thing to remember is to never stray too far from the rates and the soft flying technique you're currently flying. It will become a great test once you have show center, parameters and timing to think about all at the same time...

To get to that point, in a way you'll first have to learn to fly ultra smooth and then stretch the envelope further to fly closer to the edge and adhering to numbers even more to get exactly what you need before initiating a maneuver, preferably with minimal corrections during the setup! This is the phase where you as Lead need to "be a hair more aggressive", yet still keep that smoothness you fought so hard to attain in the first place while still being precise and gradual. Making sure you fly your flightpath and look for that show center hit as you try to do what feels like the opposite in being super stable is not an easy task.

The progression of learning to lead is almost like a roller-coaster ride, where you first must learn to be super smooth, then feel your way through the turnarounds and find a groove that works for each pass and be aggressive, yet still bit your lip and not roll, pull or fly any more abruptly. Varying your speed, radius and pulling harder (but with a gradual application of that harder pull) are some of the tools you can and should use to your advantage. Then once again, after you have a quick-spin technique down, you'll need to once again smooth all of it out all over again and work out the kinks, since being a stable platform in the turnaround makes for a much better setup for each wingman come maneuver time! Even though a wingman can afford to get a little loose in the turnaround, having the option to fly close prox with Lead all the way through makes for a much more relaxed setup for them, so that the wingies don't get slam-dunked into the maneuver after a hectic whifferdill. Easier said than done! Lead is one of those positions that is very easy to fly poorly, yet the hardest to do well and it's a completely different challenge from flying in the formation (which has it's own challenges) in which each pilot only needs to have his undivided attention on one thing: Maintaining his position!

Some guidelines: Make sure you initiate the turnaround immediately after finishing a maneuver. You still need to "complete" the maneuver in the same pace as always, but once done, do not spend a second longer than needed flying somewhere without a plan! Your biggest enemy is speed. High velocity will take you further away in a heartbeat if you don't start your turn and power back quickly after finishing a maneuver. I'd rather see <300 knots, than realize I never powered back and the speed is pushing >400 knots. At that point you've burned an extra minute getting back to the show line, no matter how good of a pilot you are. Your turning radius at 250 knots compared to 450 is so much smaller it can save you minutes in between passes. You still need some distance to gain the speed back for the maneuver, but this is where the altitude vs. speed game comes in. Your pull also effects speed a great deal and easing forward as you're finishing a whifferdill will also kill the induced drag very effectively. Just a few things to consider...

Flying the actual whiffer, I look for around 1.2G's with the nose above the horizon and 1.4G's on the back-side (with the same stick deflection). I normally don't apply any more pull (still sub-1.2G's) until I'm banked 45 degrees or more in the direction I want to turn. I might still hold some aft stick pressure from going up into the whiffer, but the G load would hardly register this at that point. There's no set procedure for at what speed to pitch up, how high or how long before turning. Base all of this on your speed! I aim to be below 200 knots over the top and the highest in altitude for a vertical maneuver setup, medium altitude for a rolling maneuver and even less interested in pitching up if the maneuver is flat and doesn't require much airspeed. Powering up when you are at the slowest speed (150-180 knots) not only gives you more smash going down hill on the back-side while inbound for the maneuver, but also makes the power up very easy for the wingmen. Use gravity, it is your biggest friend! Aim to be up to speed sooner, rather than too late - but try to never start a maneuver too fast. I always try to err on the slow side, by as much as 30 knots if I have to for vertical and rolling maneuvers. It is possible to still fly 'em using the same parameters and the loss in speed actually makes for an easier ride for the wingmen, just gotta be prepared for a slight need to pull more at the end. If anticipated early (you did remember going in slow, right?!) this should not pose a problem as you can apply this increased pull in larger amounts at the very beginning of "Back in With the Pull". Above all, stay smooth and try to not correct back and forth much but rollout on your "inbound line" with absolute minimal adjustments. Going left, then back right followed by left again or powering up and down too many times, even pushing forward on the stick are all things you should try to avoid to the extent possible. Staying smooth, delaying or starting a slow gradual rollout, setting the power early and using gravity in a bank to pull the nose down are better ways to accomplish the above mentioned undesired corrections.

Ending thoughts: Keep the radius tight, stay on the slow side, power up as you apex the whiffer and then use gravity and reducing induced drag build up your speed. Also, apply corrections requiring more pull earlier, so that you have more acceleration towards the end, but also need to make less corrective inputs on at the end of the back-side. This would also mean, you'd be pulling more when the formation is slow (easier) instead of before a maneuver at faster speeds. Pull sooner, coast later so to speak is the name of the game in the whifferdill...

A note worth mentioning for wingmen is that every Lead will fly just slightly different from another Lead, using his "pulls" and setups, so adapting is key and also why this requires a tremendous amount of practice to get a Diamond to fly with only a foot separation for some maneuvers.

If you made it this far, congrats. Hope it helps!

LawnDart

[Lawndart]

Had a brief discussion recently after a practice about how to keep the whiffers tight and still achieve the smash downhill for the following maneuver. A very common scenario is that you master the first 3 or 4 stages of leading, but just can't seem to get enough speed inbound before it's too late and the crowd will be disappointed!

Basically, I've nailed it down to, if you do all the things previously mentioned in my post, powering up too soon is not always smart! My technique is pull up into the whiffer, roll the aircraft, start adding pull and right as you apex or to put it in other terms when the speed is slow, but more importantly your flightpath marker hits the highest point in the turn is where I power up. This keep my whiffer radius small and still gives me the full "run-in" with higher power and sir Isak Newton's best friend to help me out. It also lines you up earlier for the the show line (or alternatively gives you more leeway for maneuvering corrections) instead of making a wider turn as you would if you powered up in the uphill climb during the whifferdill. A wide up-top turn is again not helping since, the power came in as we we're still outbound/upward and not high, slow and just beginning our nose down segment. It's hard to make it fact and science how to do this best, but hopefully some of the things I've said has clarified a few certain areas for leading.

LD

[Rock]

Terrific thread here Lawndart. I have had this one printed off for about a month and having read it a few times it is starting to really sink in. After studying the Thunderbirds SOPs Redeye, myself and Snakeeye have a fairly clear understanding of how the show is to be executed. We now know where and when each manuever is executed by the diamond. Because of the timing of the show in relation to each Diamond Manuever and the Solo Manuevers it is very important that Lead is able to get everyone to the right place and at the right time. Using the Whifferdill and flying smoothly are two key parts to the end result of a full and properly executed show. Another key part is having capable pilots as it gives lead the freedom to move the diamond to where it needs to be. Once again nice thread and looking forward to future articles!