While modern aircraft have overcome many aerodynamic limitations, they're still not completely immune to problems. If airflow is sufficiently disrupted by a steep AoA or yaw maneuver, the aircraft can depart from its normal flightpath and enter a spin or stall. The next sections talk about adverse flight conditions under which disruptions might occur and describes how to recover from them. Most flight disruptions have early cues that, if noticed, can be addressed before the situation becomes more severe.

Under each discussion, you'll find cue and recovery entries. Study these, and you'll be equipped to recognize problems as they occur. If you stay within the aircraft's limits, most problems can be avoided. If the aircraft is not responding to any flight control inputs, it is out of control. Not much can be done to regain normal flight until the controls respond. In some cases, the only choice may be to bail out. Sometimes, you can use the flight controls to neutralize the undesired movement. Other times, it's best to leave the controls alone.

Adverse yaw is the movement of the aircraft's nose (or rear) to one side, also known as sideslip. The nose points in a different direction than the aircraft is actually flying. This occurs naturally when you use the aircraft's ailerons to make a banked turn. The wing that dips during a left-hand bank incurs less drag than the opposite wing. This makes the airplane yaw to the right, even though the turn is to the left. In some aircraft, you must apply rudder in the direction of the turn to overcome undesired yaw and make a coordinated turn. In the F/A-18 the CAS automatically compensates for adverse yaw by adding rudder input. However, during a high-speed, high-AoA turn, problems can result.

Departure is a general term used to describe an undesired change in the aircraft's flight path. In most cases, departure occurs when AoA is high and directional stability (stability on the wing-wing axis) is disturbed by uneven weapon and fuel loads. Departures often occur at high altitudes and high AoA, when the center of gravity is too far forward, or when you give control inputs in the wrong direction while the aircraft Is unstable along it's 3 axis.If you depart 2 of these axis at once the Jet will be locked up in departure and lsoe it's lift and beccome a hunk of metal in motion you don't control.(Lucky th SH is very hard to depart)

Yaw is movement around the vertical axis of an aircraft. You experience it as the nose moving left and right from your point of refence as pilot. Pitch is movement around the horizontal aaxis. You experience it as the nose moving up and down. Roll is movement along the long axis of the aircraft. You experience a roll by seeing the horizont rotate in front of you. These points of reference are on the point of view of the pilot, regardless of his orientation in real space.

As you crank around on the stick, you will be pulling your aircraft through all three axes in various combinations. By practicing basic fighter maneuvers, you will gain a detailed understanding of movement within the three axes.

Cues. High AoA can contribute to departure. The first indication normally resembles an early stall. As departure occurs, the aircraft starts yawing or rolling to the right or left without any input from you. If you don't deal with this immediately, the aircraft may enter a spin.

Recovery. If you watch for early signs of a stall, you can usually prevent departure. If it does occur, quit pushing the flight stick sideways, and reduce AoA by pushing forward on the slick. You can apply additional rudder if the departure is severe.

Yaw is movement around the vertical axis of an aircraft. You experience it as the nose moving left and right from your point of refence as pilot. Pitch is movement around the horizontal axis. You experience it as the nose moving up and down. Roll is movement along the long axis of the aircraft. You experience a roll by seeing the horizont rotate in front of you. These points of reference are on the point of view of the pilot, regardless of his orientation in real space.

True to its name, the autorull is a prolonged roll that continues even after the flight stick and rudder are In neutral positions. This is one type of coupled motion, usually caused by starting a roll using the rudder while AoA is high and airspeed is between 200-300 knots. If all you do is reduce AoA, the roll simply speeds up.

Recovery. To prevent autorolling, don't apply sharp rudder while AoA is high, and don't make quick pitch/yaw motions. If it does occur, apply rudder in the direction opposite the roll and lower the AoA. Once the roll slows down, the nose will drop.

A spin is a type of coupled motion that occurs when one wing (but not the other) loses a significant amount of lift, It is almost always preceded by departure. The wing drops, pulling the aircraft into a rotating, spiral dive that combines roll and yaw. A spin can consume several thousand feet of altitude per revolution, and spin recovery may require several revolutions. Spins at low altitude are extremely dangerous.

1. Flat spin is characterized by high negative G-forccs (up to -4G). The yaw rate is between 75 and 13S degrees per second (a full circle every two to Five seconds) and, for the most part, remains constant. AoA is low, accounting for the "flatness" of the spin.

2. Oscillatory spin resembles severe yaw, at least from your perspective as a pilot. One wing is stalled (or close to stalling), and control attempts fail, The yaw rate usually falls between 60 and 90 degrees per second (a full circle every four to six seconds), and AoA usually exceeds 70 units.

3. Inverted spin can occur if you stall while experiencing negative G-forces. Most often, this happens when you suddenly drop the nose by pushing the stick forward, then apply full rudder or roll inputs. The yaw rate nears 45 degrees per second (a full circle about every eight seconds) and remains constant, and AoA is usually around negative 60.

4. Inadvertent nose high /low spin occurs when you make a steep vertical climb at low airspeed. The aircraft loses speed and the controls fail until the aircraft falls back and regains airspeed through a dive.

A spin used to be nearly unrecoverable. However, spin recovery procedures possible in the F/A-18E make most spin situations survivable. You'll need several thousand feet of altitude to recover from a spin, so make sure you've got room to try. (For major emergencies, you can command the PILOT EJECT function.

1. Center your joystick. Using the ailerons to bank often aggravates the spin.

2. Apply full opposite rudder.

3. Push your joystick forward slightly to keep the nose down.

4. Maintain these stick and rudder positions until the aircraft stops spinning. You will generally find yourself in a low-speed dive, a perfect target for enemy aircraft. Increase throttle until you reach a speed of around 200 knots, gently pull out of the dive and return to normal flight.

5. If the aircraft is still unwilling to recover after the steps above, go through the procedure again.

6. If it still doesn't work, eject.

The accelerated stall occurs when your plane is in an accelerated state, that is, hauling patootie! The cause of it is over-enthusiastic yanking on the stick. When you haul back on the stick hard, it yanks the aircraft into a nose-high (to the relative wind) position until the air can no longer follow the wing's surface. Then it starts to burble, and as the burble increases, your lift decreases. Finally, the plane stalls in a nose-high attitude (not good).

As an aircraft flies straight and level, its wings meet a airflow at a low AoA. As the airplane pitches up, AoA increases and thus lift increases up to a point. If the angle becomes too steep, the force of the air pushing backward is greater than the force of the air pushing up. Called "the critical angle of attack", this is the point past which the wings cease to create lift.

If AoA passes the critical point, the layer of air moving around the airfoil becomes turbulent. It no longer separates and flows around the wing in an optimal fashion. Stability is reduced, lift vanishes, and the aircraft can literally fall out of the sky. This is known as a stall. Increasing AoA in an attempt to pull out of a stall will aggravate the stall.

The adjacent generic graphic illustrates that increasing AoA will Lift up to a paint, called the "critical AoA." Beyond this point, the effective surface area on the top of the wing that is being used to create lift is reduced.

STALL AVOIDANCE/RECOVERY

1. Always monitor airspeed, especially if you're pitching above 45°. Watch your external stores as well. If you're carrying a full load of ail-to-ground weapons, your aircraft will be heavier, and it will require more airspeed for adequate lift.

Cockpit	Basic Flight	BFM	Formation	M-Tactics	Building Campaings
HUD	Character	Basic ACM	Combat	W-Tactics	Building Missions
MDI/UFC	Disruption	Off-BFM	DO-BFM	SAMS
AA-Radar	Takeoff/Land	Def-BFM	DD-BFM	M-Builder
AA-Combat	Refueling	HO-BFM	Hi Aspect BFM	B-Areobatics
AG-Radar	Navigation	BVR	Prin-BFM	A-Areobatics
AG-Combat	Miscellaneous	ACM	Co-ACM	Weapons