SHORTS TUCANO – INVERTED SPININNG

One of the joys of being a Royal Navy helicopter pilot is that your flying training actually starts by flying fixed wing aircraft,  first on a short 3 week activity called flying grading (basically to thin out those who aren’t going to make great pilots) and the second much longer course which is there to work out if you have the right stuff to be a shipborne fighter pilot.  As a result those fixed wing skills are baked in to the brain of the majority of Royal Navy pilots who end up flying helicopters from ships and in some cases are called upon again later in the flying career.  In my case I was lucky enough to be thrown back into fixed wing flying for my role as CO of the Empire Test Pilots’ School, the thinking being that to be in charge of a unit doing high end training of all types of pilot that I needed to understand the environments they operated in.

It all started with an aviation refresher to remind me of the stresses and strains of flying at high altitude, through a trip in the decompression chamber, and a new ‘adventure’ of high G training in the RAF centrifuge.  Whilst the former was nothing particularly strenuous or uncomfortable and something I have now completed a few times the latter was a completely alien activity.  A day of briefings on how to strain various muscles to increases G tolerance to a few stomach churning runs in the centrifuge where I was required to tolerate a sustained force 6 G without passing out and without the use of any assistance like anti-G trousers.  The whole thing proved bearable but certainly not something I shall be rushing to volunteer for again.

This was all to prepare me for my conversion to the Tucano T Mk1, the aircraft used at the time to train future Royal Navy and Royal Air Force fast jet pilots in the challenges and delights of fixed wing flying up to around 250 knots.  This activity was to take me to the very place where I began my flight training back in the 1980s, RAF Linton On Ouse near York, where the Royal Navy used to have its Elementary Flying Training School using the Bulldog small piston engine aircraft flying from the satellite airfield at RAF Topcliffe.  As with all such flying courses we started with ground school activities where I was introduced to the turboprop Garrett TPF351engine and the rather new tools of an ejection seat and oxygen system

Simulator training started almost immediately and, as with all UK military aircraft, I had to commit the aircraft checks from start to stop to memory. In this single pilot training fast jet world, there was no opportunity to get the checklist out whilst flying all ways up and down or have someone else read the checks to you.  To help us we were provided with a carboard cutout of the cockpit to use in our officers’ mess rooms, a great tool, but one which lacked the interactivity that was really required.  It didn’t take long though and I was soon able to get things done with only a small cue card on my kneeboard to keep the flow going and the simulator sessions to press home both the normal procedures and emergencies.

Once we were through the basics of both general handling and instrument flying in the simulator it was time to get airborne.  Climbing aboard the real aircraft for the first time I was struck by quite how much larger it was than I was used to (Bulldog, Cessna, Grob 120 etc) but that the cockpit really did feel much smaller.  Connecting the leg restrainers (to stop you legs hitting the cockpit on ejection) I always found a bit of a chore and I don’t think I can ever say I got used to wearing an oxygen mask, or perhaps it was just the noise of breathing that I found a little disconcerting.  Soon however it was time to concentrate on starting the engine and getting the beast airborne.

One thing you can say about a Tucano is that it is certainly not ‘jet like’ (as it was meant to be) and there was a need to use heaps of rudder pedal input when taking off to correct for the massive torque provided by the Garrett engine.  Rushing down the the runway  and keeping the whole think on the centreline before taking off at about 120 knots was certainly demanding but it was certainly not underpowered and we were able to climb quickly away towards our training area.  The sortie normally took the form of a straightforward climb up to about 20000 ft to do some spinning before then doing aerobatics and other high altitude manoeuvres before returning to the airfield for circuits. 

There were two types of spin to do, one normal and one inverted, the latter being an exercise for me of pretty consistent mystery.  On an inverted spin you start the set up the right way up and then as you slow down roll inverted.  At a speed I cannot quite remember you then push joystick forward to make the aircraft slow down and stall before inputting left or right pedal, which you’ve guessed it seems to work the wrong way.  I felt I was was in opposite land, but then we were spinning upside down with the world looking very unusual and the recovery was still to use opposite rudder to the direction of turn and put the joystick central.  The aircraft then seems to push itself out, all leading to more positive and negative G sensations before you end up going vertically downwards to start a recovery to straight and level flight.  My issue was always getting the entry correct rather than the recovery but I never really felt all that happy.

Other parts of the training were more conventionally relevant to my previous training and I was able to complete the whole thing without too much angst or difficulty.  

When I started at ETPS it was my intent that I would keep my self current on the Tucano by flying 2-3 times per month.  This seemed about right and after I had passed my School proficiency check I was ready to go.  The problem was that we were short of Tucano hours and started to prove a problem getting myself airborne on a regular basis.  Not only that but such was the pressure on the instructional team I was inevitably only able to fly solo and wasn’t really getting the consolidation needed to feel that I was truly competent on the aircraft.  I was doing all the basic manoeuvres, including spinning (upright) on my my, but I could never convince myself it was enough either for my own piece of mind or that I was probably taking hours away from those who needed it more, the instructors and students.  So in the end I just told the team I would stop – it was just the right thing to do.

It was however, essential training for me from the outset to understand the human factors and stresses and strains imposed on the body of high performance turboprop and fast jet operation.  Nothing can prepare you for the physical sensations, rapidly changing ones at that, that the body is put through as you attempt to get the aircraft to do what you want it to and when wearing clothing that is certainly not comfortable.  But the other I thing I learned, rather later in my career than perhaps I should have, is that it is good to be able to know when to say stop, this isn’t in the best interests of the unit or me.