FLYING & JUDGING CORNER

Maneuver #5  Knife-Edge Flight with ¼ roll, Opposite Full Roll, Opposite ¼ Roll.

This maneuver is performed at the center of the box. The entire figure should be centered and it starts with the aircraft upright but finishes inverted. All maneuvers are required to be wind corrected. There is a deduction of 1 point per 15° deviation and 0.5 point for half of this (in roll, yaw and pitch).

From upright, the first part of the maneuver requires the pilot to perform a ¼ roll into a short knife-edge flight. Right after this, the pilot will perform a full roll in the opposite direction which will orient the aircraft in the same knife-edge position. Because the entire maneuver should be centered, when the aircraft passes the center line of the box (during the full roll), the aircraft should be on knife-edge (opposite to where the pilot started the FULL ROLL). "A center maneuver must be flown so that it is centered on the center line indicated by the center flag. If the maneuver is flown off-center, it must be downgraded according to the misplacement. This may be in the range of 0.5 to 4 points subtracted." (RULE 5B.10). The pilot will again perform another short knife-edge flight. Then, the pilot will perform a second ¼ roll in the opposite direction to the full roll, ending up on an inverted horizontal line. "The roll-rate must be constant. Minor variations in roll-rate must be downgraded by 0.5 point, while more severe variations must receive a downgrade of 1 or more points." (RULE 5B.8.5.b). “In all maneuvers which have more than one continuous roll, the continuous rolls must have the same roll-rate. In all maneuvers which have more than one part-roll, the part-rolls must have the same roll rate. Where there are continuous rolls and part-rolls within one maneuver, the roll-rate for the part-rolls does not necessarily have to be the same as the roll-rate for the continuous rolls. The roll-rate of the first continuous roll or part roll of a maneuver does not define the roll-rate for the remaining continuous rolls or part rolls of a maneuver but it is a starting point. As the maneuver progresses, the judge will compare the roll-rate of each continuous roll or part roll that was just flown to the roll-rate of the last flown continuous roll or part roll and if there is a difference, then a downgrade will be given based on the severity of the difference. In a maneuver with both continuous rolls and part rolls the two types of rolls must be considered separately for roll rate deviations.” (RULE 5B.8.5.d)

The exit of the Figure #5 is complete when the pilot draws a short inverted horizontal line. "All aerobatic maneuvers are entered and exited by a horizontal line of recognizable length. When no horizontal line is flown between two maneuvers, the just-completed maneuver must be downgraded by 1 point and the upcoming maneuver must be downgraded by 1 point. The last maneuver of a schedule must have an exit line of at least one (1) second in duration for the maneuver to be deemed complete." (RULE 5B.8.3)

---