THE CUBAN EIGHT

Client Air Show Pilot: Sean McAleavy

Category (Basic, Advanced or Extreme): Basic

In this video clip (below), Fighter Combat Instructor Pilot (Paul BJ Ransbury), demonstrates the first half of the Cuban Eight maneuver and then has client-pilot, Sean, fly the second half. Sean is not a pilot and has never done aerobatics before beyond his F-15 flight simulator at home. The Cuban Eight combines the inside loop and aileron roll together to let the pilot do a bit of sky writing. When done properly, observers will see what looks like a figure eight laying on its side (diagram below). The image shown to the left is a clip from the right wingtip video camera as the aircraft passes the vertical up position pulling around to the top of the first loop.

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What’s Happening? We start the Cuban Eight with the exact same setup and flying technique as the Inside Loop (read about the Inside Loop). From level flight, with a minimum airspeed of 160 kts, the pilot pulls back on the stick with smoke on striving to fly a perfectly round vertical loop until completing 225 degrees of turn passing the inverted position over the top with the nose 45 degrees below the horizon. At this point, for the Cuban Eight to look right, the aerobatic pilot needs to unload the aircraft to fly an inverted 45 degree down-line under slight negative G with the objective of placing a 1/2 roll from inverted to upright in the middle of the line. When the mid-line 1/2 roll is complete, the pilot continues the down-line for symmetry before pulling back on the stick to continue on to the second half of the eight. Here’s what the first 1/2 of the Cuban Eight looks like if you were watching from the ground…

During the second half of the eight, the pilot performs a mirror image maneuver to reflect the shape of the first half to complete the drawing of the Cuban Eight. When we put two 1/2 Cuban Eights together, we get a full Cuban Eight as shown in the diagram below and as flown in the video.

If you think you, or someone you know, would like this kind of flying then definitely consider participating in our Flight of Your Life program. No flight experience is required and this is NOT a simulator. Yes, you really fly the aircraft!

Important Note: Without exception, all mission profiles are “challenge by choice” at Fighter Combat International. We will not put anyone through any maneuver without their expressed permission and expressed desire to do so. Each mission profile follows a building block approach from basic maneuvers working towards the client’s self-determined limitations. The customer chooses, at each stage of the building block process, whether to keep it basic and gentle or to move progressively towards the extreme.