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Fighter Combat Instructor: Paul BJ Ransbury
Client Air Show Pilot: Carl McElroy
THE LOMCEVAK TUMBLE
AEROBATIC MANEUVER
Category (Basic,
Advanced or Extreme): Extreme
What's
Happening? The Lomcevak - (pronounced LOHM-sheh-vock). A
Czechoslovakian word translated as "Berserk Headache", it is
actually a colloquialism meaning "Drunken Bum." The Lomcevak,
also called the lump-lump, appears to be a totally out-of-control
maneuver in which the plane tumbles nose over tail, wingtip over
wingtip, across the sky. There are supposedly 200 different versions of
the Lomcevak; you will have difficulty describing just one. (Excerpt
from South Wisconsin Air Fest)
In this
particular version of the Lomcevak (or tumble), the aircraft starts at a
minimum of 160 kts in level flight. The aircraft is pulled to the 45
degree up-line where a left roll is immediately initiated (when learning
this maneuver, it is helpful to go to 45-up knife-edge flight (left wing
low) with heavy right rudder to hold the nose momentarily on the line).
Once the roll is initiated (or knife-edge flight established), the
aircraft is aggressively yawed off axis with left rudder and then, when
the relative airflow is approximately 45 degrees off the nose of the
aircraft, the longitudinal stick is move sharply forward with slight
left aileron input. These control inputs are maintained throughout the
maneuver. When learning the Lomcevak, the initial tendency is to either
end up in a outside snap rolling maneuver (not enough initial rudder
prior to the push) or a heavy negative-G bunt hang-up. As proficiency
builds, the longitudinal stick can be cycled fore and aft slightly to
give a bit more rotational energy to the maneuver. Typically the
aircraft will tumble through three cartwheel-like rotations and recover
on a down-line close to the 45-degree nose low position. Recoveries from
this point vary from a Split-S in the opposite direction to entry or a
rolling roll-out on the 45-degree down line. All in all, this is a
SPECTACULAR maneuver! Believe it or not, this is a precision maneuver
and, as an air show performer, the professional air show pilot must have
total control and recoverability throughout the maneuver. Let's watch
Carl and BJ have some fun with it ...
The
"High" Resolution Format Yields Best Video and Audio
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.
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