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PHOTO COURTESY OF MAXIME WINANDY
Upset Prevention and Recovery Training:
From Skeptic to Convert
by Patty Wagstaff
Iused to scoff at the idea that upset training was different than aerobatic training. I thought, what was the point? Why bother with something like “upset training” when you can
just learn aerobatics? I discussed this stance with friends who teach Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT), and while they explained the differences, I was still somewhat skeptical. Teach them a loop I’d say, and they will learn all there is to know about energy management, linear control feel and recovery from a botched maneuver.
Let me explain. I’m a bit old school when it comes to avia- tion. I grew up primarily with pilots who were products of the WWII training environment. These men (I didn’t know any WASPs – the women who flew in WWII – at the time) were taught basic aerobatics as part of their primary training. As a kid when I asked my dad what it was like to do a loop, he’d say, “Oh, it’s no big deal. Fun stuff.” He and fellow pilots might not have continued to do aerobatics in their day-to-day flying, but they considered it a normal and expected part of learning to fly. Undoubtedly, they would have laughed at the concept of an “unusual attitude” or “upset.”
Fast forward a few years, and manufacturers were attempt- ing to sell aviation to the public as a new, safe and reliable way to travel – advertising their airplanes as “easy,” “fast,” “drives like a car!” One 1956 Cessna 172 ad said, “You must “drive” this airplane to appreciate it!” Suddenly, the term “aerobatics” seemed a little crazy or dangerous, causing people to leave that to the stunt pilots and barnstormers. Besides, who would want to fly a perfectly good airplane upside down?
June 2019 / TWIN & TURBINE • 13