Saturday afternoon passenger drop-off flight over the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains from Inyokern (IYK) to Kern Valley (L05) - less than 30 miles. Wind 260/12 at IYK. Climbed to 8500 in clear skies to safely clear the two major ridgelines enroute. A little bumpy, but nothing unusual for the Southern Sierra. Uneventful leg - except noting winds were on the nose at 42kts at 8500 ft.
Return leg at 7500 ft. Fewer bumps than first leg until lee side of westernmost ridge. First roller banged my head off the canopy (thought I was tightly strapped in - but I was wrong) and induced an uncontrolled right roll. Second roller immediately thereafter continued roll with nose down pitch. Ended up about 120 degrees right wing down, 30 degrees nose low, accelerating. + 4.5, -3.1 g's on the g meter. This occurred within 2-3 seconds under clear skies, in pretty calm air with no warning.
Lessons learned:
1. Be wary of ridge crossings with high tailwinds.
2. Ensure you have enough altitude for recovery from nose low unusual attitudes.
3. Be comfortable with sudden unusual attitude recovery (I'm a former Navy A-4 Adversary pilot; joke about being more comfortable upside down than right side up).
4. If you suddenly find yourself nose low with excessive bank, roll wings level before pulling to the horizon - otherwise you risk increasing bank into a tight nose down spiral.
5. Be aware of your nose low airspeed - Vne is a real number.
6. Clear skies does not correlate to smooth air in the mountains.
7. Be wary - and prepared.
Return leg at 7500 ft. Fewer bumps than first leg until lee side of westernmost ridge. First roller banged my head off the canopy (thought I was tightly strapped in - but I was wrong) and induced an uncontrolled right roll. Second roller immediately thereafter continued roll with nose down pitch. Ended up about 120 degrees right wing down, 30 degrees nose low, accelerating. + 4.5, -3.1 g's on the g meter. This occurred within 2-3 seconds under clear skies, in pretty calm air with no warning.
Lessons learned:
1. Be wary of ridge crossings with high tailwinds.
2. Ensure you have enough altitude for recovery from nose low unusual attitudes.
3. Be comfortable with sudden unusual attitude recovery (I'm a former Navy A-4 Adversary pilot; joke about being more comfortable upside down than right side up).
4. If you suddenly find yourself nose low with excessive bank, roll wings level before pulling to the horizon - otherwise you risk increasing bank into a tight nose down spiral.
5. Be aware of your nose low airspeed - Vne is a real number.
6. Clear skies does not correlate to smooth air in the mountains.
7. Be wary - and prepared.
