In the hopes of keeping this discussion on topic about E3 and not drifting into what aerobatics teaches you? and I?ve flown aerobatics in Citabrias, Decathlons, Great Lakes, my three short wing RVs and, with an instructor, in Pitts S-2C, Super Chipmunk, Europa, Yak52, Skybolt, and probably a few more. And I?ve taught basic aerobatics?
So what?s different about E3?
* E3 can be flown in your own, non-aerobatic airplane, so you train in what you fly every day. Granted, this is a non-issue for the short wing RVs, but even so, all of E3 is flown at less than 60? bank, 30? pitch, and 2 G. And loss of control statistics show lots of non-aerobatic airplanes;
* No parachutes, no high G maneuvers for those who are queasy, timid, less adventurous, or, like me, orthopedically limited to 2 Gs. This is another reason E3 is more accessible than aerobatics. And if you don?t have access to aerobatic instruction, you won?t learn those lessons;
* Aerobatics tend to preserve smash (airspeed) so that one maneuver can flow into the next. For example, aerobatic spins recover on the down line (vertically) to rebuild speed. E3 comprises primarily low speed exercises that aerobatics doesn?t do much;
* Some of E3 recreates accident scenarios. Not shown in the video was that the runway alignment exercise starts with a deliberate runway overshoot. For folks who have had it beaten into them that Thou Shalt Not Overshoot Centerline, this is a revelation! No more need to tighten up the turn, just because;
* Not shown in the video was the slow Dutch rolls, with a 1?/second roll rate going in and coming out. Not one person has been able to do it successfully on the first try, none! The slowest roll rates I?ve seen on the first attempt have been on the order of 3?/second. Go try it and see how you do, rolling in till you run out of rudder, then rolling back the other way at 1?/second. And this roll rate is substantially less than the super, super slow roll that used to be my specialty in Decathlons;
* E3 has variety of stalls with recoveries in turns, not shown in the video;
* E3 demonstrates low speed spirals, different from IFR high speed spirals. There is a growing groundswell in the GA safety community that realizes that stall/spin is an over-used term in light airplane accident probable causes, and E3 demonstrates why;
* The 60/90 turns, not shown all that well in the video, are at least as fun, with fast changing centers of attention, and stressful as any aerobatics I?ve flown. Everybody loves them, and they?re flown at final approach speed and less than 2 Gs.
Counting the variations, E3 is about 100 exercises. The background research by now is probably close to 100 pages, including an analysis of 551 NTSB reports on RV series airplanes plus another analysis of an additional year?s worth of all EAB accidents, plus? you get the idea. E3 didn?t just pop up out of nowhere.
Standing invitation: C?mon down to Savannah and fly E3 with me, then make up your own mind on how much you learned or didn?t. Bring your own plane ? Cessna, Piper, Mooney, RV, whatever. So far, E3 has been flown in a dozen kinds of airplane, almost all of them non-aerobatic.
If there are any more questions or comments, please PM me. I?m not budgeting much more time to this thread.