• Better preflight planning should have been accomplished, especially in a new location. The pilot should have known to obtain convective information and realize it was going to be too bumpy for his or her limited experience. The pilot was accustomed to seeing towering cumulus clouds where he or she trained, but they were way inland and not in the normal flying area. Here clouds were observed all around. 

• Site observations indicated strong thermal activity. Observation of winds picking up to 15 knots and then becoming calm normally indicates thermal activity. The pilot was familiar with steady 15 knot winds, but did not understand that calm wind increasing cyclically to 15 knots indicates thermal activity. 

• The pilot did not initially react to the updraft and resultant high pitch angle properly because pitch management habits had not been developed. The pilot hit the updraft and allowed the force of the updraft to move the control bar forward, increasing the pitch angle while not letting up on the throttle immediately. Both the control bar forward and full throttle forced the nose too high, creating the high pitch angle and whip stall condition. At the same time, the WSC aircraft flew into the downdraft, starting the nose- down rotation. 

• If the pilot had reacted quickly, pulled in the bar while letting up on the throttle and immediately going into the strong thermal, the high pitch angle would not have been achieved and the strong forward rotation would not have happened so abruptly. 

After the series of errors occurred, the pilot fi nally performed the preventive action to avoid a tumble—from the basic training of “If the WSC is at a high pitch angle and the nose starts to rotate down to a low pitch angle, increase to full power while pushing the control bar full out to avoid a tumble.” 

## Chapter Summary 

Knowledge of the effects and use of the controls is basic to develop a “feel” of the aircraft and become accustomed to “attitude” flying. This is the basis for all flight maneuvers. The four basic WSC flight maneuvers requiring pilot profi ciency are: 

• Straight-and-level fl ight. 

• Level turns. 

• Climbs and climbing turns. 

• Descents and descending turns. 

Once the basic maneuvers are mastered, the steep turn allows the pilot to achieve maximum performance from the aircraft. Energy management techniques provide the basis for fl ying in different atmospheric conditions and introduce the student to precise pitch and power control. Slow flight and stall provide the pilot an awareness of the ability of the WSC to fly at the lower end of the WSC performance. 

Whip stalls and tumbles are unique to WSC flight, and pilot awareness and avoidance is an important concept for WSC pilots to understand. 

