Radio-controlled aerobatics

Radio-controlled aerobatics is the practice of flying radio-controlled aircraft in maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in normal flight.

Due to its simplicity, the inside loop is among the first aerobatic maneuvers a pilot learns. It is named after a 360 degree circle with the pilot on the inside of the loop. Simply applying power while pulling back on the elevator stick will cause the aircraft to loop upward into vertical flight, continue into inverted flight, continue into a dive, and return to horizontal flight. A well-performed inside loop will look like clean circle with the same entry and exit point, and this requires management of power to overcome the tendency of gravity to shorten the upward portion and lengthen the downward portion.

The inside loop is performed by:

An outside loop follows the same path as an inside loop, but is performed with the pilot or cockpit on the outside of the circle the aircraft describes.

Therefore, if the aircraft starts in a normal, upright flight position, then an outside loop will be performed by inputting down elevator and progressing down below the original line of flight before executing a circular path to return to the original position. This is sometimes referred to as a 'bunt'.

Outside loops generally require more power and a higher control input than inside loops to perform because the lift force is in an outwards direction, thus tending to pull the aircraft out of the loop.

The Immelmann turn is named after flying ace Max Immelmann. It has become one of the most popular aerial maneuvers, being commonly used in airshows all across the globe.

To execute the Immelmann turn, the pilot pulls the aircraft into a vertical climb, and eventually completes half a loop in the aircraft from this climb, inverting the aircraft. The pilot then executes a half-roll to regain level flight.

The Immelmann turn can also be reversed by starting with a half-roll into inverted flight, and then using elevator to pull the aircraft down through a half loop back to level flight.

In both cases, the aircraft has changed course 180 degrees and exchanges speed with altitude.

An aircraft is in inverted flight when it has rotated 180 degrees about its longitudinal axis, so that its cockpit and tail fin are pointing at the ground.

Inverted flight in itself is not generally regarded as a maneuver, rather as an attitude in which to perform other aerobatic maneuvers. Therefore, an inverted maneuver is one in which the aircraft begins in an inverted flight position.

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Wikipedia