[Fictionary] SNATTOCK results!

[Jean-Joseph Cote]

And in case anybody is interested in what this particularly nutty bit of 
flying looks like, there's a pretty good video at 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skfprThzUq4

On 1/16/2014 7:10 PM, Jean-Joseph Cote wrote:
>
> On 1/15/2014 11:31 PM, Jim Moskowitz wrote:
>>> *JIM: 2 = 2 for correct guess
>>> snattock (n.)  An aerial maneuver in which an aircraft uses the 
>>> gyroscopic
>>> precession of its propeller to rotate about different axes while at 
>>> the peak
>>> of a steep ascent.
>>>
>>> Jean-Joseph:  I think I would have heard of this, and I think the 
>>> propeller itself doesn't actually have enough angular momentum to 
>>> make this happen, as opposed to the rest of the drive train.  There 
>>> were WWI era planes that had engines with a lot of rotating mass 
>>> that allowed them to do a very quick turn, but only in one direction 
>>> (to the right, I think).  But from what I know about hammerhead 
>>> turns, Immelman turns, and Lomcovaks, I don't remember precession 
>>> coming into play.
>>>
>>> Elliott:  Is this really a maneuver, or a failure mode?
>>
>>
>> Actually, Jean-Joseph, this *is* a Lomcevak.  When I ran across this 
>> wacky aerobatic maneuver I couldn't resist repurposing its definition 
>> as a fictionary entry.
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomcevak
>> http://www.charlesriverrc.org/articles/flying/donstackhouse_whatisalomcovak.htm 
>>
>>
> I didn't realize it was that organized.  Based on the footage I've 
> seen of it, I thought it was just, "fly straight up until you stop 
> climbing, and then let everything get all chaotic".  The one time I 
> had the privilege to get a ride in an aerobatic plane (Bellanca 
> Decathlon), we did pretty much every maneuver I had ever heard of -- 
> except this one, because the plane wasn't rated for it.
>