From the Mid Atlantic Radio Kontrol Society, Snow Hill, Maryland
Learning to 3-D and 3-D Well: Rolling Harrier
Jeremy Chinn
Part 5 of 5
The next 3-D maneuver in the series,
the Rolling Harrier or Harrier Roll, relies heavily
on the basic aerobatic skills you have built prior
to learning to fly 3-D. If you can’t fly the basic
aerobatic rolling maneuvers, such as a slow roll,
four-point roll, or rolling circle, you will have
very little success attempting to do a Rolling
Harrier or a Rolling Harrier Circle. Take the time
to learn those skills first.
Earlier in the series, you learned the Upright and
Inverted Harrier as well as the High Alpha Knife
Edge. To simplify matters, a Rolling Harrier is
simply harriers and hakes strung together end to end
and flown with a particular rhythm. Additionally,
varying that rhythm allows you to steer the Rolling
Harrier straight, left/right, or up/down.
There are a few common mistakes that many pilots
make that you should try to avoid:
• Don’t practice this maneuver in only one rolling
direction. That will build a bias into your flying
and make later maneuvers more difficult.
• Always fly the maneuver with both rudder and
elevator inputs for altitude and heading correction.
Flying with only one or the other results in a
choppy-looking maneuver that is much harder to
control.
• Try this maneuver on the simulator first and then
transfer to real life. Flying Rolling Harriers comes
from properly building muscle memory and rhythm,
which can be done much more quickly on the simulator
using the ‘reduced time’ method.
To begin the Rolling Harrier, start with the
airplane in an Upright Harrier flying into the wind
two to three wingspans high. With full control of
the airplane, use the ailerons to roll the airplane
to a High Alpha Knife Edge and hold it there. Next,
roll the airplane to an Inverted Harrier and again
hold it there. Follow with a roll in the same
direction to High Alpha Knife Edge. Complete the
sequence by rolling the same direction back to
Upright Harrier. Practice this sequence of events
repeatedly until you feel comfortable transitioning
from one position to the next.
Next, decrease the amount of time you hold the
airplane at each position and practice the sequence
again. Continue practicing the sequence and reducing
the hold time at each position until you can roll
the airplane through each position without stopping
the roll. Congratulations, you’ve just done a
Rolling Harrier.
To build this skill, practice it in both directions
and from starting points of upright and inverted
harrier as well as from both orientations of High
Alpha Knife Edge. Practice stringing Harrier Rolls
together seamlessly until you can fly the entire
length of your runway without stopping the Rolling
Harrier.
For extra credit, learn to steer the Rolling Harrier
by changing the timing of your rudder and elevator
inputs. This aspect of the Rolling Harrier is
learned most quickly on the simulator using the
‘reduced time’ method.
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