Microsoft Flight Simulator Handbook

by Jonathan M. Stern

Hammerhead Turn

The hammerhead turn involves the beginning of a loop, except that the airplane is held in a nose-high attitude until it is near a stall. At that point, full left or right rudder is applied, causing the airplane to yaw from a nose-up to a nose-down attitude (see Figure 8.9).

Figure 8.9. All the top of the hammerhead turn, full rudder is used to make the airplane fall off to one side.

A smooth pullout is then made from the resulting dive. Follow these steps for entry:

1. Turn off Auto Coordination from the Sim menu.
2. Climb to 6,000 feet AGL or use the World/Set Exact Location menu to place the airplane at 6,000 feet.
3. Establish cruise flight (flaps and gear retracted).
4. Dive to accelerate the airplane to 180 knots.
5. Smoothly apply up elevator until the elevator is 75 percent of the way up.
6. Apply full throttle when you see nothing but sky in the windscreen.
7. Use left or right view to maintain orientation.
8. Maintain nose-up attitude by neutralizing elevator when wings are perpendicular to the horizon.
9. At 80 knots, apply full left or right rudder.
10. Select forward view.
11. If the airplane tries to roll, neutralize roll with ailerons.
12. When the airplane is headed straight down, neutralize flight controls.
13. Set throttle at idle.
14. Rapidly but smoothly apply up elevator.

For recovery, return to cruise flight.

Lesson: Aerobatic Category (Lesson 7)

Table of Contents
Previous Section: Immelmann
Next Section: Limitations of Visual Flight