Snap rolls

[VNugget]

Can someone please explain them? For the love of me, I've read the equivelant of War and Peace on the net about them, but I see all kinds of descriptions, ranging from just fast/violent rolls, to flat spins with no loss of altitude. I don't have the time (or gas money) to go to the airport shoppe to read a real explanation right now.

 

[Loafman]

It's just a spin in the horizontal plane. To put it very simply, the airplane is jerked into a critical angle of attack (stalled) and the rudder is kicked in the desired direction of roll. The stick is then relaxed when the nose is pointed downrange again and you're flying straight and level again. They can be flown in as many combinations as you can stall/spin an airfoil. I'm sure there are hard-core acro guys on here that will go into greater detail, but that's about the gist of it.

 

[labbats]

Unamiliar with it myself. Sounds like a barrel roll.

 

[SDdriver]

They are almost exactly as explained, the aircraft is basicaly put into a accelerated stall and both aileron and rudder are put full scale into the direction of the roll. The aircraft snaps and then is recovered before a loss of alt.

Crudely put, pitch up hard and immdeiatley slam everything to one side and hold all the elevator full up and hold on and it is over in a sec. and you better be quick to recover,

I am sure someone else, as put above, can explain it more professionaly, but that is a crude explaination. I have never done one in a real plane, but we use to do them all the time in our scale models, the procedure was go full up elevator and full aileron and rudder all at once. OK I just woke up I am to tired to continue..

SD

 

[FracPilot]

Don't even consider trying this maneuver in anything but an Unlimited class aerobatic aircraft. Go out with a very experienced aerobatic instructor and try this in a Pitts, Extra, Sukhoi, or similar. People do these in airplanes like Super Decathalons, but they're lucky the wings don't snap.

As others have stated, a snap roll is simply an accelerated stall followed by a spin on the horizontal plane.

 

[rfeathe1]

Most of the above explanations are correct. It is simply a horozontal spin. Aileron input is not necessary but it seems to help. Full power on the engine maximizes rudder & elevator effectiveness. Aircraft with clockwise engines snap a little better to the left & a lot better to the left when at the top of a loop.
I used to teach aerobatics in Citabrias & Decathalons & have never heard of anyone overstressing one doing snap manuevers.

 

[CatYaaak]

People do these in airplanes like Super Decathalons, but they're lucky the wings don't snap.

As others have stated, a snap roll is simply an accelerated stall followed by a spin on the horizontal plane.

I've done hundreds of them in Citabrias and Decathalons, and I've never found it necessary to egress a wingless airplane, or known anyone who has. It doesn't require a serious high-G entry into the accelerated stall if you're at your target airspeed, and it's a relatively easy, basic maneuver. As you correctly stated it's a spin on a horizontal plane, and therefore once entered stresses on the aircraft are low, just as they are low after the wing stalls during an earthward-bound spin.

I do concur with your advice to the original poster. Learning the basics through dual instruction from an experienced aerobatics instructor (in an aircraft certified for it, of course) is essential to survival, not the mention the key to doing them well. Except for one other thing, it's also the most fun you'll ever have in an airplane.

I'm weird though....I think they should be required training for a commercial licence. I'm not comfortable with any pilot who isn't mentally comfortable upside-down.

 

[Singlecoil]

I snapped a 207 once. It did just fine, but I don't think that was one of my all-time smartest moves...