Add throttle and
6
fly out of the
maneuver in a
slightly nose down
attitude that
matches your
entry speed.
After a short
5
amount of inverted
flight, perform a ⁄2
1
roll to upright.
Give a little more
4
forward cyclic to
exit the ⁄2 loop in
1
inverted flight.
Reduce pitch and
3
aft cyclic to keep
the maneuver from
looking pinched.
Enter the maneu-
1
ver at medium- to
high-speed flight
with a slightly
nose down attitude.
A little aft cyclic
2
will start the half
loop, the amount
of cyclic will determine the size of
the maneuver.
upright by giving full left/right (left or right
doesn’t matter, do whatever you are comfortable with) cyclic and just a little forward
cyclic to complete the transition to fast-forward flight. Start learning this maneuver by
rolling quickly, but as you become better at
flying the Immelmann, slow down the roll
to match the tempo of the 1⁄2 loop. If the
half-loop is big and slow, perform the 1⁄2 roll
slow for best effect.
POSITION 6
Add throttle to match the exit speed to the
entry speed. You will need to add a small
amount of forward cyclic as you add throttle to keep the heli from climbing. Practice
and experience will help you decide how
much cyclic to add. Just make sure to keep
the flight level to finish the maneuver. If
you entered the maneuver in fast-forward
flight, you will need to go to full throttle
very quickly after the 1⁄2 roll to achieve the
same exit speed. It will look better to gain
speed quickly to match your entry speed.
CONCLUSION
It seems that most of the pilots I see at the
field use a 180-stall turn or a 540-stall
turn to perform a turnaround between
aerobatic maneuvers. By not only giving
a different maneuver to perform a direction change, the Immelmann turn
provides a great contrast and a little variety, and also changes the altitude
direction from the stall turns. Since a stall
turn always goes from low to high to low,
it’s refreshing to see a turnaround that
starts low and ends high. While I love a
well-executed stall turn, it’s great to mix
it up with a maneuver that is graceful and
underused and it shows real versatility in
your flying.
