Hi all, I am currently working with a student in a Cirrus SR22 for their commercial rating. This is my first time instructing in a Cirrus although I have a couple hundred of hours PIC in the SR22 airframe. My question is regarding the pitch attitude when entering these maneuvers. Right now, for Lazy 8s, I have the student entering the maneuver with about 12 degrees of nose-up pitch and Chandelles I have them entering at about 15-degrees nose up. The issue is that the airplane doesn’t get close enough to the stall speeds as laid out in the ACS and I don’t want to overdo it during an instruction flight.
Could any instructors here give me advice on which pitch attitude works best for them on these maneuvers? I looked in the iFOM and other publications but couldn’t find anything pertaining to attitude; only bank angles.
I find that for Chandelles you have to target around 17.5 degrees or so nose up at the 90 degree mark to be ‘just above’ stall speed at the exit point. This will depend on loading/weight/winds though.
This is the reason why a pitch recommendation is not published. Moreover, if you want to be a purist, these maneuvers should be performed referencing outside points, not the PFD. The instruments are only used to teach the process. Otherwise commercial maneuvers should be performed looking out the window.
In my G6 SR22T, it varies between 17.5 to 20 degrees, depending upon density altitude, weight, winds, altitude, etc. Those are nice starting points, but eventually you develop a feel for the airplane and look more outside than inside the airplane - you develop that feel of what you need to do to get to 5 kts above stall stall speed at the proper points
The attitude needed depends on both the power setting and the density altitude of the air during the maneuvers. It is best to fiddle with this and pick a pitch and power setting that worked comfortable. For Chandelles full power is the norm. For Lazy Eights a lower power setting is more appropriate.
Have to do them at reduced power to keep from going aerobatic.