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Re: Aerobatics
Age of wing spars? The wood started out maybe 100 to 200 years old when the spars were made. Condition is everything! How do you tell the condition? Pretty hard to do unless you have recently rebuilt the wings, and went over the spars with a magnifying glass, knowing what to look for as far as compression fractures, etc.
As said already, many simple aerobatic maneuvers can stress the airplane very little, done correctly. Done incorrectly, or when things go bad, G levels, airspeeds, and torsion loads can rise to very high levels very quickly.
And, doing ordinary slow rolls in a Taylorcraft is far from easy, requiring, in my opinion, pretty good technique, much more so than common aerobatic airplanes like Citabrias, Decathlons, or (especially) my Pitts. Looping maneuvers are normally quite easy. Minimum loop entry speed can vary significantly with pilot skills and finesse. Spins stress the airplane very little, except when recoveries are done sloppily and overspeeds and hard pulls can result from poor techniques. The Taylorcraft's spin modes are mostly docile and predictable and recovery is normally nearly instantaneous.
I am not at all sure that most could tell the difference accurately in G-loadings without a G-meter. Maybe I am desensitized a bit from years of acro practice, but I personally can't tell with any great accuracy without a G-meter.
Rough and hard landings generate different forces than most positive-G acro maneuvers one might be able to do in a Taylorcraft. Indeed I can see how unseen damage could be lurking from "controlled crash" style hard landings. Not to mention dragging or bumping a wing and the possible resultant compression fractures... Do you know your airplane's complete history?
All this said, I routinely do some aerobatic maneuvers in my '46 BC12-D1. I rebuilt it completely myself. I have done a fair amount of spin training in her. Loops, Cuban 8's, barrel rolls, slow rolls. Hammerheads? Well, without much of an up-line! But, I do these gently as possible, I wear a parachute, keep plenty of altitude in my pocket just-in-case. I have well over 1000 aerobatic flights logged in Pitts Special, Pitts S2A, Decathlon and Extra 300L airplanes mostly, and a smattering of others. I find my stock 65 hp Taylorcraft, in excellent condition, to be delightful and challenging because of its low power, light wing load, powerful elevator and rudder, and very slow ailerons.
Age of wing spars? The wood started out maybe 100 to 200 years old when the spars were made. Condition is everything! How do you tell the condition? Pretty hard to do unless you have recently rebuilt the wings, and went over the spars with a magnifying glass, knowing what to look for as far as compression fractures, etc.
As said already, many simple aerobatic maneuvers can stress the airplane very little, done correctly. Done incorrectly, or when things go bad, G levels, airspeeds, and torsion loads can rise to very high levels very quickly.
And, doing ordinary slow rolls in a Taylorcraft is far from easy, requiring, in my opinion, pretty good technique, much more so than common aerobatic airplanes like Citabrias, Decathlons, or (especially) my Pitts. Looping maneuvers are normally quite easy. Minimum loop entry speed can vary significantly with pilot skills and finesse. Spins stress the airplane very little, except when recoveries are done sloppily and overspeeds and hard pulls can result from poor techniques. The Taylorcraft's spin modes are mostly docile and predictable and recovery is normally nearly instantaneous.
I am not at all sure that most could tell the difference accurately in G-loadings without a G-meter. Maybe I am desensitized a bit from years of acro practice, but I personally can't tell with any great accuracy without a G-meter.
Rough and hard landings generate different forces than most positive-G acro maneuvers one might be able to do in a Taylorcraft. Indeed I can see how unseen damage could be lurking from "controlled crash" style hard landings. Not to mention dragging or bumping a wing and the possible resultant compression fractures... Do you know your airplane's complete history?
All this said, I routinely do some aerobatic maneuvers in my '46 BC12-D1. I rebuilt it completely myself. I have done a fair amount of spin training in her. Loops, Cuban 8's, barrel rolls, slow rolls. Hammerheads? Well, without much of an up-line! But, I do these gently as possible, I wear a parachute, keep plenty of altitude in my pocket just-in-case. I have well over 1000 aerobatic flights logged in Pitts Special, Pitts S2A, Decathlon and Extra 300L airplanes mostly, and a smattering of others. I find my stock 65 hp Taylorcraft, in excellent condition, to be delightful and challenging because of its low power, light wing load, powerful elevator and rudder, and very slow ailerons.
.....looks kinda silly wallowing around....he says now, he must have been crazy, I also had the good fortune to fly aerobatics in a Meyers OTW with a 160 Kinner...a friend of my dad's had one...did a great barrel roll. That 5 cylinder radial sounded like an out of balance washing machine. It liked to ground loop too. I never did...but I had one high pucker landing.
And 79 ias mph poss max maneuvering speed... seems like that has something to do with max speed you can fully deflect controls without being able to pull enough G's to do any damage. At what age?? when new, 
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