The basic shark’s tooth consists of a vertical climb followed by a 45-degree segment that traces the outline of a shark’s tooth. To perform it, fly straight and level, add full power, and do a small loop to a vertical upline before the plane reaches the center of the field. Continue to fly vertically for at least 100 feet, and then push over to a 45-degree downline. Just before the plane reaches its initial starting altitude, recover to straight and level flight.
- Enter straight and level, full power
- Pull loop to vertical climb
- Vertical upline
- Push 135 deg.
- 45-deg. downline
- 45-deg. downline
- Pull 45 deg.
- Exit straight and level
After you’ve flown the maneuver a few times, it’s time to improve your technique. Make sure that the plane’s wings are level before the pull to the vertical. If the plane is in even a slight bank, the vertical upline will be off. Work on making all of the corner radiuses the same for all of the segments. Also work on establishing a true, 45-degree downline; 45 degrees is steeper than most people think. Last, practice centering the maneuver so that you cross the midpoint of the field halfway through the 45-degree segment.
To spice up the shark’s tooth, add maneuvers during the 45-degree dive. After you’ve pushed over the top, try a snap roll just before the plane reaches the center of the field. Rolls and point rolls can be performed on the vertical upline and during the 45-degree segment. For an advanced variation, fly past yourself, pull to vertical and pull 135 degrees to an inverted 45-degree downline; then perform two points of a four-point roll, and exit upright. Variations on the shark’s tooth that have challenging midpoint maneuvers will keep things interesting for a long time.