This maneuver requires that you understand the relationship between angle of bank and turn rate, and that you be proficient at elevator-throttle coordination to help you maintain constant altitude. When you change power, you need to make an elevator input to counteract the power-induced pitch change. Then, as airspeed changes, you need to make an additional elevator input to counteract the airspeed-induced pitch change. Finally, you must adjust bank angle to maintain a standard-rate turn (three degrees per second)-as airspeed increases, bank angle must increase to maintain the standard-rate turn, and as airspeed decreases, bank angle must decrease.
Timed Turns to Compass Headings
When the heading gyro is inoperative or unreliable, use the magnetic compass, the turn coordinator, and the clock to turn. The turn's duration is determined by dividing three into the degrees of heading change. A 45-degree turn will take 15 seconds; a 21-degree turn will take seven seconds.
Heading changes of three or six degrees are useful for maintaining a heading when you must use the magnetic compass. For a three-degree heading change, roll into a one-half standard rate turn and immediately roll out of it (use a normal roll rate). For a six-degree heading change, roll into a standard rate turn and immediately roll out of it. A word to the wise-the magnetic compass is king of the instrument panel, a fact that some pilots seem to ignore as cockpit technology ad-vances. The magnetic compass is your master heading reference, and the instrument pilot practical test standards state that you must understand its operating characteristics.
Steep Turns
Before you start practicing steep turns, your instructor should introduce steep-turn entries and recoveries, which are an exercise in elevator-aileron-rudder-throttle coordination. You must maintain altitude while you roll back and forth between left and right 45-degree bank turns-don't pause when the 45-degree bank is reached, simply roll back to the other side. Once you've mastered this exercise, you'll find that 360-degree steep turns are easy to execute.
Steep turns are not a constant-airspeed maneuver, but proper throttle coordination will offset airspeed loss and high elevator control force generated by the turn's substantial drag increase. The effects of decreasing airspeed and attitude indicator pre-cession become significant when you approach 180 degrees of turn. Maintaining airspeed makes it easier to compensate for gyro precession.
Try to avoid looking at the tachometer or manifold pressure gauge when you change power. Listen to the engine, make an audible power change, and mentally note the increment of throttle movement that you used to accomplish the change.
As you roll into the steep turn and approach 30 degrees of bank, increase pitch and power. Decrease pitch and power when rolling out of the bank. This pitch correction is strictly mechanical in order to compensate for the large change in the airplane's vertical component of lift as bank angle changes. This mechanical correction, applied before errors become apparent, compensates for the lag between the change and the response from the instruments.
As you approach 45 degrees of bank, move the yoke aft until you feel about 1.4 Gs-you must learn to recognize this amount of G-loading. Always maintain 1.4 Gs with the elevator during the turn, and then, if a minor altitude deviation occurs, eliminate it by making a slight bank angle correction-up to five degrees of bank change is allowed. If the airplane starts to climb, momentarily increase the bank angle toward 50 degrees. If the airplane starts to descend, momentarily decrease the bank angle toward 40 degrees. If this correction is insufficient, simultaneously return to a 45-degree bank and make a pitch correction. When you restore altitude and the 45-degree bank angle, adjust elevator input for the 1.4 G-load. Remove the G-load input when you start the rollout at the completion of the turn.
I don't recommend using elevator trim during this brief maneuver. Trying to trim the elevator creates a distraction and makes it impossible to relate elevator control force to G-load. Concentrate on audible power changes, bank angle, G-load, and stopping minor altitude variations with slight bank angle changes. Finesse is the name of this game. Eliminate the unneeded variables.
Simulated Instrument Takeoffs
This type of takeoff is used routinely during instrument flight training in order to maximize your exposure to instrument flight. This maneuver is easy to perform, but when the crosswind component exceeds five or six knots, you should make a visual takeoff. Actual instrument takeoffs in minimum visibility conditions are not recommended in single-engine airplanes, because forced landing options are virtually nonexistent.
Before you taxi onto the runway, put on your IFR hood or view-restricting device. With your head tilted back, it's still possible to see over the nose, and your instructor will make certain that final approach is clear of traffic.
After you're aligned with the runway centerline, set approximately 1,400 rpm, and rotate the heading indicator's compass card slightly so that the uppermost reference line on the card is directly under the instrument's lubber line. When cleared for takeoff, release the brakes, look outside to confirm centerline tracking, and then look inside at the heading indicator and set takeoff power.
As speed increases, apply elevator back-pressure to prevent the airplane's weight from transferring onto the nose wheel, which can result in wheelbarrowing. Add the airspeed indicator to your scan. As you approach flying speed, add the attitude indicator to your scan, and ease the nose up to a three-bar, nose-high attitude. Maintain this attitude during liftoff and initial acceleration. Due to the attitude gyro's acceleration error, the initial three-bar attitude is higher than your normal climb attitude, which would be one and one-half to two bars nose high, but as you reach and capture best rate of climb speed, VY, the gyro will correct itself.
Departure Profile
Your initial departure objective is to reach a safe altitude as rapidly as practical. A safe altitude is one that gives you a landing option in case of an engine failure. Some pilots reduce power too early after takeoff since their engine or engines sound like they're running away from themselves, but this is a result of flying too fast. If they would use the best rate of climb speed, engine noise would sound normal. Others believe that an early power reduction extends engine life, a belief not supported by engine manufacturers.
The departure profile mandates a best-rate climb to the safe altitude or until you reach 1,000 feet above ground level, whichever is greater. At that point, decrease pitch attitude to allow the aircraft to accelerate to cruise-climb speed, set climb power, check the engine gauges, and complete the after-takeoff checklist.
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