Insights

Ground track is the primary objective

Students are taught turns around a point in stage two of private pilot training--after they complete their supervised solo flights and before they start cross-country flight training. They are now required to compensate for wind while planning and executing a circular ground track while using a steeper-than-normal bank angle.

The apparent objective is to maintain a constant distance from a reference point while you fly around it. The primary objective, however, is to plan and execute a circular ground track that will achieve the apparent objective. Like so many elements of flying, the apparent objective is seldom the primary objective for executing a maneuver, and this is true for both visual and instrument flying. When the primary objectives are achieved, the apparent objective will automatically occur, and learning will be enhanced.

Some instructors will tell students to continually evaluate distance from the reference point and vary the bank angle in order to maintain that distance. Yes, that works, but it does not generate the proper skill level. Students should be taught to pick reference points on the ground that define the proper circular ground track and keep the airplane over that track. Total training time will be reduced when students learn this skill.

Like most ground reference maneuvers, turns around a point are started on a downwind heading so that the initial bank will be the steepest bank of the maneuver. Bank angle during ground reference maneuvers is a function of groundspeed--higher groundspeed, steeper bank angle, and vice versa. Ground reference maneuvers are flown at 600 to 1,000 feet above ground level.

To start, fly downwind, approximately one-quarter mile from the point, so that the initial bank angle will be approximately 45 degrees--a steeper and more demanding bank angle than that used for presolo ground-reference maneuvers. At position A in the illustration, when the wing points at the reference point because there's no crosswind, you start the turn. Do not start the turn before you reach that point or delay the turn until you have passed it.

Now pick reference points on the ground that define a circular ground track that will maintain the desired turn radius; adjust bank angle to keep the airplane over that track. At position B, the wing will point behind the reference point because of the crosswind, and the bank will be shallower because of the slower groundspeed. At position C, the wing will once again point at the reference point because there is no crosswind, and the bank will be the shallowest of the maneuver because groundspeed is the slowest. At position D, the wing will point ahead of the point because of the crosswind, and the bank angle will be the same as it was at position B. At position A, the steepest bank will again be required, because groundspeed is the highest.

You can use two reference points that are approximately one-half mile apart in order to fly eights around pylons, a figure-eight maneuver that requires a partial turn around a point at each reference point. The FAA has removed this maneuver from the private pilot practical test standards, but it is still described in the FAA's Airplane Flying Handbook. I still teach it because it requires a higher level of orientation and planning.

To master these concepts, you must fly turns around a point when wind is present. To do so on a calm day has little training benefit, if any.

Ralph Butcher, a retired United Airlines captain, is the chief flight instructor at a California flight school. He has been flying since 1959 and has 25,000 hours in fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. Visit his Web site.