Dear Rod:
My instructor says I’m the most challenging student he’s ever had regarding steep turns. According to him, I might need an altimeter with thicker needles so my altitude deviations aren’t so apparent. Yeah, he’s a funny guy, but I’m not laughing a lot. Can you offer any suggestions?
Name Withheld
Greetings Mr. N.W.:
Yes, your instructor is a funny guy, but I understand your frustration. Here’s what I want you to do. Obtain a marking pen acceptable to your flight school for use on the inside of the windscreen. Normally a dark-colored, oil-based marker will work fine here. On your next training flight, with the airplane in straight and level flight, have your instructor lean over and place a dot over the horizon line (as you observe it based on your seating height). This dot should be placed directly—directly!—in front of you, not to your right over the center of the instrument panel. That means your instructor locates your nose (so bring it with you), and moves directly ahead to where the horizon line appears on the windscreen and makes the dot there. Next, have your instructor make two more dots, each one inch below the other. Is dot clear? Now you have three pitch references for doing a steep turn.
One of the biggest issues with students doing steep turns is locating a windscreen-horizon reference. You now have three from which to choose. Roll into a 45-degree bank and place the top dot on the horizon line and keep it there. It’s likely that your altimeter will show a descent. Raise the nose slightly and place the second dot on the horizon. You’ll now hold altitude. If you need finer calibration, use the space between dots.
Flight-control placement is another element that often confuses pilots new to the steep turn. Once you’re established in a right steep turn, you can expect to hold left aileron to sustain that bank, and right rudder to compensate for the adverse yaw caused by the downward deflected aileron on the right wing. Yes, this is a cross-controlled condition that’s common in a steep turn (depending on the airplane, of course). In a left steep turn, you’ll need to hold right aileron to sustain the bank, but the airplane’s left-turning tendencies will tend to eliminate any need for left rudder to keep the airplane flying coordinated. Got dot? Good luck, then.
Dear Rod:
I recently began landing circuits. With 3.2 hours in the traffic pattern so far, I am not understanding how to use the flight controls to fly a glidepath, especially when I’m about a quarter-mile from the runway. On short final approach, my rate of descent increases and my airspeed decreases. My instructor calls out “sink,” because we are sinking. I’m not sure why we’re sinking, either. I lower the nose to maintain my airspeed, but then my instructor says I’m below the desired glidepath. Do you have any easy way to understand this?
Kate
Greetings Kate:
Here’s how to think about sink. It’s not uncommon to experience downdrafts on short final given the contrast between a dark runway (where you’ll find relatively more warm, rising air) and lighter ground on the periphery (where air cools and sinks). Based on what you’ve written, it appears you are making power-on approaches. Therefore, when you encounter sink, if you only lower the nose to maintain your airspeed without adding power, you will descend below your previous glidepath. If you want to maintain your previous glidepath, you must simultaneously add power and raise the nose slightly. Doing this allows you to maintain the descent rate and airspeed you had before the sink began. On the other hand, if you encountered lift (the opposite of sink), you must simultaneously reduce power and lower the nose slightly to maintain the previous descent rate, airspeed, and glidepath. Think of it as getting in sink with your airplane.
Of course, once you’re out of the sink zone (often found just before the runway threshold), you should return the attitude and throttle position to what you had before you sank. Sink about it, but don’t sink too much.
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