Flight Training - August 2014 - 39

PILOT A needs to make a tight turn to escape a canyon, so he has a steep
bank angle and a slow airspeed. This increases the turn rate and decreases
the radius.

PILOT B is taking passengers on a leisurely flight around a lake. He wants
a slower rate and bigger radius, which is done through a shallow bank angle
and faster airspeed.

PAY CLOSE ATTENTION DURING AN APPROACH TO LANDING BECAUSE,
AS SPEED GOES DOWN AND ANGLE OF ATTACK GOES UP, ADVERSE YAW
ALSO GOES UP.
THE PROBLEM IS TIMING. Many pilots have a difficult time
realizing that they aren't very precise. Anticipating the roll-in
and roll-out with the ailerons is where the timing most often is
wrong. The timing should be such that an aileron is never out
into the wind (except when slipping) without a corresponding amount of rudder applied to compensate for the adverse
yaw. Hands and feet should be permanently and unconsciously
linked together.
Every airplane has a distinct mix in terms of how much rudder is needed for a given amount of aileron and how quickly
the rudder goes in compared to the aileron. This isn't a big factor in modern aircraft, but that's why every time you get into a
new airplane type, you should do some of the so-called "Dutch
roll" coordination exercises to determine the airplane's coordination personality.
CLIMBING AND GLIDING TURNS. Everything that has been
discussed becomes slightly altered when making climbing or
gliding turns. When at full power or power-off, the effects of
P-factor skew the neutral position of the rudder inputs, requiring a different mindset. This is where many of the difficulties
above become most obvious.
In a full-power climb, the P-factor does its best to slide the
ball-however minimally-off to the right, so a little right rudder
is needed to keep it in the middle to maximize performance. So,
the "zero rudder" position is shifted to the right because of the
anti-P-factor rudder that's always there. For that reason, when
rolling into a full-power, climbing left turn, left rudder usually
isn't needed. Just reduce the amount of right rudder being held

while rolling in. Then reestablish the
rudder when the bank is stabilized.
Power-off gliding sees the ball sliding
the other way, to the left, so left rudder
is needed all the time. This skews the
neutral position the other way.
Incidentally, the most common situation in which a pilot is cross-controlled,
with rudder into the turn and aileron out
of it, will be on approach to landing.
A lot of pilots make perfect turns
every time. Others don't. The way for
you to know where you fit in the coordination spectrum is to monitor the ball
while in the act of rolling into a turn,
while in the turn, and while rolling out.
The airplane will tell you how you're
doing. Then, it's up to you to decide
whether good enough actually is good
enough, or whether you want to improve
by paying a little more attention to
what you thought was a simple maneuver but isn't. The turn tells the truth
every time.
Budd Davisson is an aviation writer/photographer
and magazine editor. A CFI since 1967, he teaches
about 30 hours a month in his Pitts S-2A. Visit his
website (www.airbum.com).
AUGUST 2014 FLIGHT TRAINING

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Flight Training - August 2014

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