Originally Posted by
the King
Cubdriver: While airspeed is recommended, I would argue that GS is as readily available to most pilots as IAS is. Yeah, it isn't technically correct, but if you have the table already done (the best way I've ever seen, and a good exercise for Commercial applicants) GS is easily determined in the GPS/glass cockpit-equipped aircraft many students train in.
OP: Here's a quote straight from the Airplane Flying Handbook. "A rule of thumb for estimating pivotal altitude in calm wind is to square the true airspeed and divide by 15 for miles per hour (m.p.h.) or 11.3 for knots." Pivotal altitude is a visual trick. You "appear" to rotate about the pylon. The math explains why it looks like that, not the other way around. Old rule of thumb: "5 minutes prep on the ground equals half an hour in the air." Make the students do the work on the ground so the maneuver is (almost) idiot-proof.
Agreed, and thanks for weighing in. The nice thing about the flight training forum here is a person can hear a variety of viewpoints on a subject from a variety of experience levels. One of us may know something about theory and another may have more practical experience. As long as you are willing to learn you can benefit from hearing what other people have to say, give your sincere view on something, and compare notes. No one is "bad" for having a particular level of understanding about a topic as long as they care about the views of others and are willing to consider other views. I pretty much live for airplanes and flying so I like to hear how others perform and teach flight maneuvers, how they understand them, and how they feel about flight topics in general.