Originally Posted by
MikeInTx
Hello everyone...
I am Stage II planning cross-country right now...everything is coming along great but steep turns (45 degree) are proving difficult for me. My instructor doesn't articulate the procedure very well for me, he just says "stay ahead of the plane, stay ahead of the plane," as I lose more than 100 feet of altitude and thereby fail a future checkride.
We are in a 172 classic (P model) and any tips for those who have it dialed in would be greatly appreciated as I can't seem to find much info on the procedure.
RPM, airspeed, trim, back pressure, etc details are appreciated!
Mike
Clearing Turn, pick a visual reference for your start and end heading
Make sure airspeed is about 10kts indicated < than Va. In level, trimmed out, unaccelerated flight. Start the turn with this power setting.
Pick a direction, and roll. Do not pitch up, do not push down.
Passing 30 degrees add about 100 or so RPM, pull back slightly
Verify 45 degrees and LOOK OUTSIDE
Stare at the horizon and use your "peripheral" (bottom) vision to note the position of the nose of the plane.
LOOK STRAIGHT AHEAD, not in the direction of turn! (disclaimer: keep an eye out for traffic)
Gently find what pitch attitude will keep you level, AND HOLD IT.
20 or so degrees before your start heading, gently and slowly roll level and slowly reduce power to your original power setting. Time the roll out to end on your start heading.
Steep turn complete.
My students would ALWAYS look at the instruments too much. You should be looking outside, straight ahead at the horizon, 95% of the time you are doing the maneuver.
While staring at the horizon line (outside), it is easy to tell pitch trends of the airplane. If the nose starts creeping up, fix it. If it starts going down, fix it.
Listen. More noise = down ya go. Less noise - you're going up.
Practice practice practice
Good luck!