Airline Pilot Central Forums - Steep turns (#$%&)

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Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeInTx (Post 92813)

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

Looks like you're in a Cessna 152? Get to your speed. Bank her 45 and put in two full rotations of trim. She should maintain altitude all on her own .

What I do is look outside when we turn. Find a screw that is sitting on the horizon. Then just bank and put that screw on the horizon next time. Always works... Unless someone moves my seat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickair7777 (Post 92890)

An old trick in a 172 is to move the pitch trim wheel two turns nose up as you roll in...this will prevent having to hold a lot of backpressure, which can goof you up.

By two turns, I mean grab the wheel at the top, and move it down as far as it will go without letting go of it. Repeat.

The only catch is that you have to un-trim it when the turn is finished.

I may be weird, but I always work better by reference to the instruments...I look outside just enough so as not to annoy the examiner...

I teach this method, and I fly a 172 M. Works like a charm. Wouldn't teach it any other way!

Just to reiterate...Look outside!!! I know that on some days it is almost impossible to pick out the horizon, but do your best. The problem I find with students is that they have their eyes inside, and it totally boogers them up. Once I break them of the habit, it is very easy to get them up to snuff and w/ in PTS. A lot of them can even do them better than I can ;)

Don't sweat it Chief! You will get'em!

Lax

I finally was able to get out in some good weather yesterday for a student pilot solo and applied all of the helpful tips here..it turns out I was spending 90% of the time looking at the attitude indicator (keeping "the dot" on the horizon) and the altimeter and glancing outside occasionally for the sight picture which was putting me "behind the plane" everytime.

I tried the double trim-wheel swipe, lining up the horizon on a fixed spot on the cowling, listening for the engine to determine climb/descend, and looking outside, looking outside, looking outside and it worked like a charm! Towards the end of the flight I was keeping altitude between +/- 20 feet or so everytime.

Thanks for the great advice

Mike

Nice work! You're on your way! Those things you mentioned in the second paragraph will help you through every maneuver in the PTS. Make small corrections as soon as things don't look right and make the plane do what you want it to do and you'll look like a pro every time.

There are lots of guys and gals on here that are way more experienced than I am. Don't hesitate to ask questions like that if you have one.