Man: [0:31] … We’re back for yet another episode in our Aviator 90
series, here at Angle of Attack.Today we will be talking about S-
turns. Now, I suppose you could also call these snake turns and
you’ll see why in a second here.
[0:47] What is an S-turn? Well an S-turn is a maneuver that I
believe is best used to learn how to compensate for wind with the
aircraft. You’ll see exactly what I mean during the maneuver.

[0:59] First let’s talk about the maneuver itself a bit and what we
can expect from this episode.All right, so here we are looking at
the top down view. And we’re basically going to pick a straight and
narrow road some where. We’ll enter perpendicular to the road,
crossing it and immediately starting our turn.

[1:18] Because there will be wind, we’ll need to compensate. Now it
would be pretty pointless to point this out now, so let’s just see
it in action as we do the procedure here in a minute or so.We want
to keep the turn smooth and stable. And cross the road by rolling
our wings level and being perfectly perpendicular to it, once
again. So this is how we’ll know exactly how successful we were in
compensating for the turn.

[1:46] These turns are made one after another, right, left, right,
left, until we have completed or run out of the straight road to
use.Once crossing the road again, we now make a turn to continue
down the road, which will now be in the opposite direction to the
last turn we did, like I said before.

[2:05] So, this is the maneuver we are going to complete. It is
quite a fun maneuver and it’s very challenging, the more wind you
have, because you’ll need to compensate. So, let’s see it in
action, as that will allow me to point out some different things
about it. And then you can try it yourself.

[2:21] All right, so here we are perpendicular to the road that
we’re going to be crossing. And we are going to try to maintain 3,
000 feet throughout this maneuver and we will complete an S-turn.

[2:32] We are going to start our S-turn to the right. And I will
tell you when we find that road. It is coming up over here. It’s
kind of hard to see right now.All right, now we’ll look out the
side. Here it comes. It’s the small skinny road. And as soon as
we’re crossing it we’re going to begin our right turn.

[3:04] So, here we go, starting the turn to the right. Again, we
want to maintain 3, 000 feet throughout this maneuver, which can
tend to be difficult because you’re going to be looking in the
direction of the turn most of the time. And in addition, you’ll
need to coordinate the turn, as we talked about earlier.

[3:26] So coming around, you can see the road. We’re looking pretty
good right now, as far as crossing the road perpendicular. Going to
keep it coming around like this.

[3:38] All right, so we’re going to start rolling out our turn,
looking out the window.And that looked good. That was a good one
and we immediately start our next turn, our left turn.

[3:52] So, again, looking at 3, 000, making sure that we’re keeping
that altitude. Now it’s usually best to learn how to do this
outside the window, right now. But you can also check your
altimeter now and again.

[4:09] Now you can see that I’m coming in a little too shallow
here. Probably because the wind is pushing me this direction, the
direction we’re turning in. So next time I could use just a little
less bank angle.All right, so crossing the road, we start the next
turn to the right.

[4:41] Again, most of your attention is outside the window and not
inside the cockpit. However, you can glance at your turn
coordinator and your altimeter every once in a while, to make sure
you are on track.

[4:54] So, coming around on the road again, this one is looking,
it’s looking all right. It’s not too bad …

[5:07] All right, so cutting away for a few seconds, we’re just
back now. And we’re going to now try things the other direction, So
going down the road in the opposite direction doing our S-turns.

[5:18] And now I’m just getting set up again to cross the road
perpendicular, so we can begin this maneuver again.I’m looking at
the road. There we are. So, beginning that turn, again, maintaining
3, 000 throughout the maneuver. Keep your altitude in mind.

[5:58] And this time because of the wind, I’m going to let the wind
push me a little more. But that means that I need to shallow out
the turn on this side.So, as you go throughout this maneuver, you
should get more and more stable. Because you’re learning more and
more, what the wind is doing to your aircraft.

[6:32] So, now that I’m getting the hang of things, the turns are
looking a lot better. The other side is good. This side is looking
good, as well. I could increase my bank angle a little bit but
we’re coming around quite nicely.

[6:59] Just rolling level here a little too early and like I said.
I could have used a little more bank angle. That’s why. And now
we’ll make a turn to the right, again.So, on this side, we’re going
to shallow it out, coming around to the road now.

[7:30] And because we ended early on the last one, this means we’ll
kind of be behind on this one. But it’s still looking good. So here
we go. We’re just about perpendicular, we roll the wings level and
right on target. Nice.

[7:47] All right, now on this end you can actually just continue
the right turn, so we can go back down the road. Again, be mindful
of the 3, 000 feet or whatever altitude you’re flying at.

[8:02] And we’re coming around, adjusting, looking, always looking.
And here’s the road coming up. Wings level, right on the road.
Nice.Now we’re going to continue that left turn.Now when you roll
the wings level after your turn, you get a big surge of lift. So
keep that in mind. You’ll surge upward if you’re not careful. Just
use some forward pressure to counteract that.

[8:40] Coming around again and increase my angle here, so we can
get back on track. Add some back pressure, coming around, just
about to roll wings level. Here we go. And perpendicular, perfect.
Now we start again.And that is about it. We’re not going to do
anymore of this maneuver. Just wanted to show you guys what that
was like. And hopefully you enjoyed it and saw the use of
correcting for the winds there.

[9:21] So all right. That’s it. This is actually a fun maneuver
that is one turn after the other, as you saw. Any aviator can make
good use of doing these every once in a while. And it is a good
refresher for sure.

[9:34] Also, for an extra challenge, if you’re up to it, just add
more wind. Next time, we’re going to do point turns which is
basically a turn around a point. Which is also a visual and wind
compensation maneuver like the S-turns.

[9:50] However, this time, it is just one big continuous turn. All
right, so I know you’re starting to catch on with my departing
phrase. So repeat with me, if you will.

[10:01] Until next time, throttle on.

Transcription by CastingWords