Aviator90 Episode 9

Man: [0:30] Welcome back for yet another thrilling episode of “Aviator
90″ from Angle of Attack. This time we’ll be talking about turning
and why it’s not as simple as just turning the yoke. This episode
is pretty simple, however, but it’s essential to your growth as an
aviator.
[0:48] So we’re still aloft from the last episode, and here we are,
straight and level. Let’s dive right in now, not literally, but
I’ll show you some turning techniques here, and then we’ll talk
afterward about what we learned.

[1:03] So let’s start a nice left-hand turn. Start this by turning
your yoke or joystick in the direction you’d like to turn. If you
look outside you’ll notice it seems we are now moving around on a
spindle. Also, part of the point of VFR private pilot training is
to visualize everything outside. That is the world around you, not
necessarily with your eyes in the cockpit.

[1:27] With that said, I’m about to contradict myself. So what
comes next takes the most effort. You’ll notice that we are losing
a bit of altitude. What was once a stable and level flight is now
losing altitude.

[1:41] Why, you ask? Well, when an aircraft turns, it loses a bit
of its lift, and it has an increase in the load factor. Without
going into too much detail, let’s just say that the greater your
bank angle, the less lift you are producing and the greater your
load factor.

[2:00] There will come a time if you turn too much that the
aircraft just won’t want to climb anymore, and it will want to roll
and/or die. Now that’s at least the story on the Cessna like we
have here.

[2:13] So to counteract this loss in the lift, you can simply add
light back pressure on the yoke. It won’t always be the same amount
that will depend on banking, though, but adjust accordingly to
maintain your altitude.

[2:27] The next part of a turn is called turn coordination. Now,
you’ll be using an instrument that doesn’t get as much attention as
it deserves, which is the turn coordinator. Turn coordination is
essential for flight. It keeps the aircraft in a smooth and slick
turn. If the turn isn’t coordinated, you will lose efficiency.

[2:48] So basically a turn can be either coordinated, which is
right along the path the airplane can go, or it can get in what is
called a slip or skid. A slip is when the aircraft is cutting a
turn too tight on the inside. A skid is when it is skidding to the
outside of where the turn should be.

[3:08] By use of this ball in the middle on the turn coordinator,
you can always keep the aircraft in perfect coordinated flight by
use of rudder input. Now this isn’t always easy. It takes some
coordination with your feet, but by stepping on the ball you can
bring the ball back to center and keep the aircraft in coordinated
flight. This will take a bit of practice.

[3:32] Before we leave this instrument, actually not too important
for now, I wanted to introduce you to something you’ll end up using
later. This is the 2-minute turn indication. If you turn the
aircraft and place the wing right on this indication, like so, you
will complete a 360-degree turn in exactly two minutes. If you
place the wing halfway between the top and bottom mark, you’ll get
a 4-minute turn. For now this simply gives you a nice and stable
360-degree turn.

So let’s go over what makes up a good turn. It’s three-fold: [4:07]
Initiate, compensate, and coordinate. First, you initiate the turn
by turning the yoke, sometimes even giving a light nudge of the
rudder pedal, really easy. Second, you compensate for lost lift and
increased load by pulling back on the yoke. Last, you coordinate
the turn as discussed.

[4:35] As you can see, turning isn’t just as simple as turning the
yoke. It takes a bit more effort and focus, but once you get it
down, your flights will be smoother than ever.

[4:44] That does it for this episode. Next episode, we will wrap up
the basics of flight with a lesson on pitch. Until next time,
throttle on!

Transcription by CastingWords