Need my octopus back…maybe some more eyes as well please?

So I promised (threatened?) a post about steep turns. This maneuver represented my first foray out of the circuit in almost 3 months. Apparently steep turns are one of the first skills to deteriorate if you don’t practice them, and quite frankly it’s not hard to see why.

Let’s get the technical stuff out of the way first. Basically you need to maintain a bank angle of 45 degrees (plus or minus 10 degrees) while not letting your altitude deviate by more than 100 feet and your airspeed by not more than 10 knots.  On paper it sounds a bit tricky. In the air it very definitely is.

The problem, as ever, is physics. A soon as you bank that steeply you stop generating as much upwards lift, so you have to pull back on the column, whilst managing the power to maintain your airspeed.  At the same time you need to coordinate (counteract any yaw) the turn by using the appropriate rudder pedal.  With me so far? No I thought not. E just glazed over at this point when I tried to explain it to her.

Ok let’s address it from a physical point of view, what do the bits of your body need to do?

Your left hand both turns the control column and pulls it back when needed. Your right hand adds power to compensate for the nose up attitude. Your ears listen for the subtle increase in engine rpm and your eyes; well they need to be in sixteen different places at once,

·         Looking outside – so you don’t hit anything

·         Looking at your VSI to make sure you’re not climbing or descending

·         Looking at your Attitude indicator to see that you are maintaining the required bank angle

·         Looking at the turn coordinator to see if you need any more/less rudder

·         Looking outside again to visually check the bank angle and nose up attitude

·         Looking at your ASI to check that your airspeed is still good.

Mean while the rest of your body has to deal with the fact that the plane is now at 45 degrees. If you are turning to the left, this means that you appear to be suspended by your harness over nothing. I use my elbow against the window to brace myself and stop myself leaning. If you are turning to the right there is a tendency, if you are not careful, to end up in the examiner’s lap. And while this may be one way to attempt to pass your flight test, it’s not the route I’m aiming for!

So how did I do? Not too bad, I think. Bob said, and I quote, “you weren’t as rusty as I expected you to be.” Which I guess passes for a compliment! No seriously he reckons I did Ok.

Bizarrely enough though I found that the more I think about what I’m doing the worse I perform. For example If I actively watch the AI and wait until I’m passing 30 degrees before applying power I get into all worlds of hurt, but if I just bank and then add power when I reckon we need it. It all goes much better. Gotta stop thinking it would seem.