User Guide

Flight Simulator

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Microsoft

Tutorial 6: Steep Turns

I like steep turns! They’re fun, challenging and, in many cases, a good test of a pilot’s ability to

recognize the limits of airplane performance. And, if you play Microsoft

Combat Flight Simulator,

they’re useful to get away from a bandit who is trying to shoot your tail off!

Steep turns (those typically done between 45 and 55 degrees of bank) are used to develop flight

proficiency. Practice them often and you’ll find yourself becoming smoother on the flight controls.

Steep turns also help you learn to handle the natural division of attention that accompanies such a

high-performance maneuver.

There’s another benefit of which you may not be aware. Steep turns demonstrate that airplanes have

limits and that exceeding those limits has a cost. Making too steep a turn may result in a stall. This

isn’t necessarily dangerous if you’re several thousand feet above the ground. But don’t try making a

steep turn to align yourself with the runway when you’re at a low altitude with insufficient airspeed.

This is a sure-fire way to get into a new line of work, like geology. You’ll really get into it—about six

feet deep into it.

Steep Turn Aerodynamics

First, a little review. In an earlier tutorial you learned that banking the wings allows lift to pull the

airplane sideways. The airplane turns because some of its lifting force acts in the horizontal direction.

Of course, once an object is set in motion, it wants to remain in motion. A fellow named Newton said

that (that’s Isaac, not Wayne). When an airplane turns, its entire mass still wants to maintain its

original direction. That’s why you feel yourself forced down in your seat on a roller coaster when the

track changes direction. The roller coaster is changing directions but your body wants to continue

moving straight ahead. Coupled with the downward pull of the earth, you feel like you’ll go right

through the roller coaster’s seat.

While airplanes don’t fly on tracks, you’ll feel a similar force that seems to pull you down in your seat

when making a steep coordinated turn. The steeper the turn, the greater the seat-pulling force. This

force is sometimes called the G-force (or load factor). The “G” in G-force is derived from the word

gravity and has nothing to do with the sound passengers make when they feel themselves forced

down in their seats during steep turns: “Gee!”

G-force is a predictable force for all airplanes. Figure 1 shows a graph representing the increase in

G-force for a given bank. The example shows that in a 60-degree bank you and the airplane will feel

a G-force of 2 (2 Gs). In other words, you and the airplane feel like you weigh twice as much as you

normally do. Imagine that. You experience an apparent increase in weight, all without letting even

one bag of greasy fries slip past those disciplined lips of yours. Of course, you can lose that weight by

rolling out of the turn and back into straight-and-level flight where you’ll feel a G-force of 1—just like

you feel right now (which is determined by how many fries you’ve eaten up till this point in your life).