User Guide

Learning To Fly with Rod Machado
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Your airspeed will decrease to approximately 90 knots, as shown
in Figure 6.
3. Make a couple of circles to get the feel of a really steep turn.
4. Choose a heading to roll out on, and bring the airplane back to
level flight.
5. Press Z, Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+V to reactivate the autopilot.
6. Reduce power to 17 inches of MP.
7. Let the airplane return to straight-and-level flight, then press P
to pause the simulation.
A Touch of Class Before You’re Out of Gas
One secret to making a good steep turn is to have a predetermined idea of the attitude necessary to
hold altitude in that turn. While there are many variables affecting this, you can still approximate it.
Normally, you’d also use outside visual references while doing steep turns in the actual airplane. This
allows you to keep a lookout for other airplanes as well as identify the airplane’s attitude. Using
outside visual references for steep turns, however, is a little tough to do in a simulator, so you’ll focus
on the attitude indicator instead.
Take a look at Figure 7. This is the approximate attitude necessary for a
turn at 45 degrees of bank. As you roll into the turn, progressively
increase the pitch until reaching a 6-degree nose-up attitude. Then use
the altimeter to determine what type of small pitch correction is
necessary to hold altitude. You can also use the VSI as an additional
source of information if you like. The secret is to make small corrections
and always keep an eye on your attitude.
Overcorrection is sure to send you wandering all over the sky as you try
returning to your assigned altitude. A steep turn is considered
acceptable by private pilot standards when the following things are all true:
· Your altitude doesn’t vary more than 100 feet.
· The heading on rollout is within 10 degrees of the direction you started with.
· The bank varies no more than 5 degrees.
· The airspeed remains within 10 knots of the entry speed.
Now you know why steep turns develop and test your skill at handling distractions. Let’s try a steep
turn (45 degrees of bank) from a heading of north and make two complete circles to the right (that’s
two 360-degree turns to the right).
Figure 7
Figure 6