British Young Pilots · Flying Training · Module FT-9.1INSTRUCTOR
Watch a cyclist go round a bend: they lean into it. An aeroplane turns the same way. It does not steer like a car. It banks: one wing goes down, the other goes up, and round it goes.
A medium level turn is a gentle lean of 30 degrees or less, staying at the same height, with the power left alone.
Try it now: stand up, arms out like wings. Tip your left arm down a little and your right arm up. That is about 30 degrees, and you are turning left.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.141.
Banking tilts the lift. The sideways part pulls the aeroplane round. The upward part is now too small, so ease back on the stick for a little more lift. Tap the steps in order.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.141–142 and p.150.
Exercise 9a. A medium level turn is flown at a constant height, with a medium angle of bank (30° or less), at constant power and in balance. Later in training come climbing turns, descending turns, rate 1 turns and steep turns (45° of bank or more).
The forces: banking tilts the lift, and its horizontal part is the turning force (the centripetal force). Nothing opposes that force, so the aeroplane is no longer in equilibrium and is pulled into the turn. More bank gives more turning force. Tilting the lift also shrinks its vertical part, so you add back pressure as you bank: a higher angle of attack, more total lift, and the vertical part balances the weight again.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.141–142.
Pilots call that last one LAI: Lookout, Attitude, Instruments. Say the four moves out loud together.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.147, p.149 and p.151.
Judge the bank against the natural horizon and confirm it on the AI (attitude indicator). In a side-by-side cockpit the nose looks higher against the horizon in a left turn than in a right turn, seen from the left seat.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.142–143 and p.147.
Remember the landmark you picked? Just before the nose reaches it, start to roll out, because the aeroplane keeps turning until the wings are level.
Too early or too late? No problem: tidy up the heading and the height afterwards. On the sim, call out your landmark before you start.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.148–151.
While the aeroplane is rolling, aileron drag (adverse yaw) swings the nose away from the roll. Counter it with rudder pressure in the direction of the roll, both rolling in and rolling out; the extra pressure comes off once the turn is steady. After that the ball tells you the balance: ball out to the right, more right rudder, and the same on the left.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.144–145 and p.149.
Do not trim in the turn: it is a transient manoeuvre. On the panel the DI shows the heading changing while the altimeter stays put.
STRETCHWhy start the roll-out before the reference point, and what happens to the height if you forget to release the back pressure?
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.147–151.
Turning performance has two measures: the rate of heading change and the radius of the turn. At a constant airspeed, a steeper bank gives a higher rate and a smaller radius. At a constant bank angle, a lower airspeed does the same.
A rate 1 turn changes heading at 3° per second: 180° in one minute, 360° in two (the "2 MIN" marking on many turn coordinators). It is the standard rate used in instrument flying. The bank needed depends on speed. Rule of thumb with the ASI in knots: airspeed divided by 10, plus 7. At 90 knots that is 9 + 7 = 16° of bank. With an ASI in miles per hour, add 5 instead of 7. Confirm on the turn coordinator, or with the heading indicator and a clock.
Stall speed in the turn rises with the load factor: the wings carry extra load at a higher angle of attack, so the stalling angle is met at a higher speed (about 7% higher at 30° of bank).
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.142 and p.145–146.
Misconception 1: "the rudder turns the aeroplane, like a boat." The turn comes from banking: the tilted lift supplies the sideways force. Rudder only keeps the ball in the middle, mostly while rolling in and rolling out.
Misconception 2: "the nose drops in a turn because I did something wrong." Tilting the lift always shortens its upward part. Back pressure is part of the turn, not a correction, and it comes off again on the roll-out or the aeroplane climbs.
Props: arms out as wings for the bank (30 degrees is a gentle lean, not a wing pointing at the floor). A ball on a string swung in a circle shows a pull towards the middle keeping something on a curve; a cyclist leaning into a bend shows "lean to turn".
Hook: ask "which control turns an aeroplane?" and let them argue for the rudder before playing the animation step by step. Stop on step 3 and ask what will happen to the height.
Delivery tip: teach the turn as a chant the class can say on the sim: "Look out. Roll. Back pressure. Look out. Roll level. Relax." Coach the height with two fixes only: losing height means less bank or nose up, gaining height means more bank or nose down.
Wings delivery: project the four Foundations cards in Present mode (about 10 minutes): card 1 with the arms-out lean, card 2 stepping the animation with the five buttons and asking the class to predict each step, cards 3 and 4 as the chant. Run the "Turn sorter" game as a whole-class shout or tap vote (5 minutes). Then the sim: demonstrate one turn, then each child flies turns for five minutes, first onto any landmark (sign-off 7.3), then onto a named heading or landmark rolling out just before it arrives (sign-off 7.4).
Scope note: climbing, descending and steep turns are only named on these pages, not taught. The compass and turning onto compass headings are not covered here either: for sign-off 7.4 these pages support rolling out on a reference point, starting about 10 degrees early.
Instructor copy only. Sources: Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.141–151.
Tap a card to flip it.
One pilot action at a time: does it belong to ENTERING the turn, being IN the turn, or ROLLING OUT? Tap to sort it.
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