Mastering Steep Turns

If there is one maneuver the majority of my students have difficulty mastering, it is steep turns. The two most common problems I see are difficulty maintaining altitude and bank angle throughout the turn. The Private Pilot Practical Test Standards says that in a steep turn the pilot must hold altitude plus or minus 100 feet and maintain bank angle plus or minus 10 degrees from the target angle which is 45 degrees of bank.


I will skip a detailed description of how to accomplish a steep turn as there are plenty of great ones already out there. I have found that if a pilot if having difficulty with steep turns it is most likely a result of fixating on the aircraft's instrumentation. This is usually evidenced by large pitch and bank changes. It is difficult, especially for a student pilot who has not spent hundreds of hours gazing at the instruments, to maintain a stable pitch and bank while looking inside the cockpit. Here is what I suggest to my students:  Before beginning the maneuver be sure to make note of the aircraft's heading and altitude. Otherwise you won't even know what you're shooting for! Also, look up at the horizon and try to pick a point ahead of the aircraft that will help you know when you're completing the 360 degree turn. Roll into the bank, glancing at the attitude indicator to see where 45 degrees of bank is, then move your eyes outside to the horizon (after some practice you can start to gauge 45 degrees by the horizon alone). Throughout the turn use the horizon to hold your altitude and bank angle, looking periodically at the instruments to verify altitude and bank angle are correct. It is so much easier to perceive unwanted movements this way!

Given this suggestion I see instant results. Sometimes for stubborn students I will even cover the instrument panel completely and have them do a 360 degree turn. The result is always much better than their prior turns and most of the time even within 100 feet of altitude and 10 degrees of heading.

Hello Friends!

Leaping off of the huge success of my star flight student and internet legend Greg Summers from Student Pilot Journal, I have decided to create a blog of my own. I would like to give some teaching insights into areas I see students commonly confused about as well as share interesting experiences that happen to me while flying.

KMLB - Melbourne Airport

First, a little about me. I first got interested in flying when I was 10 years old after playing a friend’s Microsoft Fight Simulator. I remember the simulator ran off of a floppy disk and the graphics were terrible by today’s standards, but that’s all it took for me to get hooked. When I was 14 my parents started letting me take a flying lesson every couple months as an incentive to get good grades in school and I joined a local organization called the Indian River Flying Club to begin my training. I ramped up the lessons before turning 16 and was able to solo on my 16^th birthday and receive my Private on my 17^th birthday. I am now 23 years old and have been instructing for 3 years having logged around 2,000 flight hours. Today I train both primary and advanced students, many of them still through the Indian River Flying Club, and also fly corporate part-time for a company based at the Melbourne Airport. Since my first simulator flight I have always had a passion for flying and no matter what plane I am in I think to myself daily how lucky I am to be in the sky.

I am looking forward to creating this blog and hopefully entertaining and educating fellow pilots!