(Ekim) wrote
"Never cross control!!!"
"Keep that ball centered!"
"Never use more than 20 degrees bank!"
"Too high on final - go around. Never slip unless its an emergency
landing."

These are things that were hammered in my head by my numerous CFIs
during pattern training as a student pilot.

Too bad. They're mostly poor procedure.

Don't cross control in climb and cruise - it's inefficient. Keep the
ball centered. Same while practicing stalls and slow flight - you're
pretty likely to drop a wing, or even spin, if you stall
uncoordinated. You can't slip without cross controlling, and you
can't make decent crosswind landings without slipping.

20 degrees of bank is ridiculous. ANY amount of bank is OK, as long
as you keep some things in mind. Stall speed goes up in a banked turn
- so make sure you maintain enough airspeed for a safe margin. At 45
degrees of bank, stall speed goes up about 20%, so 1.2 Vso isn't
really safe anymore. Keep the speed up at 1.4 Vso, and banking 45
degrees in the pattern is no problem. You can always slow to 1.2 Vso
on final.

Slipping on final is a normal way to control glideslope in a light
single engine airplane. Some airplanes, lacking flaps, allow no other
way unless you want to bet it all on the engine.

Was all that preaching JUST to reduce the chance of invoking a deadly
spin in case the wings are accidentally stalled? It seems to all
contradict everything about slips on final and the famous
"low-wing-into-the-wind" crosswind landings?

Actually, all that preaching was to reduce your CFI's level of
discomfort. I bet the CFI's who told you this stuff were all airline
pilot wannabes, building hours until they could get hired by the
commuters. These guys are often taught flight procedures that are
appropriate for heavy, multiengine airplanes from day one, because
that's what they're going to be flying. The problem is that it's all
they know AND they are inexperienced, so anything else scares them.
Thus they teach you to do it the only way they know. It would be OK
if you were also going on to the airlines, but if that's not your goal
they've done you a great disservice. As another poster mentioned,
flying this way means you will never be able to fly a taildragger.
You will also never be able to operate from the really interesting -
meaning short, rough, and obstructed - strips. But as long as you
stick to flying simple non-demanding airplanes from long smooth
runways you will be fine.

In my mind, as long as I keep my airspeed sufficiently high and keep
the nose pointed down, (ie. keep my AOA under control) things like a
steeper banks and routine slip to landings should be relatively safe.
Right?

Yes, absolutely.

However, you may find getting a taildragger endorsement to be a
worthwhile investment in your flying skills. It will give you an
opportunity to unlearn the bad habits you've been taught.

Michael