Danny Deger writes:

This is an interesting question. My first guess is you would have to have a
massively uncoordinated turn to detect it by looking out the window.

I think you're right. It seems really hard to detect a lack of coordination
just by looking out the window, even with a fixed reference (which MSFS can
provide).

If you have rudders in your sim, try a turn with the rudder almost full left.

In that case, the lack of coordination is obvious, but it doesn't help for
more normal turns.

One thing I'm not clear on is just how much the ball represents uncoordinated
motion in real life. If it's just out of its box but still touching it, how
much of a perceptible error is that in the aircraft? Is that enough to easily
feel, or does the ball react before you notice the sensation? Or, conversely,
do you notice the lack of coordination before the ball even begins to move.

I notice, for example, that the ball moves dramatically on the ground while
turning on taxiways, as one might expect, but I also know that in real life,
these turns would not produce powerful sensations. So the ball must be
sensitive indeed.

I've also read that the ball sometimes is not reliable at certain points in a
turn or during other maneuvers, but I'm not clear on exactly at what points
those are (when rolling out of a turn?).

The only thing I can think of showing up
in the visuals would be a turn rate either more or less than it should be
based on the bank angle.

That would work very well if I could calculate the proper turn rate in my head
quickly enough. I haven't been able to do that thus far.

My main consolation is that coordinated turns come so naturally that they
would not require much training in a real aircraft, only a few minutes of
practice.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.