At 12:55 04 August 2008, Ed Downham wrote:
I agree that it's very glider-related: in some machines I've flown
(especially those with larger and/or multiple spans) there is not enough
rudder to coordinate with full aileron deflection at normal thermal
entry
speeds, so a way to counter that is to apply rudder for a longer
duration
(before and after aileron input) or more rudder / less aileron (slower
entry). As this is a _transient_ situation and results in improved
coordination and control, I can't get too worried about it; if a
training
glider requires similar inputs to fly nicely then why not mention this?
Better than a student losing confidence because their turns feel a bit
imprecise and they don't know why? (I assume they've been taught to
turn
the ¨proper¨ way to begin with...)

From what I've seen, I'd say it's much more important to eliminate
the
tendency, once turning, to _continuously_ hold rudder deflection into
the
turn along with out-turn aileron (lack of comfort with banking?) We all
know where that leads, yet I've seen it demonstrated by some fairly
experienced pilots who were unaware of their habit.

Even with a training glider which requires "lead with rudder" for a full
deflection thermal entry turn it is not necessary for a normal turn entry
with less aileron deflection (The Grob 103 is a perfect example) The Grob
enters a turn in a co-ordinated manner provided the correct amount of
aileron is used simultaneously with rudder to balance. The original point
was teaching lead with rudder to ab initio students and this is clearly
not necessary and bad practice. When teaching turns to ab initio students
no-one teached full aileron deflection do they? It is a technique which
can be introduced to more experienced pilots when they need to use full
aileron deflection for a clean thermal entry, and is perfectly valid as
long as the pilot is ware of the pitfalls of applying large amounts of
rudder.