On 3/5/2013 9:07 AM, Bill D wrote:


While I agree with BobW that it's OK for an individual pilot to use
whatever technique 'works' for them, I teach students head in line
with spine for several reasons. One is it's less tiring on long
flights since the lateral neck muscles aren't as stressed by G
forces. Two, a student's vestibular reactions can get confused by
constantly leaning the head left and right which also leads to
fatigue if not outright air sickness. Third, sitting with the body
and head straight establishes a close correlation between butt, head
and yaw string which is very useful for "feeling" slips and skids
without looking at the yaw string. In effect, it's like using one's
body as a highly sensitive ball in a ball/bank instrument.

If your head is in line with your spine in a turn, how do you
comfortably look in the direction you are turning? I'm normally looking
at right angles to the fuselage at the horizon, so I have to tilt my
head to the right (relative to my body) in a left turn. If I kept it in
line with my spine, I'd have to force my eyeballs way up in my eye
sockets (uncomfortable), and likely the hat brim would keep me from
seeing across the circle.

Maybe we need to take pictures of ourselves in turning flight.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz