Glider vs. Power Pattern Bank Angle?

"Michael" wrote in message
om...
illspam (Jim Vincent) wrote

Mainly because the quality of power instruction is, on the whole,
dramatically worse than the quality of glider instruction. The
majority of power instructors are low time, inexperienced pilots who
have completed a training program that takes them from zero time to
instructor (single, multi, and instrument) in less than 300 hours.
They have been taught to fly wide, power-on patterns with stabilized
power-on approaches because this is what they will be doing in the
airlines (their eventual goal) and that's what they teach their
students because they don't know anything else.

Actually there are many reasons, some of them may be found in the SEL PTS.
Another is that airports with lots of light aircraft training end up with huge
"follow the leader" patterns.

Steep turns, especially at low speed, simply scare them. Therefore,
many of them tell students not to exceed 30 degrees of bank in the
pattern.

After several years of soaring, I recently decided to transition to power.
I have had that poor guy squirming in his seat and grabbing for the controls
more than once doing things that I considered perfectly normal, including tight
turns in the pattern.

The power-off pattern, where you bring the power to idle at about
800-1000 ft AGL and abeam the touchdown point and continue to a
landing, was once the normal pattern in general aviation for all light
trainers. Of course in such a pattern your turns will be 30-45
degrees of bank, depending on wind and how many mistakes you make.
The trainers have not changed; in fact we're mostly flying the same
ones. However, today's instructors see this as an emergency
procedure, not a normal one, because it pushes their skill level.


Come to think of it, the FAA has changed landings since our trainers were
designed. Vaguely 20 years ago, there was a sea change in the way landing
technique was taught because someone in the FAA decided that normal landings
would be accomplished with full flaps. The normal technique that is taught
these days (at least in a Cezzna) is the first notch on downwind, second notch
on base and full flaps on final. This adds so much drag that you either do a
high (and or tight) pattern or you must drag the thing around the pattern with
power. Guess which one they usually teach?


Vaughn



Michael