Compass turns revisited

The examiner has some degree of latitude in deciding just what a
"basic instrument flight maneuver" is...but no one is going to get a
pink
slip with "Timed turns to headings" on it.

However, the full procedure partial panel non-precision approach is
still in place, and in order to do that you will need to do compass
turns or timed turns to headings. The change allows you to do what
works best for you. Over time, I've discovered that what works best
depends on the student and the equipment.

Some students just don't get math. For them, the mental math required
to figure out how many seconds the turn needs to be is too much to do
while flying under the hood. For others, the jumping around, lead, and
lag of the compass is too difficult to deal with - they prefer to time
the turn, the check the compass only in level flight.

I personally belong to the latter camp. I am a strong believer in only
looking at the compass when I know it will be accurate, and using time
for turns when the heading gyro is not available. I've taught some
students that method, and they've done well with it. Others hated it,
and wound up just looking at the compass anyway. If they slow the rate
of turn to half-standard-rate when getting close to the heading, it
works reasonably well. Fortunately I've never had a student who
couldn't deal with either method. I'm not sure what I would do then.

Michael