Turn to Final - Keeping Ball Centered

Roy Smith wrote:
In article ,
Dudley Henriques wrote:

skym wrote:
While making a turn to base and final recently, I was aware that I was
going to be wide with my normal turn from downwind through base to
final, so I banked more to keep as close to the runway centerline as
possible. I kept thinking about the infamous and usually fatal stall/
spin by some pilots in this situation, I kept thinking that if I keep
the ball centered, even with a very steep bank, that I would be ok and
not auger in. Some of you instructors and old pros...is this correct?
(Not that I intend to make it a practice.)
Ask your instructor to explain to you what happens to the stall speed in
a LEVEL turn as opposed to the stall speed in an unloaded gliding turn
from base to final.
This is a distinction you should definitely be aware of.

Dudley,

I'm not sure what you mean by "unloaded gliding turn". As long as your
descent rate is constant, the loading in a turn is exactly the same as it
is during level flight. A turn is only unloaded if your descent rate is
increasing, as it is during the second quadrant of a lazy eight. But, most
people don't fly their base-to-final turns like that; they fly them at a
(more or less) constant descent rate.

Either that, or I'm mis-understanding what you're trying to say.
The situation I'm describing can occur if you are high as well as wide.
Trading off the altitude by unloading the wings as you turn, you are in
effect doing a gentle last half of a lazy eight, although very shallow.
Unless you can unload the wings by lowering the nose, you are absolutely
correct. Everything is the same g wise. The only reason I mentioned this
is so that he gets squared away on the different scenarios concerning
the base to final turn.
Many students get into a deep fear about base to final turns and bank
thinking all they need to do is increase the bank and they are on the
stall speed increase with g graph. This is true for a level turn and
even a loaded descending turn, but many times on an approach, a pilot
can make the energy tradeoff saving the turn by unloading in the turn
and letting the nose drop scrubbing off some altitude while neutralizing
the bank g increase.


--
Dudley Henriques