Turn to Final - Keeping Ball Centered

"Peter Dohm" wrote in
:


"Bertie the Bunyip" wrote in message
.. .
Jim Stewart wrote in
:

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.)

I hesitate to add to this discussion because
I'm not an instructor, just a rather slow
student who's not qualified to give advice
that might kill someone.

My instructor carefully pointed out the difference
between a stall on final as opposed to a snap
spin. A stall might be recoverable with no more
damage than a looseness of the bowels whereas
a spin could really fsk up your day.

The gist of his advice was that if you keep the
turn coordinated or even add a little extra
aileron, the up wing will have to come all the
way down through level before it will spin,
giving you time get the nose down and level the
wings before that spin can develop.

You turn too tight base to finals and lose the plot with speed and
co- ordination, the airplane could spin. Unless it's an Ercoupe, of
course.


Bertie

My personal suspicion is that most of the accidents involving a
tightening turn to final also involve a failure to allow for a
tailwind on base, and very rarely occur in calm conditions.

Yes, I agree.

That mainly serves to underscore your earlier point that the
difference between a level and descending turn is rarely discussed
because it is trivial--probably less than 1%. It also works in favor
of Dudleys point about using excess altitude to unload the turn--which
could be used to salvage the approach or facilitate a missed approach
as needed. (Actually, both of you made both points in different
ways.)


Yes, I've done it alright. Simple if you know how...


Bertie