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Leading Turns with Rudder - Revisited
At the beginning, Paul wrote:
An SSA 'Master' CFIG I know is perpetually hammering it into his students that to initiate a turn in a glider, the FIRST thing you do is feed in rudder. On his 1-5 list of making a turn in a glider, #1 is rudder (as it's own separate input). While this may be aerodynamically acceptable practice for a 2-33, it seems a recipie for disaster in other ships to begin a turn by intentionally skidding. Since in a pinch, one has a tendency to revert to instincts that were first learned/practiced (right OR wrong), I see this as a setup for possible future problems. Since I have issues with this, I want to gather some other opinions (particularly those of other CFI's) to help present a case to possibly get this corrected. He holds little value of MYopinion, so I was hoping to get some 'name brand' opinions to help my case. And if I am just putting to much into this, I would rather hear it from this group. Paul, I share your concerns about this. Not a CFIG, but I was not taught this way of turning and none of the CFIG’s on multiple BFRs or check- out flights in the USA – WA (4 different sites), AZ (2), CA (6), NV (2), NM, CO, FL, PA, MD - or elsewhere, Canada (2); Germany; or England (2) suggested his method. So, I checked my home soaring library and found the following that includes some ‘name brand’ opinions: “For most beginners, making a turn is the most difficult step in learning to fly. Two controls have to be operated together to perform the evolution correctly. The rudder bar must be pushed back and the stick tilted over. These movements must be made in coordination if the glider is to be banked and turned at the same time.” - Edwin Way Teale, The Book of Gliders, page 205, 1930 "Think it through. The turn is to be to the left. Apply the bank to the wings with the stick, a gentle pressure in that direction. At the same time apply a little left rudder. Don’t kick it, apply pressure. These two movements are simultaneous. It’s like the arm motion and foot work in tennis. If the timing of one or the other is off, it’s the fence the ball goes over, not only the net." - Richard A. Wolters, The Art and Technique of Soaring, page 80, 1971 “Unfortunately, this turn-by-rudder idea is hard to kill. It has away of re-creating itself. It is often used to explain the airplane’s controls to high school kids or general magazine readers—simply because it is easy to understand for nonflying writers and readers, teachers and pupils. It recreates itself also in the pilot’s own nervous system, even when after he should really know better. This is because you can use the rudder with apparent success to “steer” the airplane, that is, to make small changes of direction, in straight wings-level flight. As explained elsewhere, this is a faulty technique of flying straight, but it is widely practiced, and if you use you rudder 30 times a minute to steer the airplane a little bit more to the right and a little bit more to the left, you are bound to use it also when you want to steer he airplane a whole lot to the right and a whole lot to the right and a whole lot to the left! But the rudder can never produce a turn. It cannot “start” a turn or even “help the turn get started.” It cannot “stop” a turn or even “help the turn get stopped. The only effect the rudder can ever produce is yaw. Yaw, in this sense, means practically the same as “skid” or “slip.” The airplane’s nose is swung to one side or another while the flight path continues substantially unchanged, so that the airplane slices through the air slightly sideways. Yaw is not a turn. A turn, a clean nice curving of the flight path without skid or slip, cannot be produced by the rudder but is produced by entirely different means. The rudder is quite unnecessary for the turn. Some airplanes haven’t even got a rudder, but only a rigid vertical fin, and yet they turn. And the birds don’t even have a vertical fin! All this will be made clear to a patient reader. But first we must kill the turn-by-rudder idea. Only when that is done can the reader’s mind be really receptive to the story of how the airplane really does turn.” - Wolfgang Langewiesche, Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying, pages 192-3, 1944 “Now that the turn and its forces are understood, the student should be shown by applying pressure to both the stick (aileron) and rudder in the same direction.” - Schweizer Soaring School Manual, Revised Edition, page 26, 1982 [Would apply to that 2-33.] "To enter a turn: 1. …. 2. …. 3. While watching the horizon, apply stick and rudder together in the desired direction." -Thomas L. Knauff, Glider Basics: From First Flight to Solo, 4th Ed., page 52, 1987 “Assume that a turn to the left is to be made. The bank in that direction is started with left stick and left rudder together.” - Carle Conway, The Joy of Soaring, page 17, 1989 "Roll into the turn with aileron and, at the same time, use sufficient in-turn rudder to prevent adverse yaw and any slip." - Derek P.W. Johnson, The Glider Instructor’s Workbook, page 21, 1993 "Going into the turn Before turning to the right, for example, first look out to the left and then round as far as possible in the direction of the turn – particularly behind the wing. If it is clear then – - look ahead over the nose - roll the glider using aileron and stick together" - British Gliding Association Instructor’s Manual, 10:2 1994 "Entering the turn Lookout. Look over the nose of the glider to check the glider’s attitude and and bank angle. Apply bank by using aileron and rudder together." - Ken Stewart, The Glider Pilot’s Manual, page 46, 1994 "Going into a turn 1. Look around for other aircraft. 2. Look ahead and hold nose in correct attitude. 3. Apply the bank – move stick and rudder together" - Derek Piggott, Beginning Gliding, 2nd Ed., page 42, 1995 "After release from tow, your instructor will demonstrate adverse yaw by using ailerons to bank the glider without applying simultaneous rudder. The glider with yaw in the opposite direction from the intended turn at first. You instructor will then demonstrate use of the rudder in coordination with the ailerons to counteract adverse yaw." -Bob Wander, Learning to Fly Gliders: A Flight Training Handbook and Syllabus, page 19, 2003 "It is important rudder and aileron inputs are coordinated during a turn so maximum glider performance can be maintained. If too little rudder is applied or if rudder is applied too late, the result will be a slip. Too much rudder or rudder applied before aileron results is a skid. Both skids and slips swing the fuselage of the glider into the relative wind, creating additional parasite drag, which reduces lift and airspeed. Although this increased drag caused by a slip can be useful during approach to landing to steepen the approach path and counteract a crosswind, it decreases glider performance during other phases of flight." - U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Glider Flying Handbook, page 3-12, 2003 Seems pretty consistent from 1930 to 2003 with the method I was taught. Perhaps that SSA ‘Master’ CFI has stronger soaring literature documentation than the above to support his opinion. Were one of his pupils involved in an injury incident, I’m quite sure he would need it. |
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