"mike regish" wrote in message
...
"Grumman-581" wrote in message
.. .
"d&tm" wrote in message
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I have heard guys on this group regulary mention 60 degree
or 2 g turns, but in my training steep turns were 45 degrees
maximum.

A 60 degree turn is only 2Gs if you you maintain altitude during the
turn...
I got into this debate here several years ago. I was of the opinion (not
having a G meter to test it) that your G load would be less if you were
descending, but most seemed to think that 60 degrees was a 2 G turn
regardless of whether you were holding altitude or not.

Which is it? I still think G forces would be reduced by descending, but
can't come up with a good explanation why.

You need to look at the acceleration, not the velocity. If you're
descending at a constant vertical velocity (zero acceleration), then the
forces are the same as with constant altitude, so you still get a 2G turn
with a 60-degree bank. (Emergency-descent spirals are often flown that way.)
If you accelerate downward though, you get less than 2G during the
acceleration.

This is a special case of the Galilean/Newtonian relativity principle that
there is no absolute frame of reference for velocity--no detectable
difference (except relative to other objects) between being at rest and
being at (constant) motion. Here, we're just applying that principle to the
vertical component of motion.

--Gary