In a thread drift, visual reconnaissance techniques came up. We left off with the return to target to confirm or reject it's value.

The P turn is a commonly used technique for both instrument and contact return to target. Most pilots, instrument rated or not, have seen procedure turns drawn on approach plates. Modern crop dusters use the same technique to return to the crop field fifty feet upwind of where they left that field when strong crosswind dictates back to back pattern to avoid the dangerous every other downwind turn of the race track pattern. We spray crosswind to keep drift off ourselves.

Air to ground gunnery developed the contact P turn for the very same reason. It is hard to find an unmarked target again going over different terrain from a different direction. In a cruise level turn we will go too wide to maintain visual contact and will return over different terrain from a different direction. We will have load factor, downwind turn, and distance from target problems.

Not all visual reconnaissance missions allow a crosswind pattern. When we overfly or fly beside a near target, falling off the target as near downwind as possible is helpful. As we pull up losing speed and gaining altitude we can keep the target, toward our six, somewhat in sight or at least fixed in our mind. Coming back to target in a steep descending turn we come back to terrain we have just overflown the opposite way. All this 1g steep turn into the wind looking through the left or right top front of the windscreen at as slow ground speed as possible gives us our best and safest chance at target reacquisition.

When staying close to and thereby not losing the target is an objective, making level turns is not energy efficient and effective.

If orientation is"meybe there" rather than"not there," visual reconnaissance becomes a series of P or energy management turns within a route or grid search.

Like Butch and Sundance going down the mountain guarding the old miner, we have to evaluate and speculate on possible landing zones, unidentified man-made objects, disturbed vegetation, and such. Even in mountain and desert terrain, there are many distractions. Each must be checked out before a negative report can be entered.

It's impossible for me to understand what your talking about .

Do you look to see or just overfly a search area expecting to see only if the target is there?

Thanks for your insight Contact. Always appreciated....

Blue skies,

Tom

What altitude do you suggest practicing these out at?

Out in my Citabria one afternoon I found an overgrown man made water ski lake and decided to practice course reversals. I don't recall how high I was, but came to the conclusion it was WAY too high. The point I was trying to locate was basically directly under me the whole time I was turning.

Like most ground reference maneuvers I do a few and GTFO before someone crabby writes down my tail number, but I did 7-8 laps.

Also, if you are working cross wind do you put the loop of the P upwind or downwind?

All I really want this maneuver down for is to drag a runway and then be able to return quickly and stick it down

I'm assuming you're talking about a non-level turn in this case? Pitch up, unload the wing and boot it around with lots of rudder, pull up as performance and terrain dictate?Gracefully, of course.

aftCG,

Yes. I am talking about energy management turns. You might start at 1,000 to get the feel of it but any altitude works. Patrol pilots cruise at 200-500 feet but Ag pilots start at 2-5 feet. Yes, crosswind is most desirable and safest. The loop of the P is then downwind. This allows the important return to target in a descending turn to be made into the wind and finish with a crosswind from the other direction. We are making a course reversal in a safer manner, the P, than the true wingover or the dangerous and aerobatic hammerhead.

So, lets look first at the drag the runway and then return quickly mission. Once we have discussed the technique for that maneuver, you will want to get comfortable from a thousand feet starting altitude and lower it gradually. The most kinetic energy will be developed in a drag of the runway at cruise power and as low as comfortable ground effect. Three feet would be fine to start with. Six inches is much better. We are in a crab. We fight the wing level, always level, with aileron, but other than to keep the wing level, we use no aileron. We direct our butt down the centerline with rudder, only rudder. Dynamic proactive rudder. At the departure end of the runway (do no pull up until the very end), pull up, clear the wing, level the nose, and immediately turn downwind. The angular difference from the centerline extended will depend on the speed of crosswind. The greater the crosswind, the lesser the amount of turn to fall off the target downwind. In a no wind condition about twenty degrees. Don/t get the idea that no wind is safer; it most certainly is not. The greater the crosswind, the lesser the groundspeed on the return to target. We are now in the downwind portion of the contact flying procedure turn return to target. When spraying or patrolling, the second pitch up would be determined by the least amount of standoff necessary in the P. To return to land, you may want to remain level just above obstructions until the distance you want final to be. One quarter mile would be a safe distance to start with. Now pitch up smoothly to slow down and gain altitude. Approaching stall speed or well above until comfortable, turn back into the wind and toward the target while allowing the elevator to neutralize (release all back pressure) and the nose to go down naturally. The airplane has always known how to do this smoothly. It was designed to do this. Only pilots have fought it. At the same time use rudder in the direction of the turn much, much more than in a moderate turn. We are turning to the target, the numbers, and not to base. We are low. We need to get the nose around and on target before we have to level the wings to keep from hitting the ground with a wing down. This proper rudder, lots, will also push the nose down in the steeper part of the turn. If we allowing any slipping, we may not get the nose around soon enough. Skidding is not dangerous with the nose well down in this steep turn. It will become comfortable but initially we would rater err on the side of skidding (too much rudder in the direction of the turn) rather than slipping (too little rudder in the direction of the turn.) When the target, the numbers, come between our legs, we level the wing first and then bank into the crosswind as necessary to counter drift. If we were spraying or making another drag, we would simply level the wing and stay in whatever crab necessary to counter drift and we use rudder only to direct our butt down the centerline.

When practicing energy management return to target turns at altitude, use the kinetic energy developed in the diving portion of the turn to zoom back up to near original altitude wings level.

When dragging the runway multiple times, every other run will be in the opposite direction. If the wind is from the west and we are dragging the runway to the north, the P will be a right turn to about 015 degrees. The next run will be to the south and the P will be a left turn to about 165 degrees. For instrument pilots these are teardrops rather than Ps.

Get by 2H2 to fly with me if you can. Or Blackwater in N. California or CFOT in Reno or MrsPirate in Memphis or Tangowald in Alaska or Rich Castle in Monroe, MO, or the lady instructor in Iowa City.

For safety let me emphasize that we will drag, spray, maneuver in the turn, etc., everything at cruise throttle. We need the speed, the kinetic energy. We want throttle, we want ground effect, we want kinetic energy, we want gravity thrust of altitude. We want it all. The only time we don't want everything we can glean from nature, is on final when we finish and land. Now we want to rid ourselves of too much throttle, ground effect, and gravity thrust of altitude.

Keep in touch.

Contact

The reason I liked lower altitude for patrol work is that I could read every mile marker without returning to target and discriminate between them and stop signs and other clutter out the front windscreen. Everything approached me at what appeared to be a brisk walk. At 200 feet, looking out the side window would have been as dangerous as texting or using integrated instrument and contact information. Out the side window things appear to close at a very rapid rate.

I understand the value of an observer. No, it doesn't make the pilots job easier. The pilot is maneuvering the aircraft out his front windscreen and trying to position it well for me observer. Conflict of interest can come into play. Yes his field of vision is wider. This, however, is not necessarily good. Out the front, low altitude limits and intensifies our field. The apparent brisk walk closure rate is workable.

We occasionally had an observer in the loach in the left front seat. His job was to keep the pin pulled on a smoke grenade and drop it when we took fire. The visual reconnaissance and spot reporting was performed by the pilot in the right front seat. The shooting and fragmentation grenade drooping was done by the torque sitting on the floor in the right rear with his legs out or standing on the skid while secured by a monkey strap. The search pattern was generally in a continuous right turn of differing degrees.

Yes we could see into the jungle in some places when we got down into the isolated tripple canopy, the loach eaters, and found holes in the second canopy.

Navigation was the Cobra front seater's job. If his finger left the map, we could no longer safely call artillery on the enemy or get Medevac to the loach quickly. The many natural LZs were marked accurately by shape and position by the French. You wouldn't believe how many different shapes could exist. Also some were similar. That is why you had to keep your finger on the map.

We found Charlie. Half the contacts in the entire First Cavalry Division were initiated by the First of the Ninth Air Cavalry Regiment. It helped when tracers were coming up, but in 1970 we captured a political officer with orders for all NVA units to cease firing at helicopters.