I do not wish to mislead anyone about how the energy management turn is made safely. I have used the concept of preventing load factor by simply not pulling on the yoke in turns. I have used the concept of unloading the wing by releasing back pressure when we bank, but this is misleading. It need not be 0 g. It is natural designed in dynamic neutral stability that keeps the wing at 1g in the turn by simply not pulling back on the elevator in the bank. It is simply and naturally what the airplane wants to do. It is the designed in feature that prevents the airplane from stalling unless a pilot pulls back (or pushes forward for you upside down acrobatic guys) on the stick.

And yes, we pull 1.1 or 1.2 gs in the wings level pull up to gain extra altitude and slow airspeed to reduce radius of the turn that is began immediately after the slight pull up for shallow turns and a bit more pull up for steep turns. Muscle memory has to be no pull on the yoke without zoom reserve airspeed. With zoom reserve airspeed, zoom up wings level to gain a little altitude and slow down. We do not have to be slow flying constantly to make small radius turns, just stay ahead of the airplane in cruise so as to anticipate the need to turn and pitch up first. We never push forward on the stick to unload the wing as if we were preparing to make an acrobatic move. The pull up and then bank while releasing that pull on the yoke is as natural as falling off a log. It is not rocket science or acrobatics or anything but allowing the airplane to do what it does best. The design of the airplane is to fly. Those designed to remain level in steep turns are overpowered to the point that the danger is from passing out and not from stalling.

I understand the devil's advocate and primacy of instruction and standardization of training and ACS and all of that. My question is will the accidentally stalled airplane that is too low to recover from inadvertent stall kill more of us than the non-standard airplane that is allowed to utilize dynamic neutral stability causing the nose to go down in turns? And if I understand ol Wolfgang, the airplane that is allowed to dip its nose rather than stall in the turn is actually the standard when he asks, "What does the airplane want to do? No, somebody didn't get it wrong. Instruments changed the high altitude game and we needed to limit pitch and bank for that. The loss of the dynamic neutral stability safety feature that causes the nose to drop in turns is not relevant in this paradigm. If we lose situational awareness while IMC, however, letting the airplane do what it wants to do until we recover our scan is helpful.

I just watched "Flywire-Scott Perdue Accidental Safety Part 1 LOC," our Gunny, mess up a 3 g loop in his acrobatic Bonanza and then let the airplane do what it wants to do (turn loose) to get out of weird control input with full power problems. Gunny was explaining how a V tail Bonanza pilot might have gotten into trouble with full power and weird control input. I am completely out of my element watching Gunny's artificial horizon go all over the place, my personal limitations, but I could follow his "let the airplane do what it wants to do part." The design of the airplane is to fly and not stall whether we put it upside down or backwards.

We can learn from the mistakes of others, what Juan Browne and Dan Gryder and our Gunny are trying to get across with why we might want to even look at fatal accidents at all. We can also learn from these excellent videos these guys and many of you put out now. While my broken back cringes just watching acrobatic videos, I saw that as a casual observer I can lose situational awareness with the uncomfortable to me terms and situations. So I think I gained some insight to my situation and language problem with the naturalness of what I call the energy management turn or crop duster turn or gunnery return to target turn or any contact flying turn I make, which is a turn to target.

I am an old crop duster who has taught this, I think, safer turn all my life but I am not real comfortable with acrobatics and it bothers me when pilots comment on this turn as if it were acrobatic. I have always worried about the seeming mixed message of the pitch up wings level to start the energy management turn. No, we don't like pulling on the stick in turns...the level turn to maintain altitude and airspeed bleed and load factor thing. Yet, we start by pulling up wings level. Three safety features there: no pull without zoom reserve (think cruise) airspeed and wings level so no load factor and cognition of this is not stabilized (we are not going to do this very long.) Our mind is constantly thinking this will cause stall...don't keep doing this...quit plenty early when just enough slow to make the radius as small as the horizontal space available. We don't want to stall. We don't want any aerobatic excitement in this pull up to gain a bit of altitude while slowing down a bit.

Just as soon as we bank, and I know crop dusters my cheat here especially in the turn downwind out of the field with plenty of zoom reserve airspeed to get some standoff for the energy management turn back to re-enter the field 50 feet upwind, we release that back pressure. No we don't push over (I agree with Gunny about that pushing with full power can get weird in airplane or helicopter) to unload the wing completely. We just release the back pressure to the elevator that we applied in the pull up...a return to 1g. Most of us crop dusters are scared to death of even thinking about acrobatics here. We do not have the altitude, specialized airplane, or inclination to attempt acrobatics. We a chicken that we have put the airplane into such a precarious pitch up to begin and we now want very much, very much, to let the airplane do what it does best...fly. The design of the airplane is to fly and not to stall...let it.

Anyway, thanks Gunny for the very helpful video. No, I don't want to go out and practice acrobatics in the 172 I rent at the local airport. But I was reminded a common trick we pilots in all kinds of different types flying do...let the airplane go...let it fly...let it not stall. Yes, after so many PTS years and ACS years of teaching pilots to pull back on the stick in all turns even without zoom reserve airspeed, we can still teach them to think about what the airplane wants to do rather than stall. Such a wonderful machine...and how we screw it up.

There are two main scenarios of flight that should trigger extreme situational awareness: IMC flight and maneuvering flight.

I realize computers have changed IMC situational awareness from constant and vigilant scan (hopefully dual pilot in helicopter) to vigilant oversight of the computer's flying. That makes IFR even safer but VFR can get sloppy. Stick and rudder skills are still necessary for VFR, even when high enough to recover from inadvertent stall.

Maneuvering flight like air to ground gunnery, crop dusting, pipeline patrol, or any low contour awareness (drainage systems) flying requires extreme situational awareness and extreme energy management to be done safely. No, flying slow enough down rivers to make the radius of the hairpin turns easily (oops) is not safe. It is extremely poor energy management to limit airspeed where both vertical and horizontal space available is limited. We do not have to make high load factor level turns. We can use the law of the roller coaster.

When I did the seminar/clinic in Grande Prairie, Alberta, I learned from Butch Washtock about slow flying in the bathtub like ridges of the glacial carved BC mountains. He maintained potential energy of altitude in tight places, however. Rather than stall the airplane to keep the radius sufficient to not smack the canyon wall, he would allow the nose to go down naturally. 1/2 the law of the roller coaster where starting from the up position was always possible. Down on a river run, running your toes in the drink, you do not have potential energy of altitude to apply to a need to turn tighter situation.

The energy management turn, the law of the roller coaster turn, seems acrobatic and dangerous until we evaluate the extreme energy management utilized, And, yes, extreme situational awareness of horizontal and vertical space available and maintenance of zoom reserve airspeed (cruise airspeed) is also required. Stay safe out there. Don't put yourself into an out of airspeed and altitude senario. Low and slow is a much overused and idiotic phrase. Low with zoom reserve airspeed or high with potential energy of altitude is a safer indoctrination because maneuvering speed is available in either case.