Backcountry Pilot • Primary control.

Primary control.

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Re: Primary control.

Dunno ‘bout the Commercial Pilot part, but your last two paragraphs are classic!

Happy holidays,

Tommy
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Re: Primary control.

The concept of the PPL is to sort of teach an introduction to flying, while limiting bank because the ACS requires considerable back pressure on the elevator in level, climbing, and descending turns. The nose is never allowed to go down naturally in any of these turns. With horizontal plane orientation, mitigation of load factor is simply limiting bank angle. The safer natural tendency of the nose to go down in all turns is never considered.

The concept of the CPL is to teach the competent professional. The FAA mindset is corporate or airline so bank limitation still works except for some maneuvers to sorta cover the many low altitude jobs other than corporate or airline. To spray crops a pilot only is required to have a CPL and check out by the Chief Pilot of the spray operation. Pipeline patrol requires CPL and instrument but no extra maneuvering flight training. The old CPL lazy eight teaches the energy management turn, but is looked at as a high altitude sorta acrobatic maneuver. Same with chandelle. Same with spins. Eights on pylon are down at 600' and teach elevator control to maintain pivotal altitude. This high g turn to maintain pivotal altitude is a high banked turn in strong wind. It is not the way we want to keep from stalling while spraying crops or patrolling pipeline.

So the horizontal plane orientation/limitation of all training based on Airman Certification Standards is not conducive to safe maneuvering flight. In fact flying that way is very dangerous. That is why schools don't train in the weather that competent professional pilots will be forced to fly in or leave other than corporate or airline work.
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Re: Primary control.

The use of aileron for help with ground loop by steering toward the loop is technically valid, as MTV points out, but we learn in slow flight practice the primacy of rudder when relative wind decreases. I accept this knowledge, but don't want to go there with student's who might actually try to mitigate ground loop or worse prevent ground loop with aileron rather than rudder. Nothing is more disruptive to keeping the nose aligned with the direction of travel and in thereby keeping the wing level or stabilized in drift correcting bank than aileron. The proper coordinated control usage of aileron is a major error on short final, touchdown, and roll out.

The error of allowing the aileron to become the primary control causes much airplane damage during landing, especially at enough airspeed to make the aileron effective. On short final, touchdown, and roll out, use rudder alone to stabilize both longitudinal alignment and wing level. Yes, use aileron to counter drift and increase aileron into the crosswind on touchdown and roll out. This aileron use for drift management ends once drift is managed on final but increases upon touchdown and roll out because of decreased relative wind and decreased effectiveness of the aileron.

To use both rudder and aileron effectively we must decouple coordination during the crosswind landing and learn to leave the aileron alone in a no wind condition. Side slip to landing is not a major disruptor of landings. Pilots are generally handling that well. Aileron for wings level and coordinated turns for longitudinal alignment in no wind or slight unidentified crosswind is a major disruptor of landings. This error and too much airspeed to land on the beginning end of the runway bends a lot of airplanes.
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