Wayne Handley's excellent youtube video, "Turn Smart" covers what I call the energy management turn from both the Ag low altitude perspective and the high altitude acrobatic perspective. He did not, however, cover it from a normal operations perspective. I was recently emailed some excellent questions about when we should use the energy management turn. This was from a Private Pilot who had read "Contact Flying Revised." He asked, "I like how the energy turn feels, but I am wondering what is the right time for it? Always, unless there is a reason not to? For coarse adjustments it would probably be too much. But what if there isn't much altitude to play with and you don't want the nose to drop? Would I already have made some bad decisions to end up there and have this problem to begin with? Let's say a few hundred feet AGL. Now that I understand why sticking with Vx or Vy on takeoffs is problematic, I assume that there is also something I am not aware of about the turn I was taught: keep our altitude and step on the ball. I see how the energy turn does what it is supposed to: preserve energy, but I have not felt that the normal turn felt laborious. Does it have its advantages even when the conditions are good and I am lightly loaded?

Answers:

"What is the right time for it? Anywhere low or high is fine VFR. When low, all turns should be energy management turns to target and not turns to heading. That includes in the pattern where we should not refer to instruments for situational awareness. Pick a point on the ground as reference for turns crosswind, downwind, base, and the centerline extended. Certainly IFR and especially IMC is not the right time because we are gaining all situational awareness from instruments and need to limit pitch, yaw, and roll. Primacy has given us dangerous muscle memory to pull on the stick or yoke in all turns, the energy wise exact wrong place to do so.

"But what if there isn't much altitude to play with and you don't want the nose to drop? I worked at 200' AGL or lower for 17,000 hours. Most of us don't, so we miss the importance of low altitude orientation around the airport. Low is exactly where trying to maintain or gain altitude without zoom reserve airspeed will kill us fast. When low especially, the energy management turn needs zoom reserve airspeed to start. Read about the law of the roller coaster in "Stick and Rudder." Airspeed traded for altitude wings level (energy efficient) is what gives us a bit more altitude standoff for the nose's low finish of turn. And if a steep turn is needed, slower airspeed also reduces the radius as does the step bank. Pulling to reduce radius (more lift) is a no no. 200' is a lot more potential energy of altitude than most pilots think. And in steep turns we can take some of the tuck out. We do not need to return to trimmed airspeed as fast the airplane (dynamic neutral stability) wants. This is why crop dusters turn more steeply (back to back) than necessary at first so as to comfortably get the wing level before going over wires. In medium banked turns in the pattern. the nose will only go down slightly. Just stay ahead of the airplane so as to pitch up just a bit first wing level.

"Would I already have made some bad decisions to end up there and have these problems to begin with? Yes, according to the FAA who consider maneuvering flight to be a no no. Yes, our peers will think we can't hold altitude exactly in the pattern. The only bad decision using the safety turn in the pattern is not having filed IFR at our departure airport so as to have ATC, legal and safe airspeed, altitude and procedural track. That cleared track would include a legal straight in approach at our destination.

"Now that I understand why sticking o Vx or Vy on takeoff is problematic, I assume there is also something that I was not aware of about the turn? Yes, the normal technique of maintaining altitude by pulling back on the stick in every turn in the pattern kills many pilots every year. And they are doing exactly what they were taught to do. The feeling of zoomyness should precede every pull. The lack of zoomyness should cause us not to pull, just let the nose go down. This, however, takes iterations of energy management to overcome primacy of need to pull.

"Does it have its advantages even when the conditions are good and I am lightly loaded?" Yes, no load factor, no sick passengers, safe muscle memory, and especially no stall. We learn what the airplane wants to do. Around the airport we are still in the maneuvering flight domain. We have both vertical and horizontal space limitations requiring maneuvering. The advisory traffic pattern, ruled if you see it that way, has no ATC oversight and IFR protected procedural track. Terrain and man made things stick up all over the place. Without energy management we are open to distraction stall, startle stall, engine failure stall, and base to final stall/skid/spin from not banking steeply and not allowing the nose to go down onto the centerline extended target. Most fatal stall and loss of control accidents around the airport are with good conditions and light loads.

Again, I appreciate these excellent comments and questions. We all have something to offer.

I was out the other day just practicing, doing steep turns in figure 8s when I began thinking about what Ive read in Contact flying. I was beginning to wonder what this exercise really was good for. It help me fly more precise, by all means. Keeping the ball centered and keeping my altitude requires some skill I suppose, but I am kind of depending on the instruments for confirmation. Doing steep turns I found myself pulling back with some force. All within safe margins, but knowing that a plane can stall at all speeds, I started thinking about how I might be imprinting a muscle memory or reflex that might come back to haunt me when pulling back ina turn is what I shouldnt do.

Trying to learn safe mountain flying and short field operations when theres no real community for it is probably a risky undertaking. Finding good material on the subject, like Contact flying makes it a little easier to find a place to begin. As a sidenote I was a little happy to see that even without ever being told how to, ny technique to keep a taildragger going straight wasn`t as strange as I thought. My instructor just told me to keep it straight and try and stay ahead of the plane. I found that the best way to do this was by stabbing vigourosly right and left, holding one a little bit longer than the other when corrections had to be made. Also, I touched upon some of the building blocks of the energy turn. In the pattern, downwind to base and base to final didnt feel so bad, because I let the nose come down. I thought it probably could be just as OK to descend a bit more in the turns to avoid that irksome feeling of pulling back and force the plane to fly, just to make turn more by «the book» (but what book?..)

This rambling post might be a mix of nonsense and what is plainly obvious, with a dash of things that are just wrong. I dont think I have been poorly taughts as such, I think I was considered a sort of good student. But the standard cirruculum is not very much geared for this kind of flying. I am obviously not well equipped, and have a lot to lear, Take it as the confessions of a low time pilot, and thanks for having a culture of sharing knowledge.

-V

Yes, we're better when we move. I find most instructors to be good and expect yours were as well. Bureaucracy, so necessary in complicated society, is slow to change and critical of innovation. That includes reviewing and retaining some of what works well. Instrument integration with contact flying caused the principals in "Stick and Rudder" to be completely dropped. Modern pilots have no idea what contact flying means. The really scary thing is that computers fly more precision by reference to instruments than do humans. We may get kicked to the curb unless we bring Wolfgang back. Hang in there. You're doing good.

Steep level 360 degree turns is just one of many examples of our Airmen Certification Standards maneuvers for maneuver sake. Yes, there are techniques to be taught in maneuvers, but why teach bad techniques for maneuvers and bad technique sake. When do we make circles in the sky. I did in Vietnam in Cobras, but that was to be slow (reduced radius of turn) and at 22 pounds of torque so as to be able to rapidly bank ninety degrees to get a whap whap rotor sound that would cause Charlie to put his head down and would quickly position me in a dive oriented at the target and shooting rockets. I don't see that as a normal operation.

Even the lazy eight has become an instrument maneuver with various speed requirements all along the eight that completely disrupts the natural flow of it done properly.

The STOL guys are bringing back energy management proficiency, but loose fly the wing training value with airplanes that will almost hover out of ground effect.

I work with all the instructors at EAS in Aurora, Missouri and various instructors around the country and with backcountry pilots and others who come by from time to time. I emphasize teaching flying until solo early followed by dual XC with no instruments, radio, or devices, and then concentrate on ACS maneuvers. No, that will not become the standard.

The dynamic proactive vigorous rudder movement you mentioned is part of what makes ten hours plenty for solo. The only problem with modern, slick, expensive TW airplanes is that we instructors cannot ride the controls when the student is walking the rudders properly. God I miss those old 65 hp 20 year old fabric rags we used to train with. If the apparent brisk walk rate of closure power/pitch deceleration was used, they only had enough speed to maybe catch a wing a bit in a ground loop. Which is not going to happen if we are moving, right? We're better when we move.

I'm low time as well, came from a part 141 school attached to a college. I had a couple bad instructors there but most weren't bad, they were just "by the book" because that's all they knew. They got PPL, Inst, CFI then while getting next certs they would teach the next crop of PPLs etc. It wasn't until I moved to PNW and did a rental checkout with someone who spent their life flying taildraggers, towing banners, flying pipeline etc that I realized (and was told/shown) how little real world flying ability I had, especially when flying something other than a training Cherokee or Archer.

Ground reference maneuvers are supposed to prepare pilots to understand how not to die in the pattern. S-turns to manage radius and wind direction, slow flight and stalls for T/O & landing characteristics & recovery, and tight turns so when someone gets blown off base to final and cranks it over they realize the danger it presents. Again, low time thoughts here, but it feels like the way we are taught at these larger schools doesn't take into account for energy management and the things that will actually make flying safer. At least I now have an idea of what I don't know so I can work on it.

Yes, the 141 school is teaching how to avoid wind with ground reference maneuvers by learning how wind drifts us and how to quit when we have to bank enough when downwind to pull a dangerous amount of gs. Two things they are missing with the school solution: First, we don't have to hold altitude but can manage zoom reserve to gain altitude with the wing level downwind and use that altitude for the extra airspeed when turning at whatever bank necessary for whatever wind exists to nail the next target around the circle or the S turn. No pull, no stall. High enough wind, too steep bank, high enough g load, high enough load factor does not exist if we use zoom for wings level up and potential energy of altitude for steep turns down and back into the wind. Second, why don't we actually learn wind management rather than learn about drift? Why not pick a target abeam and crosswind, just like the turn about a point or just like the S turn. Now rather than go around the target, turn at whatever bank is necessary to acquire that target on the upwind run. Sort of like a downwind to final 180 turn. Use the law of the roller coaster and wind management to effectively target runways, pipeline right of way turns, next crop swath, or Charlie. We need to be able to turn to target efficiently and safely when working low or in the pattern. We need to make turns of any bank angle 1 g rather than worry about the math, or which wing will drop out in a spin. It doesn't matter...skidding stall/spin bottom wing, slipping stall/spin top wing, or just stall both wings. If it happens in the pattern, we are not likely going to recover. Use the safety turn. There are no bank angle police out there.

Pipeline pilots do not stop because the wind is blowing more than 15 knots. We fly a big loop. We get good weather and bad. We get light wind and strong wind. We angle across the runway using full flaps and a power/pitch approach in strong crosswinds. In a 30 knot headwind component, we land with 30 knots slower than normal ground speed, not 15 knots faster ground speed. We sometimes have enough relative wind when stopped to need a fuel truck to provide upwind formation back to the tiedowns. We use wind management, not wind avoidance.

The river runs you guys do are the most practical place, the most necessary to be safe place, for the energy management turn. If horizontal space is limited by terrain (bluffs and mountains beside the river) and vertical space is limited by very low AGL altitude, the ability to make every turn accurately is critical. Prior planning prevents pitifully poor performance. Not it this case. Wow, this turn is requiring more bank than I expected. First, at low altitude zoom reserve airspeed is life. It is what is at the energy heart of the energy management turn. It is the start of the law of the roller coaster. It is the airspeed that can safely be traded for altitude wings level to set up the safety turn that uses that gained altitude to make the turn 1 g in the banked portion of the energy management turn. Without zoom reserve airspeed, we cannot safely zoom. Without zoom reserve airspeed, we will possibly run out of energy in the steep level turn necessary to not hit terrain and not descend into the river.

Giving up any energy in critical situations like river runs is not good energy management. Sure, we can reduce airspeed (same as with our Harley) to reduce radius of turn. That works until the bank angle becomes such that we don't have enough airspeed to complete the turn level without stall and we don't have any true zoom reserve energy to gain altitude wings level before the turn. Our choice now is hit terrain, stall, or completely pull power and land in the river.

What makes the river run and excellent training exercise for establishing energy muscle memory is that there are shallow, medium, and hairpin turns in rivers. In the hairpin turn, only the energy management turn can be done safely. In all the lesser turns, however, we can get the feeling, the muscle memory, for anticipate the need to turn, yes I have zoom reserve airspeed, wings level pitch up (lots if steep turn needed or just a bit if shallow or medium), lead rudder to bank and release back pressure at the same time, use rudder with continuous bank to put the nose down onto the river in the new direction. Notice that this is not a coordinated bank, neutralize controls, continue standard rate of turn. Yes, we lead rudder to keep the nose from yawing the wrong direction and yes we continue both rudder and aileron pressure until the nose is nearly on target. And then we level the wing prior to pull up and back to the start (before the pitch up wings level) altitude. As Varanger said, it feels right. It feels like what the airplane wants to do. It is what the airplane, designed not to stall, wants to do.

I am circling the low bird, the loach, the OH6-A scout at 1200' AGL, 22 lbs. torque, and 40 knots in the Cobra. He yells, "taking fire" and I see the red smoke grenade his observer has thrown. I immediately roll into a 130 banked turn to target, level tip path plane, use anti-torque pedals (rudder) only now to bracket that red smoke. The horizon was not visible in that turn, only jungle and the red smoke. The nose is 60 degrees pitch down. The smoke is between my feet. Yaw slightly left, slightly right, etc. to be sure to nail the target. Fire one pair of rockets. Adjust with anti-torque pedals only. Fire second pair of rockets. First pair land left of target. Second pair look good. Fire third pair and immediately pitch up tip path plain level until the kinetic energy of the dive is asserting itself into the climb and then turn back in a steep bank return to target allowing the nose to go down in the turn. Danger...I will get lower and slower with each run. Know when to stop. Low and slow is danger, danger, danger! Yes, Varanger, it felt good.

I am putting out fescue seed with my spreader at 50 feet over trees that I have already deadened with 2-4-5T mixed with 2-4D. I am on my first run down the downwind border of the field. The crosswind is 20 kts so I know I will not have to P downwind or teardrop downwind to get enough standoff to make the return turn to thirty feet upwind in my back to back pattern because I have an automatic flagman. The automatic flagman has an electric device that pushes the back in the shoot piece of cardboard up enough to be blown out with strong toilet paper folded coming unfolded in the slipstream. Toward the end of this run I push the throttle full. I push a button to bump the flag out. At the end I pitch up wings level. As soon as I turn back steeply, I release all the back pressure. I turn more than necessary at first to be able to more slowly turn exactly to thirty feet upwind from the flag now in the crop. I pull out of the dive that releasing back pressure caused and start my next swath run at 50' AGL. This is the same wind management I use/teach at the airport. Every turn will be into a headwind for the wind managed best radius of turn other things being equal. Energy management plus wind management makes the canyon turn of 50' radius possible. It can be done. Rob and I have done it thousands of times. Neither of us, however, do it in sheer walled and narrow canyons. I don't think the 30 knot crosswind would go down that sheer wall to help me turn in the bottom of a canyon. Yes, still have energy management.

The sun is just coming up. I am at Diamond Station on my Ozark Pipeline that will become Plains All American Pipeline to Midland...and then Jackson...and then Patoka and then back to Diamond for 3500 miles of continuous shallow, medium, and steep energy management turns to target (the right of way in the new direction.) Pipeliners fly a thousand hours a year. Energy management becomes drilled into the brain. Muscle memory in many engine failures (no you don't have to go there) is automatic.

The pay was low, so no worries about job security. I took students (no charge.) Many young students came home from one run with good energy muscle memory for life. No zoom reserve, no pull. No pull, no stall. The law of the roller coaster. All takeoffs were level in low ground effect until cruise airspeed. All landings were "all slowed up and ready to squat" on the numbers. You can't beat that kind of flying.

contactflying wrote:I have zoom reserve airspeed, wings level pitch up (lots if steep turn needed or just a bit if shallow or medium), lead rudder to bank and release back pressure at the same time, use rudder with continuous bank to put the nose down onto the river in the new direction. Notice that this is not a coordinated bank, neutralize controls, continue standard rate of turn. Yes, we lead rudder to keep the nose from yawing the wrong direction and yes we continue both rudder and aileron pressure until the nose is nearly on target.

I was a bit curious on the details on how to use the rudder, and if I understand you correctly, this means that skidding is not a problem. I see the need to manage energy well and to not load the wing. I would be terrified of the inner wing dropping while already at a high angle if I had to pull hard to get where I need to be. Slipping would not be very good either, since this loosens the the turn and we have to pull to be tightening it and get on target. This also when the speed has also begun increasing. Loading the wing and risking a stall under the right (wrong?) conditions.

Edit: Rephrasing. I had explained myself poorly…

The fuss about the skidding spin on base to final is simply mixing up the theory. From many years teaching the energy management turn to second career crop duster students and other pilots, my data says none are skidding too much in steep turns, even shallow turns. No, the vast majority are slipping too much. First, they lead aileron which yaws the nose away from the bank. This is unstable, uncoordinated, and the worse part is that it delays the turn. Second they quit pushing the nose around before they quit banking. Both rudder and aileron continue in energy management turns to target. As you have by now noticed, the nose pitches down significantly in steep energy management turns. We are not doing 720s. We are turning to target and we want to acquire that target between our feet before diving into terrain. Slipping, very common in steep turns, loosens rather than tightens the turn. It decreases rather than increases the rate of turn. The other common error is to pull to increase rate. This causes stall. What really happens in the base to final skidding spin, based on the data of my experience with seasoned pilots making turns steeper that they normally do, is failure to turn to target (centerline extended) efficiently. They don't want to bank enough to acquire the target and they don't want the nose to go down, so all that is left is the skid. The skid does not load the wing, however, does not cause the stall. Maintaining altitude, pulling back on the yoke is what loads the wing and causes the stall. We cannot spin unless we stall while uncontrolled. No stall, no spin. While coordination is desirable, most coordinate only as reaction...step on the ball. When low, including in the pattern, coordination (leading rudder) is necessary to be safe. It is a human muscle memory thing. Yes, coordination in the theory book is proper. In real life, it requires me as teacher to yell, "lead rudder." Dutch rolls confirm this human truth, not scientific truth.

So, be terrified of stall, not which wing will drop in a skidding spin: lower or a slipping spin: higher. Airspeed...thrust, ground effect, low pitch angle, cashing in potential energy of altitude, or any combination of sources of kinetic energy is life down low. Trying to keep altitude is what causes stall and fall when too low to recover. Altitude is not life down here, except that altitude that is traded for airspeed.

You are catching on quickly. Old dogs are harder to teach new tricks. The sad thing is that this theory is as old as "Stick and Rudder" first published in 1944.

Thanks for another great Sunday sermon Reverend Contact .

Something that show up when pilots talk theory of turn is pulling to increase lift to decrease radius of turn. I overlook that too much because I automatically release yoke pressure in turns rather than increase it to decrease radius. Yes, it will decrease radius and slow airspeed and increase angle of attack. It is a dangerous technique. The safer technique, used in the energy management turn, is trading zoom reserve airspeed for altitude wings level and using a steeper bank angle to decrease radius of turn. The well nose down pitch attitude in steep turns is what allows the steeper bank angle. It also allows safe skidding to put the nose into a hole rather than hit something. No aerodynamic text will support me on this, but I have done so hundreds of times while crop dusting. I assume, by this experience, that it is aerodynamically sound to skid with the nose pitched well down. To keep the airspeed from going Vne or hit the ground before getting onto target, we also take some of the nose low out with elevator. We need to honor what the airplane want to do: put the nose down to not stall. We don't have to allow the airplane to regain cruise (trimmed) airspeed so quickly. This back pressure on the stick/yoke is not a stout pull. We have gotten very slow wings level for the very steep energy management turn. The stick/yoke is very light. And with the nose down so far, we can safely yaw rather than bank when getting close to obstructions and terrain. We don't want a wing down in a steep bank going over wires. That is a big no no. Also, with engine failure down low, it is common to put the rudder full stop in a forward slip to make the very near suitable landing zone in the very near horizon. We must maneuver to make it. We have zoom reserve airspeed to maneuver safely. We want to decelerate to well below Vso coming into ground effect in the very beginning of the LZ. In the six second low altitude or takeoff engine failure, we will almost always be high (zoom up to kill excess airspeed or slow to reduce radius of turn) and fast. That is because we had the zoom reserve airspeed to safely be there to begin with. It is no a Vx or Vy deal. So going into this very near and workable LZ, we may want to break out of that full rudder slip (one wing will be low) and level the wing and skid to go between trees. The needs of the situation come first.

Somewhere, in nine of thirteen engine failures happening low, I became a bird in hand guy. I liked precautionarys better than forced landings, but had plenty of both. I also developed the theory that incidents and accidents mitigate fatalities. When low, don't even think about best glide airspeed. It is there. It is obvious. Go for it now, in the six seconds you have left. The safe landing zone is just there. You will probably be high and fast, so be ready for that.

And if you will be at Vy pitch attitude after accepting that you have lost the engine, push on the yoke to use that potential energy of altitude for the zoom reserve airspeed you gave up to be at Vy. Only with zoom reserve airspeed can we maneuver. Otherwise we are just a passenger going in wings level. Better than nothing, but low altitude orientation better prepares pilots for low altitude. Airspeed, down low, is like a warm blanket.