Climbing and decending

[average-punter]

Hi!

I am looking for a bit of advice and help please!

Last weekend I did Ex 7(ii) and 8(ii). I had problems keeping the aircraft on the same heading whilst climbing and decending therefore have to repeat the lesson.

How can I keep the same heading in the climbs and decents? I just find there so much to think about that I just seem to forget about the heading.

Cheers :ok:

[Genghis the Engineer]

There is no secret really, you just need to be on top of everything. There will be a small change in rudder force you need to apply with change in power - in most aeroplanes at top of climb as you reduce power expect to add a bit of left rudder / slightly reduce right rudder. Same also as you reduce power further to initiate a descent.

But really, it is a case of doing this additionally to the task of maintaining heading and wings level. And of course as you progress with your flying, all of this will include staying ahead of the navigation, doing any necessary RT, and so-on and so-forth.

I'd recommend spending some time before the lesson repeat sitting with your eyes closed going through all of the actions as taught. Get it practiced over and over again so hopefully it is fairly natural and you are well ahead of the aeroplane when it's costing you money.

G

[Zulu Alpha]

Pick something on the horizon and keep aiming for it. Spending time staring at the compass and altimeter won't help. You need your eyes outside with a quick check of the instruments every 30 secs or so.

[BackPacker]

Ask the instructor to set the aircraft up in a stable descent. Look directly ahead of you and take in the picture. Particularly how far the coaming is below the horizon. (There may be a rivet or something in the frame supporting the windshield which makes a good marker. When I was doing some Vbg testing I actually put some sticky tape on the windshield, aligned with the horizon, for the attitudes I needed.)

Do the same for level flight and a proper climb. Remember the picture. Also note the engine sound.

Now take back the controls. When transitioning from one phase to the other DO NOT look at any instruments. None whatsoever. Just look straight ahead at what you see outside. Look at the horizon and set its position with reference to the aircraft reference points, such as said rivet. Look at a specific object dead ahead. If it moves left or right during power changes, and the wings are level, you need to work the rudder. For cruise, set the engine RPM by sound.

And once again, don't look at the instruments. None whatsoever. It may sound strange, but it's a lot easier.

Remember Power + Attitude = Performance. You set the right amount of power and the proper attitude, and that will give you the desired performance. Instruments like the DI, ALT and V/S are only there to fine-tune the attitude. But don't chase the instruments with the attitude or power - it only leads to oscillations.

[bingofuel]

As above, use your feet to counter yaw by use of rudder. Remember effects of controls, change of power cause yaw, and you are probably lookng inside far too much, fly attitude and pick a point to fly towards. It is a common problem which can cause problems on nav exercises as you climb to your cruising altitude whilst filling in plog etc then wonder why you are not going where you thought you were!
Try wearing thin soled shoes to feel the rudder.

And remember to have fun!

[Whopity]

I am looking for a bit of advice and help please!That's why you have an Instructor, or are you teaching yourself?

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Keep the ball in the middle and the wings level. I suspect you may not be using your feet as you should.

[thing]

Keep the ball in the middle and the wings level. I suspect you may not be using your feet as you should.

^ As the man said. If you do the above you can't possibly wander off course. Don't worry about it being a handful at the moment, it will all click into place and as someone said, enjoy it. You're paying enough.

[mary meagher]

Average punter, there is good advice here to keep looking outside the aircraft, but don't worry if you have to repeat a lesson! Learning to fly is not like assembling a piece of Ikea furniture, ( step 1, step 2 step 3). Flying straight, turns, climbs, descents, managing an engine as well, to say nothing of taking off and landing - nobody said it would be easy. Very few can do it all right away. Relax! enjoy! You'll get there!

[Crash one]

In the early stages everything seems difficult, bear with it, it will all come together. You will also find that repeating an exercise numerous times is quite normal. Wait till you are in the circuit ex 12 & 13!!!
Don't worry, enjoy it, don't beat yourself up, we all went through the same thing.

[Tinstaafl]

You don't need to look at the ball to stop heading changes. As others have written, look outside at an aim point. Preferably as far away as you can see eg something on the horizon. Keep the wings level while using your feet to keep a convenient speck on the windscreen aligned with the aim point.

If you need to adjust heading to return to the aim point (or turn to a new aim point) then use a gentle, co-ordinated turn to get to the new aim point. Once there, return to using your feet to *prevent* an unwanted heading change.

[Pilot DAR]

Yes, look outside, as said....

Broader thinking here... Any machine you learn to operate is learned first as "understanding" and "doing", to cause the result you want. (This presupposes that you know what you want it to do - but that's a different thread). After a while building familiarity, you don't think about your hands and feet, you just think about the machine doing as you control.

Compare flying a plane to operating a backhoe or excavator - so many levers to co-ordinate! The first few times, you operate it very robotically. After a while, you no longer look at your hands on the levers, and move them to move the bucket, you just look at the bucket, and move it with your mind, what your hands do as a part of the control circuit is really not a factor any more. I can remember watching the bucket of my excavator trenching exactly as I intended, then looking at my hands, and watching them all over the controls making it happen, without my even thinking about them.

Flying will be the same, once you get used to it, until you move onto a very different aircraft type. Some people refer to it as "wearing the plane". Your mind operates the plane, what happens in the middle of the control circuit really is not important. You don't really care whether it's the upper or lower cable that moves the elevator, as long as it goes the right way right? Why would how your hands and feet move be any different, as long as the plane is doing what you need it to?

You will then concentrate on exactly what the plane is doing in the sky, notice more visual cues, and precise flying will be much more easy for you.

[Final 3 Greens]

average

Don't worry about it, it is a completely normal experience at this stage of your learning - just keep practicing and don't let your annoyance turn to frustration.

Maslow identified 4 levels of competence - you are currently at level 3, conscious incompetence, which means you know that you are nor performing as you need to.

Ask your instructor to observe you and feedback if you are doing anything obviously wrong; s/he will probably have observed you already and understand that you are just at the steep part of the learning curve and the cure is repetition, which will lead to conscious competence - you will perform as you need to, but it will take a bit of effort.

In time, you will repeat the process enough to reach unconscious competence and then your unconscious part of your brain (the same bit that pumps blood around, controls breathing) will control the hand/eye/foot coordination and you will climb/descend without thinking about it. You will even trim out without thinking about it, your hand will just move across and take the weight off the controls :-)

After I got my PPL, I used to spend a lot of time in the circuit (final advice from a very good instructor) building form conscious to unconscious competence. This was good advice, as once you can fly an effortless and controlled circuit, normal flying is then effortless and controlled.

If you read Pilot DAR's post above, he is giving you an 'art' of flying perspective and I am giving you a 'science'of flying perspective. IMHO, flying is both an art and a science.

[truthinbeer]

Do as Zulu Alpha suggests and pick a landmark (a hill, town, etc) in the distance and just aim for it. It does not matter of you wander either side of it as long as you keep pointing in that general direction. After a while you will be doing this without consciously thinking about it.

[Johnm]

When descending just aim for something and then keep the wings level and the ball in the middle and the aircraft will keep straight.

In a climb it's a little more difficult as in many aircraft you can't see much ahead.

In that case keep the wings level and the ball the middle and check the DI and AI every so often to make sure that a little turbulence hasn't taken you off balance and so off course.

[foxmoth]

In a climb it's a little more difficult as in many aircraft you can't see much ahead

Pick a cloud - yes the cloud moves with the wind - but so do you, so in some ways a cloud can be better to use than a ground feature.

[average-punter]

Thanks for the advice everyone!