Attitude flying advice
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Join Date: Apr 2007
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Attitude flying advice
Hi all.
I am a relatively new Flight Instructor and have been asked to give a talk on the basics of attitude flying for PPL students.
Apart from common sense and the syllabus litterature,there isn't much info on the subject,so I would appreciate if anybody on here has any input or advice,or even new approaches to teaching attitude flying to ab inition PPL students that they find effective,it would be great.
Cheers,
06L
I am a relatively new Flight Instructor and have been asked to give a talk on the basics of attitude flying for PPL students.
Apart from common sense and the syllabus litterature,there isn't much info on the subject,so I would appreciate if anybody on here has any input or advice,or even new approaches to teaching attitude flying to ab inition PPL students that they find effective,it would be great.
Cheers,
06L
Join Date: Dec 2005
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One question some students ask (may seem a bit daft this one but you know what some are like) is "how much input on the control column do i need to reselect the attitude if it changes?)
I try to relate it to something they may be use to ie driving a car. If you say something like "Well if your driving your car and are heading towards the curb how much do you move the steering wheel"?
Most go "well, enough to stop us moving and then to drive straight again"
Usually a smile in their direction and the penny drops.
Hope this has helped. Not a fantastic one I know but keeping it simple does help most of the time.
Cheers
Tiger
I try to relate it to something they may be use to ie driving a car. If you say something like "Well if your driving your car and are heading towards the curb how much do you move the steering wheel"?
Most go "well, enough to stop us moving and then to drive straight again"
Usually a smile in their direction and the penny drops.
Hope this has helped. Not a fantastic one I know but keeping it simple does help most of the time.
Cheers
Tiger
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i am sure you have considered the whole thing of '' straight and level ''... ''cimbing and descending ''... ''turns ''...climbing and descending turns ''... ''approaches ''...
you could have diagrams..to show various phases and what the nose looks like reference the horizon....
main thing is...attitude.../ ...horizon.../..speed..( two for every power setting ) and the attidudes they produce..etc. etc..
there could be quite a lot in it if you talk about attitude verses the horizon versus the speeds in the different phases of flight..
start at the begining...
good luck.
you could have diagrams..to show various phases and what the nose looks like reference the horizon....
main thing is...attitude.../ ...horizon.../..speed..( two for every power setting ) and the attidudes they produce..etc. etc..
there could be quite a lot in it if you talk about attitude verses the horizon versus the speeds in the different phases of flight..
start at the begining...
good luck.
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thanks guys,in fact both of your inputs are helpful.I have used the car analogy before,mainly when explaining magnitude of control inputs when in the flare,so i guess i could chat about that.
most textbooks have a 'view from the pilots seat' type illustration showing what the various attitudes look like,which is also helpful.
thanks for the help
most textbooks have a 'view from the pilots seat' type illustration showing what the various attitudes look like,which is also helpful.
thanks for the help
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It does help tremendously if you know your airplanes specific attitudes and power settings for various phases of flight - i.e. for the C172 I teach the most in, S&L cruise is wings level on horizon, 2400 RPM. Slow cruise and approach about 1/2 barwidth above horizon and 2200 RPMs. For ILS GS about 1800 RPM at flaps 10 and 5-8 degrees nose down. Standard rate turn a little less than 20 bank etc. Hey, even for stalls - 20 degrees pitch up power on, 10 for power off, and down to horizon for recov, and then 10 up for the go around.
Pretty obvious stuff when you yourself are instrument rated, but not obvious for the students.
I also find it alot easier to fly and to teach the control and performance technique rather than the primary and supporting technique. Also various forms of partial panel - IE start with ONLY attitude indicator and tachometer, then uncover altimeter, then heading indicator and make all maneuvers with this only. Then AS, then VSI and lastlys the TC. Then go on to cover up various combinations. I find that students then develop their own technique rather quickly. I would guess this is because the new instrument student does not know where to put their emphasis in their scan, and until basic attitude control can be mastered, everything else is just noise...
Pretty obvious stuff when you yourself are instrument rated, but not obvious for the students.
I also find it alot easier to fly and to teach the control and performance technique rather than the primary and supporting technique. Also various forms of partial panel - IE start with ONLY attitude indicator and tachometer, then uncover altimeter, then heading indicator and make all maneuvers with this only. Then AS, then VSI and lastlys the TC. Then go on to cover up various combinations. I find that students then develop their own technique rather quickly. I would guess this is because the new instrument student does not know where to put their emphasis in their scan, and until basic attitude control can be mastered, everything else is just noise...
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power + attitude = performance
i dont know if your school has nailed this into you...but in aus this saying is really pushed.
because if you set a constant power but make a change to attitude (shown by a diagram) willl give you a performance change. (i.e flight path > turn, climb etc and also efffect our insturment...ias etc etc)
from this you can show striaght and level flight (at various airspeed)
you can then intro climbing and descending. i.e if you only changed attitude you would start a climbing flight path, but your speed would drop of too much... (i.e) why we apply full power (i dont think it is worth going into thrust and power curves right yet)
so i would stick to that p+a=performance and show how if u change one variable you change performance!
because if you set a constant power but make a change to attitude (shown by a diagram) willl give you a performance change. (i.e flight path > turn, climb etc and also efffect our insturment...ias etc etc)
from this you can show striaght and level flight (at various airspeed)
you can then intro climbing and descending. i.e if you only changed attitude you would start a climbing flight path, but your speed would drop of too much... (i.e) why we apply full power (i dont think it is worth going into thrust and power curves right yet)
so i would stick to that p+a=performance and show how if u change one variable you change performance!
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Apollo85, you've got it in one. It can't be emphasised enough, power + attitude = performance. If this is taught at ab initio stage, it makes subsequent instrument training easy.
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A good DEMO, TEACH, PRACTICE, CRITEQUE in the early stages will go a long way to providing understanding, with lots of practice allowing the student to start recognising when it's not right themselves.
Personally, I always put emphasis on basic stick, sight, sound skills. In other words, make it look about right and make it sound about right, then fine tune. Make sure their eyes are out the cockpit for 95% of the time. If they arn't, cover the instruments until they learn to fly the picture. If someone is having particular trouble with throttle settings, I compare it to a car going up and down a hill at a constant accelerator setting.
Sometimes, instructors do not spend enough time on the basics, and fail to appreciate difficuties in student skills are often the result of too little hands on practice. I rarely bring anyone into the circuit with less than 10 hours total time.
Just my 1d worth
XO
Personally, I always put emphasis on basic stick, sight, sound skills. In other words, make it look about right and make it sound about right, then fine tune. Make sure their eyes are out the cockpit for 95% of the time. If they arn't, cover the instruments until they learn to fly the picture. If someone is having particular trouble with throttle settings, I compare it to a car going up and down a hill at a constant accelerator setting.
Sometimes, instructors do not spend enough time on the basics, and fail to appreciate difficuties in student skills are often the result of too little hands on practice. I rarely bring anyone into the circuit with less than 10 hours total time.
Just my 1d worth
XO
