There are a bunch of pilots who can be spotted on various airports.\u00a0 These particular pilots have two things in common:\u00a0 They all tend to walk around with their chins touching their chests.\u00a0 They are all also current or former students of mine.\u00a0 Why do they have that peculiar posture?\u00a0 Because they are constantly being told, \u201ckeep your nose down\u201d.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s another thing these fliers have in common:\u00a0 They are all accustomed to a whole lot more landings and takeoffs while in a touch and go pattern than virtually any other pilots in any other training system.<\/p>\n
I thought it might be useful to describe the type of training that results in these added \u201creps\u201d.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s important.\u00a0 After all, if we get better with practice, then it figures that the more practice we get, the better we will get and anything that creates a favorable atmosphere for increased practice may be something worth learning about.<\/p>\n
The average pilot in a touch and go pattern will make one landing and takeoff for every six minutes of flight time.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason that the circuit requires that much time. The student is taught to climb out straight ahead until reaching a particular altitude.\u00a0 Then he is taught to claw for altitude so that he is at \u201cpattern altitude\u201d on downwind.\u00a0 The pattern must be large enough to allow the flier to reach that pattern altitude and lots of the trainers we fly just don\u2019t have the power to achieve that altitude without that big pattern.<\/p>\n
My students, on the other hand, are taught to make their crosswind turn at the departure end of the runway.\u00a0 Then, they are taught to eschew pattern altitude and instead get to the corner where they will turn base just as quickly as possible. \u00a0On their way to that corner, they may not get any higher than about 400 feet off the ground.\u00a0 But because they previously practiced the minimum-altitude- loss-power-off-360<\/em>, they know that they can do a 180 in about 300 feet. That means that they can suffer an engine failure during that low-level downwind and swoop for a landing. \u00a0They learn that the longer they wait to make that swoop, the slower they will get and the harder it will be.\u00a0 They need to constantly be thinking about that possibility. Their instructor will make sure they get the \u00a0opportunity to practice that engine failure and subsequent swoop from time to time. They are also taught that the most important factor in this procedure is to have a \u201cplace to go\u201d at all times when in this pattern.\u00a0 Since we fly angles instead of pattern altitudes, that means that they are almost always within gliding distance to a runway or taxiway while flying this abbreviated pattern simply because they are closer.\u00a0 Because they are closer to the runway, their turns from the downwind, through base and to final will require a steeper bank in order to avoid overshooting the final approach course.\u00a0 They learn that the steepness of their bank does not increase their stall speed\u2026 \u201cG\u201d force does.\u00a0 So they are taught to use elevator properly in order to control the airspeed at which their airplane will stall.\u00a0 They are also taught the importance of coordination during high-G turns.\u00a0 They are taught that the stall is only half the reason for a spin\u2026 that a skid is the other half of the equation and that many pilots tend to skid their turns to final.\u00a0 If these fliers hear \u201ckeep your nose down\u201d a lot, they hear \u201cDON\u201dT SKID\u201d even more.\u00a0 And they have all had inadvertent spin training.<\/p>\n These fliers are also cautioned that the vast majority of pilots will have been trained by the Acme School and will fly a much higher and bigger pattern.\u00a0 They are taught to live with that fact of life and not let their different pattern mess with the minds of other pilots lest safety be compromised.<\/p>\n
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