{"id":4807,"date":"2018-05-03T14:36:24","date_gmt":"2018-05-03T21:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=4807"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:52","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:52","slug":"203-s-turns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/203-s-turns\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0#203, \u201cS\u201d Turns"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve lately learned that \u201cS\u201d turns, an accuracy technique which was taught to me and which I tend to take for granted, is not universally understood by most pilots.\u00a0 As those who\u2019ve flown with me know, I do tend to be a little obsessed with accuracy and the need to practice it as preparation for an engine failure which may never happen to you.\u00a0 What they may not know is the reason for that obsession: \u00a0I suck at it.\u00a0 From the time I started to learn to fly, I\u2019ve always been bad at accuracy.\u00a0 To quote myself, practice is the key to mastering this important area of piloting, so I\u2019ll take my advice and keep working on it.<\/h3>\n

The \u201cS\u201d turn is an invaluable tool you can use to get your unpowered airplane back down to the proper glide path if you find yourself high.<\/h3>\n

Just as most pilots end up high on the glide path because they couldn\u2019t control their urge to turn TOWARD the runway, the \u201cS\u201d turn is a technique that gets us low because, in its purest form, the S turn causes the airplane to continue its descent while getting no closer to the runway, thus adjusting the glide path.<\/h3>\n
\"\"
The Tailwheel Town 140 turns across the approach course.\u00a0 Its new course will take it ACROSS the final approach course so that it will lose altitude without getting any closer to the runway.\u00a0 That’s why the “S” turn works.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/h3>\n

Many of us are very hesitant to ever turn our back on the runway when low.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a bad rule.\u00a0 It\u2019s also one that you can easily follow while executing \u201cS\u201d turns in order to get back down to the proper glide slope while on final.<\/h3>\n

But if you are one of those who is afraid to bank steeply at lower altitudes, you may be doomed (see, Acme strikes again when they teach never to make steep turns close to the ground!)\u00a0Because if you don\u2019t bank steeply when it\u2019s time to reverse course and go back across the extended centerline while \u201cS\u201d turning, you will find yourself closer to the threshold and still high.\u00a0You will have \u201clollygagged\u201d[1]<\/a>your way around the turn and gotten closer to the threshold as a result.<\/h3>\n
\"\"
In the illustration above, the pilot of plane “A” is making steep turns and doesn’t get significantly closer to the runway, although losing altitude and becoming more accurate. The pilot of “Plane B”, however, is making shallow banked turns as a result of his \u201cAcme\u201d training. His resultant \u201cS\u201d turns aren\u2019t that effective.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The illustration shows why it\u2019s important to make that steep turn.\u00a0 To coin one of my favorite phrases, this is another case of \u201cchickens coming home to roost\u201d.\u00a0 If the gang at \u201cAcme\u201d taught you to never make steep turns close to the ground, you won\u2019t be able to properly take advantage of the S turn.\u00a0 To make \u201cS\u201d turns effective, you really need to make steep turns.\u00a0 To make steep turns safely, you must be coordinated and understand the effect of \u201cG\u201d force on stall speed.\u00a0 Look at those chickens flappin\u2019!<\/h3>\n

\"\"We look at the technique of S turning as a tool to correct a high approach.\u00a0 I also teach the circling approach as the way to accurately approach to land in an engine failure situation.\u00a0 But it should be noted that a pilot who is comfortable with steep turns can also use the technique to \u201clurk\u201d and descend on the downwind side of an emergency landing spot.\u00a0 He then turns in on final when his distance and altitude fall into place.<\/h3>\n

The \u201cS\u201d turn is also an extremely valuable tool in the box of every pilot who feels, like I do, that we must have the necessary skill to land out of any approach when a go-around is not an option.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t feel confident with doing \u201cS\u201d turns, then practice them with an intentional high approach once in a while.\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth the time, perhaps you should quit flying.\u00a0A lot of people get a real kick out of playing bridge\u2026<\/h3>\n

Happy Swooping,<\/h3>\n

Brian<\/h3>\n

[1]<\/a>\u201cLollygagging\u201d is the practice of using a very low bank angle during a turn, thus increasing the size of the turn and the amount of altitude lost in that turn.\u00a0 It is used by under-trained pilots in a mis-guided attempt to increase safety.\u00a0Those who observe the shallow banked turn don\u2019t understand the role of \u201cG\u201d force in increasing stall speed.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Acme strikes again when they teach never to make steep turns close to the ground!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}