![\"The](\"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/The-Ball.jpg\")
<\/a>I\u2019m referring to something that most CFI\u2019s teach in flight lesson number one.\u00a0 During that most formative of lessons, the overwhelming majority of flight instructors show their new students the ball of the turn coordinator and say something like, \u201cthat ball indicates whether you are coordinated or not.\u00a0 To coordinate your turn, just step on the ball\u201d.<\/p>\n
Are there any flight instructors out there who don\u2019t say that?<\/p>\n
Every single pilot I have questioned, tells me that his first instructor repeated that advice.<\/p>\n
With that innocuous statement, the flight instructor has just set his student back and doomed him to perhaps a lifetime of faulty flying technique.\u00a0 He has failed to teach the student to use his upper body and butt to sense the skid or slip of faulty coordination.\u00a0 During a turn in VFR conditions, when his attention should be outside the airplane, that student may be looking at a silly instrument and ignoring the cues his body is so desperately sending to his brain.<\/p>\n
Many CFIs will defend this practice by pointing out the old wheeze that you can\u2019t trust your feelings when in instrument conditions.\u00a0 At that time you have to trust your instruments.\u00a0 But I\u2019m not talking about Imc (instrument meteorological conditions) and I\u2019m also not talking about the inner ear.\u00a0 I\u2019m talking about Vmc (visual meteorological conditions) and I\u2019m talking about your butt.<\/p>\n
Now let me defend that little ball that I\u2019ve been maligning:\u00a0 The dependence on and trust in instruments when in \u00a0IMC must be tempered with knowledge and common sense.\u00a0 Not all instruments are created equal.\u00a0 Gyros can fail.\u00a0 Pitot tubes and static ports can freeze up.\u00a0 The ball is pretty bullet proof.<\/p>\n Is the ball always to be believed?\u00a0 Of course it is. So is your butt, if you\u2019ll simply learn to use it. \u00a0That\u2019s why I believe that you can always trust well developed senses when it comes to coordination. Your inner ear may let you down and make you think you’re in some position that you’re not, but your butt will always tell you the truth about coordination. \u00a0Is your butt sliding to the left? \u00a0Then you need left rudder (or less right rudder!). \u00a0Let\u2019s not forget that the inclinometer ball is simply a weighted object, free to move back and forth in space and dampened by fluid.\u00a0 The human body is also a weighted object, also free to move back in space and consisting of about 60 percent water.\u00a0 Hmm, kinda the same thing, isn\u2019t it! \u00a0Sure, in Imc a well trained pilot can certainly include the ball in his scan, but for virtually every turn in Vmc, especially at high angles of attack, the upper body and the butt should not be ignored.\u00a0 To do so can kill you.<\/p>\n I urge my CFI colleagues:\u00a0 Cover the ball and keep it covered through most of primary training.\u00a0 Uncover it only for instrument training.\u00a0 Your student (and perhaps YOU) will become a better stick and rudder pilot because of it.<\/p>\n I shall now climb down from my soap box and head out to the airport for some Happy Swooping!<\/p>\n<\/a>