10.4 Steep Turns and Ground-Reference Maneuvers

ACS Area of Operation V is the maneuvering pair: PA.V.A steep turns and PA.V.B ground-reference maneuvers. One happens up high with a load-factor problem. The other happens at traffic-pattern height with a wind-drift problem. Both fail the same way when you stare at one instrument and forget the airplane.

Steep turns — PA.V.A knowledge you must be able to say

PA.V.A.K2 asks for the aerodynamics: coordinated flight, overbanking, maneuvering speed and how weight changes it, load factor and stall speed, and rate and radius of turn. The skill standard for private airplane is a coordinated 360° at about a 45° bank (±5°), entry altitude ±100 feet, airspeed ±10 knots, rollout on the entry heading ±10°, then the other direction if the evaluator asks. Enter at the manufacturer’s recommended speed, or not above VA.

At 45° a level turn is about 1.41g. Stall speed is about 1.19 × the 1g number — roughly a 19 percent increase. That is why a steep turn flown at a lazy 5 knots above the 1g stall is not “a little slow”; it is in the buffet. If the bank sneaks to 60° you have walked into the 2g / 1.41× row from 10.1. Hold bank with opposite aileron (overbanking: the outside wing is faster and makes more lift). Hold altitude with back-pressure (you need more total lift so the vertical component still equals weight). Hold airspeed with power (induced drag rose with CL). Trim is a judgment call; many trainers are easier if you hold the pressure for a maneuver this short.

Rate of turn increases and radius shrinks if you steepen the bank or slow down. Rate decreases and radius grows if you speed up at the same bank. That is why the same 45° at 90 knots is a tighter circle than 45° at 120 knots — and why VA, not “as fast as the green arc,” is the entry cap. A lighter airplane has a lower VA (10.1). Do not fly the gross-weight VA when you are two people and half tanks if the POH gives you a lighter number.

Pick a prominent heading reference on the horizon before you roll. Begin the rollout about half the bank angle before the entry heading (roughly 20°–25° early at 45°). Clear the area. This is a visual maneuver; chasing the attitude indicator is how you lose the horizon and then the altitude.

Common steep-turn failures the knowledge test can describe: no clearing turns, bank walked past 50° by overbanking, altitude dump from forgotten back-pressure, airspeed bleed from forgotten power, skid from neglected rudder, accelerated stall from pulling through a 60° bank at too little speed, and disorientation from staring inside.

Ground reference — why it exists

PA.V.B.K1–K4: the purpose is to control ground track in wind, using the same corrections you will need in the traffic pattern. Wind moves the parcel of air you are flying in. On a straight leg you cancel drift with a crab (heading into the wind, ground track along the fence). In a turn, groundspeed is not constant: downwind you are fast over the ground, so the same bank gives a larger radius and you cover more ground per second. Upwind you are slow, so the same bank is a tight little hook. To hold a constant radius you therefore steepen the bank on the downwind side and shallow it on the upwind side. Highest groundspeed and steepest bank occur downwind; lowest groundspeed and shallowest bank occur upwind. AFH caps these training banks at about 45° so you do not drag 10.1’s 2g stall-speed rise into a 800-foot AGL maneuver.

You use both tools. Crab is the straight-line answer. Bank change is the turning-radius answer. “Always crab, never change bank” draws an egg. “Always change bank, never crab” still drifts on the straightaways.

The rectangular course is the traffic pattern without the runway. Downwind, base, final, crosswind — same crabs, same “turn early when the wind is behind you,” same temptation to skid the base-to-final. That is PA.V.B.K4, and it is why examiners care.

Planning and attention

PA.V.B.S2 starts with the reference. Choose something prominent and unique — an isolated intersection, a distinct tree, a field with four clear sides — not “that bunch of trees” you will lose at 30° of bank. Have an emergency landing area. Stay away from houses, livestock, and wires. Typical altitude is 600 to 1,000 feet AGL, pattern height, ±100 feet and ±10 knots once you are in it.

Then divide attention: outside for the track and for traffic, inside for a glance at altitude and ball. Low-altitude maneuvering is an ACS risk item for a reason — stall/spin and CFIT both live here. A skidding turn around a point at 700 feet AGL is the same geometry as Nadia’s base-to-final in 10.3, with less room for PARE.

Scenario: Omar’s egg-shaped “circle”

Omar picks a silo, enters downwind, and holds a constant 30° bank all the way around. Downwind, high groundspeed carries him wide. Upwind, low groundspeed parks him close. The ground track is an egg, pointed into the wind. The fix is not more crab alone. It is steepen on downwind, shallow on upwind, and a small crab so the wing’s radius stays on the silo. On the next task he flies a rectangular field. From downwind he waits until the fence is at the wingtip to turn — and the wind blows him into the field. He needed a steeper, earlier turn because groundspeed was high. That early, steeper turn is the same idea as turning base a little sooner on a windy day. Steep-turn morning and ground-reference afternoon are the same pilot: one managing n, the other managing wind, both keeping the ball in the middle.