Holding altitude, heading and airspeed

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saintlfd
Posts: 83
Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:55 pm
Location: ARGYLE, TEXAS

Holding altitude, heading and airspeed

Post by saintlfd »

Training for SP in a Sportcruiser. Being inconsistent at holding heading and altitude; and not holding airspeed through maneuvers all that well. Other than that I'm doing great!

My diagnosis: too little use of trim; too much dependence on the instruments instead of the sight picture.
Prescription: trim, trim, trim. Refer more to the horizon and to ground-based landmarks.

Any other suggestions for me?

Thanks for your help.
DAVE
3Dreaming
Posts: 3107
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:13 pm
Location: noble, IL USA

Re: Holding altitude, heading and airspeed

Post by 3Dreaming »

saintlfd wrote:Training for SP in a Sportcruiser. Being inconsistent at holding heading and altitude; and not holding airspeed through maneuvers all that well. Other than that I'm doing great!

My diagnosis: too little use of trim; too much dependence on the instruments instead of the sight picture.
Prescription: trim, trim, trim. Refer more to the horizon and to ground-based landmarks.

Any other suggestions for me?

Thanks for your help.
Practice, practice. practice!! Holding an exact heading, altitude, or airspeed is the hardest thing to do while flying, and no one can do it perfectly.
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FastEddieB
Posts: 2880
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 9:33 pm
Location: Lenoir City, TN/Mineral Bluff, GA

Re: Holding altitude, heading and airspeed

Post by FastEddieB »

One thing to try is to get back to basics.

For heading control, I would often cover up the heading indicator and just have the student concentrate on keeping his wings perfectly level for a minute or so. Usually when I would uncover the hearing indicator, the heading would not have changed. At all.

Similarly with pitch. Establish a power off 60k glide, for example. Note the pitch attitude, usually by where the horizon crosses some physical point in the windscreen. I should be able to cover up the airspeed for an extended time and later show it had not moved at all when uncovered.

Altitude is usually tougher, because updrafts and downdrafts can cause altitude change in spite of a constant pitch. But the idea is the same.

Anyway, see if you can try that with your instructor. It may help break you of the habit of "chasing" the heading, altitude and airspeed, if you think that's what you may be doing.
Fast Eddie B.
Sky Arrow 600 E-LSA • N467SA
CFI, CFII, CFIME
[email protected]
saintlfd
Posts: 83
Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:55 pm
Location: ARGYLE, TEXAS

Re: Holding altitude, heading and airspeed

Post by saintlfd »

Thanks for the guidance, guys!
DAVE
Jack Tyler
Posts: 1380
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2010 5:49 pm
Location: Prescott AZ
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Re: Holding altitude, heading and airspeed

Post by Jack Tyler »

Also, perhaps a bit of perspective might help: Doing those things after a short layoff is also challenging. After many hundreds of hours of experience. Eddie's tips sound like good ones but 3D also speaks truth: practice, practice, practice...
Jack
Flying in/out KBZN, Bozeman MT in a Grumman Tiger
Do you fly for recreational purposes? Please visit http://www.theraf.org
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