Flight 5: Steep Turns
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PAO -> PAO
Aircraft: 2000 Cessna Skyhawk SP (Tail #: N610SP)
Flight hours: 1.2
CFI: Garrett Krosse
Cockpit voice recording (via Black Box app):
These recordings are no longer available
Flight and Lesson Summary
I practice steep turns (45 degree bank angle) over the coast and try to get Garrett to let me fly through a cloud (no luck).
Flight Notes
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This is the toughest maneuver that I’ve attempted so far, and the first time I didn’t feel like I had a complete grasp on at the end of the lesson. Fairly frustrating, but I found comfort in reading that this seems to be a tough spot for many student pilots.
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The biggest challenge I had with the maneuver was maintaining the correct bank angle. I was fine with maintaining altitude and airspeed, but I would often not roll into the turn at a steep enough bank angle or find myself too steep halfway into the maneuver.
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This is where one of my favorite learning tools, the Visualized Flight Maneuvers Handbook, will come in handy. I’d highly recommend it to anyone working towards their PPL.