You’re talking on the radios, navigating unfamiliar terrain, negotiating between airspace shelves, and did I mention you’ve got to fly the airplane too? And COORDINATED at that! This is a question that comes up a lot. A sort of… “How did I know if I’m uncoordinated?” type of question. More than just looking at the ball. New pilots and pilots of old…this video might help you more than you think.
Text Transcript
Hey everyone, Jason Schappert here of MzeroA.com. I’m doing another “ask Jason a question” segment and this question comes from Mike. Mike says, “I am really trying to center the ball on turns, but I can never seem to get it right and it seems when I finally do I have concentrated so much on it, the next thing I am banking 30 degrees or I am never actually where I wanted to go.” “Is there something I am doing wrong?” “I really feel overwhelmed.” “Takeoffs and landings are easier than keeping the plane coordinated.” I will share with you a few tips. It really comes down to feel. Go and practice some steep turns, keep that airplane nice and coordinated. When you are uncoordinated you feel uneasy in your seat.
Have an instructor and take a sectional chart and cover all the instruments. You should be able to do that steep turn by looking outside. You need to feel when that plane is coordinated. Don’t fixate on that ball. If you are a VFR pilot that is something you need to focus on, which is looking outside and crosschecking inside. So go and try that step turn trick I was talking about earlier.
If you have a question, what you simply do is go to MzeroA.com and click on “ask Jason a question”. And everyone else out there remember that a good pilot is always learning. See ya!
