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FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL 35 indicator. The results will be surprising to many pilots who are supremely confident of their judgment in this regard. An experienced pilot does not consider the steepness of the turn he uses as he automatically banks to the degree necessary to accomplish the desired flight path or changes the direction of flight in the time desired. The student, however, must confine his turns to a degree of bank in which he has had instruction, experience, and practice. There are several factors which must be considered when first starting a student on turns. These are based upon normal reactions and, depending on the individual, affect the novice in various ways. The change in attitude of the aircraft during the turn must be appreciable, but still not so much as to cause any unfavorable reaction. The beginner will instinctively resent any attitude of the ship to which he is not accustomed. He will attempt to keep himself perpendicular to the horizon regardless of the attitude of the ship, and will consequently lean away from the bank. When he is operating the controls this will not only destroy his basis for judgment of the controls to be used in correcting errors, but will also adversely affect the operation of the controls because of his position relative to them. The degree of bank must be such that the control pressure required to accomplish it are positive and appreciable, but not such as to produce too great a change in the attitude of the ship or to cause tension or require the student to brace himself in order to effect them. During the earlier stages of a student's training gentle turns are the most difficult of execution. In fact, in many aircraft, good gently turns are among the most difficult of maneuvers since all the forces tending to make the ship inherently stable must be fought continuously to hold the shallow bank, whereas in the steeper turns these forces are not so predominant. In gentle turns the pressures required on the controls are delicate, much lighter than the student has anticipated, and require a degree of sensitivity that the student cannot be expected to have developed. The entire maneuver requires a high degree of coordination impossible of appreciation by the novice. In the steep turn the changes in the attitude of the airplane are very great, and control pressures are very appreciable, but usually all exist to a degree that will cause nothing but confusion to the student if he is started on this type. Attempts to perfect the steep turn to a high degree should not be made poor to solo, but the student should be sufficiently familiar with them to be free from confusion or apprehension should they become an emergency necessity during the solo flight. Medium turns are therefore the most logical for starting a student on turns. In turns of this type the degree of bank is obvious, but still not steep enough to cause apprehensions. The natural forces of inherent stability are at their minimum and the control pressures, while still slight, are appreciable, tangible, and much more within the limited range of the student's undeveloped muscular sensitivity. Further, there is much less tendency for the airplane to get out of hand and cause discouragement. As soon as the student demonstrates fair ability in these turns he should be impressed with the necessity for maintaining a constant degree of bank. The sooner this can be done without taxing the student's capacity the more easily he will later acquire the ability to make precision turns. One of the most common faults of advanced
