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FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL

137

  It is obvious that if normal control is to be maintained, speed cannot be sacrificed. Therefore, in the absence of power, the only thing left is altitude. The loss of altitude necessary to maintain normal gliding speed in a steep turn will be a revelation to many students and one that should be thoroughly learned and remembered. The progressive rate as well as the amount of this loss at the bank increases should be learned, and the student required to demonstrate that he has learned them as well as having the attitude of the ship fixed in his memory. 
  When this has been demonstrated, he is ready to be advanced to tight spirals where the lessons learned will be further fixed in his memory and more particularly his subconscious. 
  The more common errors in both of these combination maneuvers, as well as their components, have been previously discussed and, of course, should still be looked for and corrected. 

TIGHT SPIRALS

  A tight spiral is nothing more than a continuous vertical bank in a glide. This is another maneuver that has very little practical value except as a training maneuver. As such it is excellent in improving all power-off turns, teaching orientation under difficult circumstances, and revealing any possible tendency in the student toward vertigo. Such a tendency can be eliminated by building up an immunity to it through the practice of this maneuver, if the practice feature is not too prolonged at any one time. It has one other excellent feature too often overlooked, that of teaching normal recovery from steep gliding turns and eliminating any tendency in the student to stall or dive out of a steep gliding turn, either of which is a very dangerous error to make close to the ground.
  Plenty of altitude must be obtained before starting this maneuver in order that the spiral may be continued through a long series of turns, since it will be found that the student will probably exhibit no difficulty in the first two or three turns. It is only when it is prolonged that the student is prone to let the ship get away from him, become dizzy, or lose his sense of position. This maneuver should not be continued below a thousand feet. No judgment of drift or altitude is necessary, except to see that the recovery altitude is sufficiently high. The objectives are a constant gliding speed and a constant degree of bank.
  Slipping, skidding, and vertical variations of the nose are, of course, not permissible, just as in any other turning maneuver. 
  A constant speed and a constant bank are very important. Too much speed is just as dangerous as not enough since the tightness of the turn and the position of the controls may eventually result in a spin if the speed is allowed to increase. This is the only maneuver during which a spin may result from the increase of speed. 
  This speed increase is only the apparent cause, however. The real cause is poor coordination of the elevators and the rudder as a