planeandpilotmag.com 59you can’t be creative with precision flight path control.
You might be surprised how this attention to preci-
sion pays off in many phases of flight, often when you
need maximum performance and there’s reduced margin
for error, such as when flying a heavily loaded aircraft
with little remaining power available, as when you’re
near the airplane’s practical service ceiling. Trying to
stay on a target altitude or squeeze the airplane up to
get over a mountain ridge by simply adding more pitch
attitude is a recipe for disaster; increased power, applied
in a timely manner, is the only answer. When faced with
a sagging altitude reading, my first reaction is to apply
a small bit of back pressure on the yoke, perhaps with a
touch of pitch trim, as soon as I notice 25 feet of altitude
loss. That reduces IAS a knot or two, perhaps enough
to ease back up to the target. If there’s no immediate
rise in the altitude readout, I’ll nudge the power up
without delay, not letting the discrepancy increase. The
secret is never to allow 100 feet of altitude loss to occur
without taking action; correct it when it’s small—when
it’s more easily fixed.
STAY ON THE LINE
Precision control of an airplane even takes place on
the ground. The government inspector giving me a
flight check wanted to set the tone for what was to
come. As we taxied out from the parking ramp, he said,
“See that taxiway centerline? Why are you staying 5
feet to one side of it? They put it there for a reason!”
I dutifully toe-tapped the old Commander twin back
into alignment. In reality, he was doing me a favor: He
could see I was new to the game and that I was a bit
cocky, and I needed a little prodding if I was going to
meet his standards.
Is precision flying exhausting, requiring too much
work for regular use? Perhaps, but if you need a break,
use the autopilot. Like it or not, the ability to hold a
precise flight path and airspeed while hand flying is an
acquired skill that, with sufficient practice, can become
a natural reaction. Like any kind of challenging new
skill, learning it will be tiring at first, but remember that
without that practice, you won’t have those precision
flying skills when you need them most. PP