Steep Turns

You cannot avoid it. For ASEL or ASES the evaluator must select at least four Tasks from Area IX, including Task A or B, Task C or D, and Tasks E and F (FAA-S-ACS-25, Area IX note). For AMEL or AMES the evaluator must select at least Tasks A and E — so a multiengine initial CFI applicant flies steep turns, period.

What's graded is instruction, not airmanship. The ACS sets three different bars in this Task:

• Knowledge — you "demonstrate instructional knowledge by describing and explaining"
• Risk management — you "explain and teach how to identify and manage risk"
• Skills — you "demonstrate and simultaneously explain how to" fly it (FAA-S-ACS-25, Task IX.A)

Flying a silent, perfect steep turn is a disapproval.

• Clear the area (AI.IX.A.S1)
• Manufacturer's recommended airspeed; if none is published, an airspeed not to exceed maneuvering speed (VA) (AI.IX.A.S2)
• A coordinated 360° turn at approximately 50° of bank (AI.IX.A.S3), then the same in the opposite direction (AI.IX.A.S4)
• Altitude ±100 feet, airspeed ±10 knots, bank ±5°, rollout on the entry heading ±10° (AI.IX.A.S5)
• Analyze and correct common errors (AI.IX.A.S6)

Note the last one is a skill element, not a knowledge element. You have to catch the error in flight and fix it verbally.

Use the explanation phase of the demonstration-performance method, which the AIH says is accomplished before the flight with a discussion of lesson objectives and completion standards plus a thorough preflight briefing (AIH 9-5). Cover, in the order you'll fly it:

• Objective and completion standards — the numbers above, stated up front so the student knows what "done" looks like (AIH 9-5)
• The precise actions the student will perform, and the end result of those actions (AIH 9-5)
• Safety procedures — clearing turns, altitude floor, the recovery, and the exchange of controls (AIH 9-5)
• Then invite questions on any step they don't understand before you leave the phase (AIH 9-5)

Teach it known to unknown: a steep turn is a level turn with more bank, and the AIH names known-to-unknown as the right strategy when a new skill relates to previously learned maneuvers (AIH 9-7).

Narrate power settings, attitudes, and any other pertinent factors, in the same sequence you explained them on the ground — the AIH warns that deviating from that sequence causes confusion and loses the reinforcement (AIH 9-7). A workable narration:

1. "Clearing left, clearing right — nothing above, nothing below."
2. "Entry speed set, reference point picked on the horizon so I can judge the rollout" (AFH 10-2).
3. "Rolling in — before 30° of bank I'm adding back pressure and power" (AFH 10-2).
4. "50° set. Now I'm holding top aileron against the overbanking tendency, and the elevator force is considerable" (AFH 10-2).
5. "I'm looking at the nose and the wings against the horizon, not just the nose" (AFH 10-2).
6. "Rollout starts 25° early, at [heading] — half the bank angle" (AFH 10-3).

And the AIH's rule if it goes wrong: if the demonstration doesn't conform to the explanation, acknowledge and explain the deviation immediately (AIH 9-5).

Three levels, and the examiner will push you through all three:

1. Level one — banking splits total lift into vertical and horizontal components; you increase AOA so the vertical component still equals weight (AFH 10-2).
2. Level two — more AOA means more induced drag, so airspeed decays; that's why you add power as needed to maintain airspeed (AFH 10-2), and why it's added during roll-in, generally prior to 30° of bank (AFH 10-2).
3. Level three — the added AOA is what produces the load factor. For a given bank angle in a level turn the same load factor is always produced, regardless of airspeed or airplane (AFH 10-2): 1.41 G at 45°, 2.0 G at 60° (AFH 10-2). Load factor is the vector addition of gravity and centrifugal force (AFH 10-2).

Say what it is before why. In most maneuvers bank angles are shallow enough that the airplane shows positive or neutral stability about the longitudinal axis; as the bank steepens, the airplane keeps rolling in the direction of bank unless deliberate opposite aileron pressure is held (AFH 10-2).

The why: the outside wing travels a longer arc in the same time, so it flies faster and makes more lift. The teaching point that sticks is a control input, not a fact: "you will hold top aileron the whole way around, and that is normal." Students who don't expect it read the required aileron as a mistake and try to fix the bank with rudder — which is how a coordinated turn becomes a skid.

The AFH lists exactly what a pilot is exposed to the first time (AFH 10-2):

1. Higher G-forces
2. The airplane's inherent overbanking tendency
3. Significant loss of the vertical component of lift at steep bank
4. Substantial pitch control pressures
5. The need for increased power to hold altitude at constant airspeed

Add the one that genuinely disorients people: at steep bank, a significant component of yaw is experienced as motion away from and toward the earth's surface, which the AFH says may seem confusing when first experienced (AFH 10-2). Brief it on the ground and it's interesting; discover it in flight and it's alarming.

Teach the sequence, and say it as a sequence: reduce the bank first with coordinated opposite aileron and rudder, then raise the pitch attitude with back pressure (AFH 10-2). Attempting to recover from an excessively nose-low steep bank using only the elevator steepens the bank and puts unnecessary stress on the airplane (AFH 10-2).

When to take it: the AIH says correction of student errors does not mean taking over the instant a mistake is made — safety permitting, it's frequently better to let the student go part of the way into the mistake and find a way out, because it's difficult to learn a maneuver properly if you seldom get to correct an error (AIH 9-12). "Safety permitting" is doing the work. Set your own numbers before the flight — a bank past 60°, a descent rate you can't verbally arrest, or a student freezing on the controls — and when you hit one, take it.

A positive three-step process (AIH 9-8):

1. Instructor: "You have the flight controls."
2. Student: "I have the flight controls."
3. Instructor: "You have the flight controls."

A visual check is recommended to confirm the other person actually has them (AIH 9-9, Figure 9-8). Brief the procedure during the preflight briefing (AIH 9-8). When taking control, calmly announce "I have the flight controls" (AIH 9-9) — and then actually have them: if you let the student stay on the controls you may not have full and effective control, and anxious students can be incredibly strong and exhibit reactions inappropriate to the situation (AIH 9-9). The student keeps flying until they hear "I have the flight controls" (AIH 9-9, Figure 9-8).

The AFH's list for steep turns (AFH 10-3):

1. Not clearing the area
2. Inadequate pitch control on entry or rollout
3. Gaining or losing altitude
4. Failure to maintain constant bank angle
5. Poor flight control coordination
6. Ineffective use of trim
7. Ineffective use of power
8. Inadequate airspeed control
9. Becoming disoriented
10. Performing by reference to the flight instruments rather than visual references
11. Failure to scan for other traffic during the maneuver
12. Attempting to start recovery prematurely
13. Failure to stop the turn on the designated heading

Altitude deviations are the primary errors exhibited in steep turns (AFH 10-2) — that's where your instruction should aim first.

Diagnose before you prescribe:

• Slip — they know to add back pressure during roll-in and simply didn't get enough in fast enough. Fix with practice; the AIH's first line of defense against error is learning and practicing (AIH 3-33), and slips often "simply reveal the need for more practice" (AIH 3-34).
• Mistake — they believe the elevator raises the nose regardless of bank, so they pull harder and dig in deeper. Practice will not fix this. Go back to the vertical component of lift (AFH 10-2) on the ground.

The AIH's tool for telling them apart is the third step of telling-and-doing: student tells, student does — the thinking is done verbally, which keeps you aware of the student's thought process, so "it is easy to determine whether an error is induced by a misconception or by a simple lack of motor skills" (AIH 9-8).

The AIH addresses this directly: students may perform a maneuver correctly and not fully understand the principles and objectives involved. When you suspect that, require them to vary the performance slightly, combine it with other operations, or apply the same elements to other maneuvers — students who don't understand the principles probably can't do this successfully (AIH 9-12).

Concretely: ask for the turn at a different bank, in the other direction, from a different entry heading, or ask them to roll out on a heading you name mid-turn. If the rollout lead evaporates when you change the bank angle, they memorized "lead by 25" instead of learning "lead by half the bank" (AFH 10-3).

Three steps, plus the transition that makes it a flight technique (AIH 9-7, 9-7):

How much you intervene depends on the student's proficiency, the maneuver, and the stage of training. With potentially hazardous or difficult maneuvers, be alert and ready to take control at any time — especially on a first attempt (AIH 9-8). But if the student is progressing normally, avoid unnecessary interruptions or too much assistance (AIH 9-8).

Stalling speed increases at the square root of the load factor (AFH 10-2). The AFH's worked case: an airplane that stalls at 50 knots in level flight stalls at 60 knots in a 45° level turn and 70 knots at 60° of bank (AFH 10-2). Fifty degrees sits between those.

The consequence students miss: as the bank angle increases in level flight, the margin between stalling speed and maneuvering speed decreases (AFH 10-2). You are squeezing the operating window from both ends at once. The protection is the entry speed — at or below VA or VO, the airplane stalls before exceeding the design load limit (AFH 10-2).

That it's a judgment call, and here is how to make it. The certification testing standards do not specify trim requirements for a steep turn; the decision depends on the airplane's characteristics, the speed of the trim system, and the preference of the instructor and student (AFH 10-2). Trimming nose-up as the bank goes from medium to steep, along with the power increase, removes some or all of the control force needed to hold the higher AOA (AFH 10-2).

The trap you must brief: if trim is used, remove both the trim and the power inputs as the maneuver is completed (AFH 10-2). Otherwise the airplane balloons on rollout and the student busts altitude at the very last second. Ineffective use of trim and ineffective use of power are both listed common errors in their own right (AFH 10-3).

• Maximum turning performance for a given speed is accomplished when the airplane has a high angle of bank (AFH 10-2).
• Each airplane's level turning performance is limited by structural and aerodynamic design as well as available power, and the limiting load factor determines the maximum bank angle that can be maintained in level flight without exceeding structural limits or stalling (AFH 10-2).

The number that ends the discussion: the AFH's wording is that the design of a standard category general aviation airplane accommodates a load factor up to 3.8 — the same figure as the part 23 normal-category limit — and a level turn using 75° of bank exceeds that limit (AFH 10-2). Load factors increase dramatically beyond 60° of bank (AFH 10-2). That is why the standard stops at approximately 50° and why you brief a hard bank ceiling before you let a student fly it.

The ACS wants you to explain and teach these, not just list them (FAA-S-ACS-25, Task IX.A):

• Division of attention (R1) — the student's attention collapses onto the nose. Teach the scan explicitly: a pilot who references the attitude by observing only the nose has difficulty maintaining altitude; one who observes both the nose and the wings relative to the horizon is likely able to maintain altitude within standards (AFH 10-2).
• Collision hazards (R2) — two 90° clearing turns, looking left, right, above, and below (AFH 7-2), then keep scanning; a 360° turn returns you through air you cleared thirty seconds ago, and failure to scan for traffic during the maneuver is a listed error (AFH 10-3).
• Low altitude maneuvering, stall/spin, CFIT (R3) — pick a base altitude that leaves recovery room and state a floor out loud before entry. An uncoordinated pull at 50° of bank is a spin entry, not a botched turn.
• Distraction, task prioritization, disorientation (R4) — disorientation is a listed common error (AFH 10-3). Pick distant references on the horizon before entry so orientation survives the roll-in (AFH 10-2).
• Uncoordinated flight (R5) — brief that left-turning tendencies such as P-factor require effective rudder and aileron coordination even here (AFH 10-2), and that the strange up-and-down yaw sensation is normal (AFH 10-2).

Realistically: roll past 60° while pulling, freeze with the yoke back and the bank increasing, or fight you for the controls during a recovery. The AIH's guidance is unambiguous — students should never be allowed to exceed the flight instructor's limits, and flight instructors should not exceed their own ability to perceive a problem, decide upon a course of action, and physically react within their ability to fly the aircraft (AIH 9-9). If a recovery is necessary, there is absolutely nothing to be gained by having the student on the controls and having to fight for control (AIH 9-9).

So set the numbers in the brief and say them aloud: the bank angle at which you take the controls, the altitude floor, and the words you'll use. Then use those words the first time you need them — calmly, "I have the flight controls" (AIH 9-9).