9

Flight maneuvers

The maneuvers the checkride asks you to fly: steep turns, ground reference work, slow flight, stalls and spin awareness, and the takeoffs, landings and forward slip flown to the private pilot standard.

  1. 1Steep turnsForty-five to sixty degrees of bank: the load factor it costs, the overbanking tendency that fights you, and the division of attention the maneuver actually trains.14 min
  2. 2Ground reference maneuversFlying a track over the ground instead of a heading through the air: what the maneuvers are for, how bank and groundspeed interact, and why the rectangular course is the traffic pattern in disguise.15 min
  3. 3Maneuvering during slow flightFlying just above the stall warning: mushy controls, the backside of the power curve, speed instability, and the reason the maneuver is flown without the horn.13 min
  4. 4Normal and crosswind takeoff and climbThe three phases of every takeoff, the before-takeoff check that precedes them, Vx and Vy, the crosswind technique, and the nine risks the ACS attaches to the first minute of flight.18 min
  5. 5Normal and crosswind approach and landingThe base leg, the stabilized final, the round out and touchdown, the crosswind methods, the go-around, and the risks the ACS attaches to the last minute of flight.19 min
  6. 6Short and soft fields: the risks the ACS addsThe four maximum-performance takeoffs and landings meet windshear and distraction at their most vulnerable point: just above the stall, just above the surface, with the pilot's attention wanted somewhere else.13 min
  7. 7The forward slip to a landingFlying sideways on purpose: how a slip trades altitude without airspeed, why it is slipped into the wind, what the airspeed indicator does during it, and the fuel and flap limitations that go with it.13 min
  8. 8Power-off and power-on stallsWhat a stall is, the situations that produce one on the approach and on the departure, the warnings that precede it, the recovery that works for every kind, and the four stalls that surprise people.17 min
  9. 9Spin awarenessWhat a spin is and what it takes to get into one, the four phases, the recovery in six steps, and the situations near the ground where an accidental spin begins.14 min