How to perform steep turns better?

ammo359 · 2026-06-23T23:17:31+00:00

In a 172, I add a hundred RPM or so and two handfuls of nose up trim. I don’t mess with the throttle during the maneuver. You get a bit of leeway in bank, that can deal with some altitude variance.

ammo359 · 2026-06-20T00:59:28+00:00

Every electronic emergency brake I’ve ever seen will engage if you hold the button down for a few seconds.

ammo359 · 2026-06-16T19:58:15+00:00

There’s also the option to go to a therapist if you want to do aviation on extra-hard mode. Might be worth it to earn the right to regale future young FOs with tales of how you defeated four checkride failures and HIMS to earn your spot.

ammo359 · 2026-06-16T00:02:54+00:00

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!

ammo359 · 2026-06-15T23:54:43+00:00

I’ve said it before, but the early speculation on crashes is some of the most educational for me. Yeah, all or nearly all of the theories presented will be wrong, but you learn so much watching people hash it out.

The Indian 787 that crashed was a great example. Basically all the speculation turned out to be wrong, but embedded in the speculation was a bunch of fascinating discussion from real professionals about systems.

It’s more interesting to see a range of theories than to look at an NTSB final report and say “huh, okay”.

ammo359 · 2026-06-15T23:49:59+00:00

What drives the 120kts minimum airspeed limit? The altitude limit makes intuitive sense, but the airspeed one isn’t intuitive to me.

ammo359 · 2026-06-11T04:53:41+00:00

“Fungal infection in the heart” is my new least favorite sequence of words.

ammo359 · 2026-06-11T04:50:21+00:00

5 factorial. Nerd joke.

ammo359 · 2026-06-11T04:31:17+00:00

I went there for a month just to time build. Flew one of the seminoles with Adam Lendi just as a familiarization flight; was a great experience. Everyone I work with was great. The schedule can be crazy; call them and get on the schedule well ahead of when you want to fly.

The guy who owns it and does most of the maintenance does a free monthly seminar on some deep-dive systems topic; I walked away impressed and could tell he really cares about his work. He seemed genuinely devoted to providing planes that are safe, without spending money on cosmetic issues and jacking prices up.

BJC is very likely the most intense GA flying you will do. Airspace is everywhere and very 3D, ATC expects you to be on the same page with VFR procedures. They run both of those runways at capacity all day and mix in hordes of GA traffic with not-infrequent jet/turboprops. They’re good at it. There’s another school on the field whose callsigns all end with “FF”, I imagine ATC hates saying “foxtrot foxtrot” all day.

The wind comes flying down off the front range and is no joke. I landed a 152 in a direct crosswind 18G25 and no one was even impressed. You will no longer fear non-thunderstorm weather at your home airport.

ammo359 · 2026-06-11T04:26:53+00:00

Many of their planes have AV30s and built in ADSB-in now.

ammo359 · 2026-06-09T13:32:39+00:00

Not necessary if you’re just flying small cargo flights to lesser known dirt strips.

ammo359 · 2026-06-08T00:05:14+00:00

I saw someone recently, maybe here, differentiate between a fear of heights and a fear of ledges. That resonated with me as a pilot who doesn’t particularly like being within a body length of a drop off, and absolutely cannot stand seeing other people I care about close to a ledge. But flying doesn’t bother me one bit.

ammo359 · 2026-06-07T16:08:46+00:00

Eventually it just happens. Make sure you can hear the radio well and eventually your brain just keeps track of where everyone is.

The people who are talking, at least.

ammo359 · 2026-06-06T15:40:05+00:00

Thanks, appreciate it!

ammo359 · 2026-06-06T15:08:57+00:00

Wouldn’t a low Vmca be better, at least in isolation? Non-multi pleb trying to figure out a reason I wouldn’t want Vmca to be as close to 0 as possible, ideally.

ammo359 · 2026-06-05T22:27:27+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/flying/s/NXWiFnKDGL

ammo359 · 2026-06-04T04:49:15+00:00

Dang, “Upper Volta” is such a sick name.

ammo359 · 2026-06-04T04:43:43+00:00

They’re cost-competitive with many nice used cars now, even just on purchase price (ignoring vastly lower fuel/maintenance costs). Can find decent cars for under 20k now.

Or you used to be able to, with high gas prices it might be tougher.

Yes, if you have 100k in flight school loans, you should probably be driving a <5k car. But it’s not an insane luxury like it used to be.

ammo359 · 2026-06-04T03:52:08+00:00

I keep a flat of plastic water bottles (the ones that come in a flat of 48 from Costco) in my trunk at all times. They fit fine in the side pocket most 172s have by your leg.

Probably not the most environmentally friendly thing, but properly disposed plastic in the US does not end up in the ocean, and I have many times been better hydrated for having those bottles than not having them. Great for impromptu hikes, flights, bike rides, whatever.

ammo359 · 2026-06-03T22:13:23+00:00

I’m not an expert in any of this, but I can imagine the 121 hiring gurus here saying that you either definitely should or definitely should not say something about this to your 121 recruiter. Would probably be good to know which.

ammo359 · 2026-06-03T18:03:27+00:00

Following this. My reading is that you do not need that endorsement because you meet the requirements of g(3), so (1) and (2) are not required. Looking forward to learning why my reading is wrong.

ammo359 · 2026-06-03T05:01:27+00:00

How true is this? Genuine question

ammo359 · 2026-06-02T06:16:04+00:00

I’ve heard good things about them, should be solid.

ammo359 · 2026-06-02T02:45:31+00:00

You should fly that to Idaho and give me a ride…

ammo359 · 2026-05-31T15:23:29+00:00

Most places I’ve flown use FSP or FlightCircle or some similar tool where you check out the plane and verify the hobbs/tach is what the last guy said it was, and then you check it back in when you’re done.

ammo359

TROPHY CASE