Chapter 3—Basic Flight Maneuvers
Table of Contents
The Four Fundamentals
Effects and Use of the Controls
Feel of the Airplane
Integrated Flight Instruction
Climbs and Climbing Turns
Best Rate of Climb
Best Angle of Climb
Descents and Descending Turns
Partial Power Descent
Descent at Minimum Safe Airspeed
Pitch and Power
In contact (VFR) flying, flying by attitude means visually establishing the airplane’s attitude with reference to the natural horizon. [Figure 3-1] Attitude is the angular difference measured between an airplane’s axis and the line of the Earth’s horizon. Pitch attitude is the angle formed by the longitudinal axis, and bank attitude is the angle formed by the lateral axis. Rotation about the airplane’s vertical axis (yaw) is termed an attitude relative to the airplane’s flightpath, but not relative to the natural horizon.
In attitude flying, airplane control is composed of four components: pitch control, bank control, power control, and trim.
Figure 3-1. Airplane attitude is based on relative positions of the nose and wings on the natural horizon.
The primary rule of attitude flying is: ATTITUDE + POWER = PERFORMANCE