Power off 180

[TAILspin38]

Working on commercial maneuvers and could use some pointers! Can anyone give some suggestions of what may have worked for them to dial in consistency? Also steep turns, any things that may make everything flow a littlebetter. Thanks for any insight.

[Boatguy]

You can use the G1000 to "cheat" on the steep turns. Keep the PFD meatball on the horizon and roll out 25˚ before your original heading.

[TAILspin38]

Hey Russ, I have a legacy g1000, so no meat ball. Got the roll out pretty good. Power setting when rolling from left to right seems to fluctuate enough that fairly often bust the + or - airspeed.

[Boatguy]

Ok. Then you have to go old school and find where the horizon intersects the glare shield at 50 degrees. I’m sure someone here has done that.

[Boatguy]

Correction: A legacy G1000 with SVT will have the flight path marker (aka meatball). SVT is the required component, not NXi.

[CFIDave]

For Commercial power off 180 degree spot landings, you have 3 tools in your "toolbox" to use:
- when/where to put in more flaps
- how steeply (longer vs. shorter path) to turn back to the runway
- forward slips

In a DA40 -- a low-drag plane that "really wants to fly" and "doesn't want to come down" -- the forward slip especially is your friend. Plan to come in high, and then on short final use a forward slip (i.e., rudder to the floor one direction, with opposite stick to aim towards the runway), causing the plane to sink without picking up airspeed. Then right before the touchdown point, release the rudder and the plane will immediately straighten and level out in time for the flare. It's a marvelous tool for hitting the touchdown point; the DA40 slips really nicely.

[TAILspin38]

Thanks Dave, I had originally planned on doing something like this but then changed when another pilot who recently did his commercial and told me the slip was frowned upon because it showed you did not have complete control of the airplane. Were you using the slip only after you had deployed landing flaps?

[CFIDave]

Thanks Dave, I had originally planned on doing something like this but then changed when another pilot who recently did his commercial and told me the slip was frowned upon because it showed you did not have complete control of the airplane. Were you using the slip only after you had deployed landing flaps?

Properly performing a forward slip shows mastery of your airplane.
You typically don't have time to deploy flaps before touchdown (right after straightening out from the slip), so you'll usually deploy flaps first.

[midlifeflyer]

Stop looking at instruments and start looking outside and learn the sight pictures you need to get the performance you want. One good session with an instructor should take care of the steep turns. Given how wind can affect the power off 180, you may need more practice but the best hint I have is that most pilots can see the path once on base, so it’s a good place for big corrections.

and as @CFIDave said, slips are your friend.

[TAILspin38]

Hey Mark, seems like the steep turn to the left gives me more trouble. Using 2400rpm/ 18mp bumping to 20mp. Went back to slipping for the 180 like Dave suggested. Seems like I have better consistency with just the take off flaps. Thanks