The Steep Spiral - MzeroA Flight Training 

Happy to help! Thanks for watching!

Awesome! Thank you!

You bet! Best of luck, and thanks for watching!

Once you master the steep spiral, it becomes a very smooth maneuver. At first you can start at a higher altitude and then get lower and lower. The Commercial ACS dictates that you complete 3 360 degree spirals before hitting 1,500ft AGL. I tell my students to remember a few things: 1. Once power is pulled, trim to best glide (ie 68kts in C-172 SP) 2. Make turns anywhere from 30 - 60 degrees 3. Let the plane do the work, you as the pilot are maintaining the bank and airspeed. You will see the plane will descend in a nice smooth manor.

Thank you very much! Happy to hear that it's helping!

Great question! If you had an ill passenger, you could use a steep spiral to get down quickly. You'd need to maintain situational awareness and be sure to communicate it.

I would imagine that it could exacerbate the problem if the passenger is already ill. G loading while someone is already throwing up may not be the best combination. I suppose technically it is legal, but I would consider if gentler (albeit slower) maneuvers would be better for the passenger.

@@spelldaddy5386 vomit bag or blanket.

As a 15 year CFII, I've had this happen more than once. DON'T do a steep spiral. Slow the plane down if it's bumpy, and fly with the most gentle maneuvers possible, getting on the ground ASAP, but smoothly. You don't want to make a bad situation worse.

@@curtisb9422 Thanks & roger wilco

I have the same question thx! Great video!

Slips add a lot of drag. So you are giving up airspeed and altitude faster than normal.

Sounds great! Thanks for watching!

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!

Thank you for the kind words, and thanks for watching!

Well duh, no one is doing it in the airlines. It's a pseudo emergency maneuver

@@vihurah9554 Well Duh! We don’t do it in the airlines! I said I’m a retired airline trainer captain and now a civilian instructor in retirement and in my 50 years of flying never taught this maneuver!

@@flyguy1637as I’ve seen other flight school training supplements, steep spirals can be used to lose altitude while flying around a specific point such as an airport during an emergency. The whole purpose of these maneuvers though is to show your proficiency as a commercial pilot so the additional maneuvers along with the private maneuvers with higher tolerances display your skill and knowledge as a pilot who is trying to achieve the commercial certificate. While it may not apply to an ATP pilot, this can be useful for GA. Some maneuvers like Chantelle’s I can see being used outside of just training but some maneuvers like lazy 8’s are solely to display your pilotage.

@@zestipesti4617 Thanks for the info!

Thanks 👍

I start them at 75 and make sure my speed doesn’t exceed above 90-95

Thanks!

Outstanding! Thanks!

Happy to help!

Hi Ben! That is a great question. The 90-100 kts is typically used due to the load factor imposed while doing the steep spiral. Since you can use up to 60 degrees of bank, you can potentially increase stall speed by 1.4x. This new stall speed could be close to or even higher than your best glide speed. One thing you may practice is performing a steep spiral to 1500 feet AGL and then transitioning to a simulated engine failure where you then pitch for best glide and practice an emergency landing scenario. Hope this answers your question! If you need any help please reach out to us at support@mzeroa.com. Fly safe!

@@MzeroAFlightTrainingGreat video and thanks for sharing it! I believe because you are off loading the wing in a descending steep spiral your stall speed increase is not quite the same as holding a 60 degree bank in a level flight steep turn. Best glide speed in a steep spiral would not be an issue in terms of increased stall speed in this case. Just to throw it out there, I personally prefer to use best glide speed in a steep spiral in an engine out scenario to give a bit more time to get prepared for landing.

Don’t confuse the steep spiral and the emergency descent maneuver in which you put full flaps to obtain the greatest descent in the quickest time.

@@airplanegeek893 there has been trigonometry on this. Flaps down is like Vx but down, no flaps is like Vy but down. Flaps give you a steeper angle of descent, But because you're limited to the top of the white arc, without flaps and just pointing the nose down to Vno, you descend faster.

Hello! It really depends on the aircraft your flying. In a Cessna or a piper you can expect it to be around 90-100 KTS

You're welcome!

There might be some Cessnas that have limitations when they had 40 degrees of flap extension. On the 172 P, SP, and S they have 30 degrees of flap extension and there is no limitations on full flaps and slips with them. Check your owner's manual to be sure. I'd love to hear Jason's take it on it though.

@@DUBaviator True, but slipping with flaps doesn't show the student the pure effect of the slip alone, which is a good reason to slip with zero flaps.