About Rolling Turns

Elsewhere in this issue the IAC’s Judge Chair, DJ Molny, will be explaining to judges how to score “Rolling Turns”. These figures are just as hard to fly as they are to judge, so I thought it might help pilots out to hear some tips on how to fly them.

These are tips, not a recipe, because of the space I have available.

Preparation

In a rolling turn the elevator and rudder are constantly moving “out of phase” which is a lot like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time.

You probably already figured out that if you can’t do great turns and great rolls, you are going to have a lot of trouble blending these things together. A great roll drill is to fly 3 continuous rolls at about 1/3rd deflection on a straight line, both right and left. Don’t even bother with rolling turns until you can do that and stay on a straight line, with a feeling that you are simply rotating your body on the roll axis about your solar plexus. If you feel unbalanced, discontinuous yaw loading during this exercise, you aren’t ready for a rolling turn. If you have a lot of altitude change, you aren’t ready. If you leave your heading and return to it, you aren’t ready. If you feel the need to rush, you aren’t ready. And if you have to play catch up anywhere during the rolls, you aren’t ready. Like everything else in aerobatics, first perform everything in isolation, then in combination.

When you can do that well, you should also practice super slow rolls. I recommend 12 seconds per roll. Again, make sure you are staying on heading and make sure you aren’t feeling any weird side loads or any of the other things I already mentioned.

Before I fly any rolling turn in competition I first walk through them on the ground and prepare myself for what I will be seeing, feeling and doing in the air. I select landmarks on the horizon that will help me ensure I’m pointed in the right direction every time I am upright and inverted, and I think about what the control inputs will be throughout the turn.

Focus on the Roll Rate

The primary best advice I can give to a pilot struggling with rolling turns is to focus on the roll rate. Since rolling turns require almost constant aileron pressure, this is the easiest control to get right, and since the other controls are dependent entirely on roll orientation, it’s also the most important.

At the beginning of the rolling turn you will be applying rudder in the direction of the turn. Typically, this application of rudder will cause some roll command, so use very subtle pressure on the aileron at the beginning. After the turn initiates, establish the needed aileron pressure and from there make only the very small changes in pressure as needed to keep the roll rate constant.

You will be moving the elevator control up and down smoothly during the rolling turn. Make sure you aren’t adding and removing aileron pressure incidentally with the elevator movement.

Make the Turn Big

After a lot of practice, you can make your rolling turns nice and tight, but start big. The tighter the rolling turn, the faster the controls must move and the more precise they need to be. On the other hand, if you use the entire box for a rolling turn you will find them relatively easy.

Another advantage of making the turn big is that it helps with balancing the elevator and rudder inputs. The elevator is a much more powerful control than the rudder, so a rookie mistake is to set the size of the turn according to the elevator. No! It is the rudder authority that determines the minimum radius of the turn!

Remember, however hard you pull, that’s how hard you are going to have to push! There’s another argument for bigger rolling turns! Set the radius to a size that is comfortable for a negative g turn.

Keep Your Speed Under Control

With a lot of figures, speed is your friend. Not so much with rolling turns. A speed of around 120 kts works great for a nice rolling turn. If you get too slow, it’s easy to snap roll the airplane on accident. If you get too fast, you might find the rudder control becomes heavy. That said, high speed rolling turns can be a lot of fun and it’s good to try new figures at various speeds to see what works for you. But whatever speed you choose, try to keep it constant throughout the figure.

Baby Pull, Monster Push

Everyone I’ve coached through rolling turns has heard me say “Baby pull, Monster PUSH!” on the radio. It’s very typical for pilots to try to rely on “up” elevator to make the turn happen. This is the control we are all most comfortable with, it’s the most comfortable control to manipulate physically, and our bodies respond better to positive g than negative or side g. But for the rolling turn to be round we simply must push as hard as we pull. I find the mantra “Baby pull, monster push” helps.

Watch Your Altitude

Start the rolling turn with the nose high and keep it high throughout the turn. Losing altitude in a rolling turn is a no-no, both from a scoring perspective and from a safety perspective. I once saw a pilot lose 1,000 feet in their first outside roller. They had no idea! So, practice your rolling turns nice and high and watch carefully to make sure you are in good shape before lowering them to box altitudes.

I’m out of space already! Want to talk about rolling turns? Or anything else?

Reach out to me at president@iac.org. See you next issue!