In the previous lesson we looked at steep turns, which increased the rate at which we can change direction substantially. But this is not as hard and tight as we can turn!

A maximum rate turn is, just as it sounds, turning at the maximum rate the aircraft can achieve for any given speed. We will generate as much sideways (turning) force as we can, while maintaining our altitude. To do this we will need the wing to produce as much lift as possible, which occurs right on the edge of the stall! We will pull into the turn until a stall warning becomes apparent, and hold it there (but not beyond).

Why would we need to turn so steeply? There are at least two circumstances:

1. You are in a narrow valley, need to reverse course, and are unable to climb up out of the valley due to cloud, or other obstacle. A medium or even steep turn might not be sufficient to turn you around without impacting the valley wall! I have used a max-rate in this circumstance (unable to continue down the valley due to worsening weather ahead).

1. You suddenly find yourself on a collision course with another aircraft, with only moments to react! You need to change direction NOW, and QUICKLY!

As you would expect, we will use a still greater angle of bank than we did in steep turns, and even more back-pressure on the controls.

The angle of bank used, however, will vary by your airspeed (faster = steeper). This is because the faster you are flying, the greater the margin above the level stall, so the harder you can turn (too fast, however, and the aircraft will need more space and time to make the turn). Conversely, if we slow down to the level-flight stall speed, the maximum angle of bank we can theoretically achieve before we stall is 0deg, since there is no margin at all.

Secondly, recall previous turns. If you found that your attitude was too low, you could pull back on the controls, raising the attitude to something more suitable. In a maximum rate turn, however, we are already bordering the stall, so if we were to pull the nose up further, we would stall, causing a loss of airspeed and altitude, and a LOWER attitude!

The only way to raise the nose, then, is to reduce the angle of bank.

So to summarise:

To maintain the maximum rate of turn we will pull back on the controls in the turn until we experience a stall warning (if you actually start to stall, just ease off slightly to hold it just below the stall).

We will maintain our altitude by setting and holding a suitable attitude, as usual. However, while holding the aircraft constantly on the verge of a stall, we will vary our attitude by varying the angle of bank:

REDUCE the angle of bank to RAISE the attitude.

INCREASE the angle of bank to LOWER the attitude.


Flight Exercise:

Begin at a safe altitude, clear of terrain and cloud, in smooth conditions. A normal cruise speed is fine, but not below 100kts.

For practice, we will make the turn through 360 degrees, back to our original heading.


Entry to turn:

Note your heading, and altitude. We will attempt to return to this exact heading, and maintain this exact altitude.

Roll in to the target angle of bank very quickly. We will do this for two reasons:

1. If using this as a collision avoidance manoeuvre, you need to get turning as tightly and quickly as possible!
2. Slowly easing into the turn will give you a lower rate of turn initially, which will slow your change of direction and widen the radius of the turn.

Use lots of control deflection to roll to the desired angle of bank quickly. The precise angle doesn't matter, you can tune this later, but it should be 60deg or greater.

Don't forget to use some rudder with the aileron to stay in balance, and don't forget to relax the rudder once you stop rolling!

At the same time as you roll into the turn, smoothly set full-throttle. This will help us maintain a safe speed, as we will be generating lots of extra drag along with the extra lift as we haul the aircraft through the turn!

If you roll into the turn quickly enough, you will not need much back-pressure on the controls until the desired bank angle is achieved, but then you will need to start pulling into the turn fairly aggressively.

Pull into the turn harder until you see / hear a stall warning, then hold the aircraft at the warning, but not actually into the stall. If you find the aircraft showing symptoms of the stall (see Basic Stalling), ease off the back-pressure just slightly so that the symptoms go away, but the warnings / incipient symptoms are still present.

Adjust the attitude to maintain your altitude by varying the angle of bank only. Keep a constant back-pressure on the controls.


Maintaining the turn:

Maintain enough back-pressure on the controls to keep the aircraft of the edge of the stall.

Adjust your angle of bank to adjust the attitude, thus maintaining altitude. Remember, REDUCE angle of bank to RAISE the nose, INCREASE the angle of bank to LOWER the nose.

One effect that is distinct but absent from flight simulators is the G-force in a maximum rate turn. You will probably be pulling in excess of 3G in real life, which is not something that most people experience often! Pilots have to concentrate hard to keep the turn precise will all the force on them!


Exiting the turn:

Be aware that you are changing direction very quickly, and you will reach your target direction / heading very quickly as well!

You can ease out of the turn more gently than you entered it. Presumably if you've reached this point, you've avoided crashing into whatever you were avoiding by now! Adjust your roll-rate to roll level on the desired heading. Set engine back to cruise RPM as you roll out, and simultaneously relax the back-pressure on the controls.

A common error exiting the turn is to hold too back back-pressure and cause the aircraft to climb as you roll level; it's a LOT less than what you were using just moment before!

The turn in profile. It's easy to gain altitude at the beginning, and you tend to lose it easily later in the turn as your airspeed washes off, requiring a higher attitude.


The turn, from above. Notice the size of the aircraft relative to the turn radius. This is very tight!
Try at different entry speeds; some will give a wider turn, some tighter.

And that's a max rate turn. Ensure you practice them in both directions.

For added challenge and realism, fly into a narrow valley and try turning around without 'scraping' the sides! (You may need to try a different valley, or fly higher or lower in it if it's too narrow / wide)

Steep & Gliding Turns

Steep Turns:

This is similar to the medium turn, and we can simply build on what we learned in that lesson (you may wish to briefly revise Medium Turns).

For Medium Turns, we used an angle of bank of 30deg. For a Steep Turn, we will use at least 45deg, but less than 60deg. 45deg doesn't look like much more than 30, but the small corrections we needed to make at 30deg quickly increase with the bank angle.

Remember that as we increase the bank angle, the proportion of lift that is actually supporting the weight decreases, and we need to increase the angle of attack (AoA) to compensate. In a medium turn, this was only a small correction. In a steep turn, this correction increases substantially! The technique is still the same, but errors will build far more rapidly if the attitude is not maintained correctly.
Also, the steeper we turn, the greater the G-force the aircraft will experience. In a medium turn, it's barely noticeable (not at all in X-plane, but in real life...). At 45deg angle of bank, G-load increases to 1.4. Passengers will DEFINITELY notice this! It can make people uncomfortable and even scare them (which is why airliners typically don't use an angle of bank greater than 30deg). At 60deg, you hit 2G.

Because we will be holding a higher angle of attack in the turn, we will have more drag. To offset this and maintain our airspeed, we will increase the power slightly in the turn as well.


Flight Exercise:

As in Medium Turns, begin at straight and level.

Choose a visual reference point ahead, and ensure you are flying at a nominated altitude.

Look out in the direction you are about to turn.

Roll smoothly into the turn, using just a small amount of rudder as required to maintain balance.

As you pass 30deg angle of bank, ease back on the controls slightly to maintain the attitude. At the same time, increase the throttle slightly. 100 – 200rpm is about right, but don't worry about being too exact. Concentrate on the bank angle and attitude.

Stop the roll at 45deg, and hold it.

Check that you are using enough back-pressure on the controls to maintain the required attitude! It is probably quite a bit more than you are used to. The attitude will be slightly higher, as well.

While turning, look primarily out the middle of the window to maintain the roll angle and pitch attitude.

Now and then, scan to the instruments, check the altimeter (steady height), artificial horizon (correct roll angle) and balance ball (centred).

Remember to keep your eyes outside 80% - 90% of the time, don't focus on the instruments. If the picture outside is right, the instrument indications will be too.


Approaching you reference point, begin rolling level at 1/3 of the roll angle, as usual. This time it will be 15deg before we get there.

As you roll level, reduce the power again (as before, don't focus on getting it precisely back to where you want it, you can tweak it once straight and level is established).

Don't forget to relax the back-pressure on the controls you've been using, or you'll quickly begin to climb!

That's it!

Profile of steep turn to within 20ft of reference altitude.



It's almost circular!
If you can keep your attitude, angle of bank, and airspeed constant all the way around, you should make a perfect circle.

Steep Gliding Turns:

Why would we want to make a steep turn while gliding? Certainly, it would be an abnormal situation, but it may be necessary to rapidly descend in a narrow space. Picture for instance, the cloud below you starts closing up, and you need to get down below the cloud through a small gap before it closes...

These are very close to the steep turns above, but without power (thus, gliding!). In order to control the airspeed, we adjust the attitude, rather that the throttle:

To increase speed, lower the nose.

To decrease speed, raise the nose.

The RATE at which you descend depends on what speed you glide at; the faster you glide, the faster you must come down!

This can become dangerous if you descend too quickly, as it is effectively an intentional spiral dive. G-force can increase rapidly, as can forces on the aircraft if things get a little out of hand (to say nothing of the rapidly approaching ground!). How to recover from a spiral dive is explained at the end of this lesson.


Flight Exercise:

Begin is a straight glide at 80kts, and at least 3,000ft AGL. We will maintain 80kts for the first practice.

As always, we will be maintaining an attitude in the turn. In a gliding turn this can be a bit more tricky, as the horizon is a lot further up!

Enter the turn as in a steep turn, but instead of adding power, allow the attitude to drop slightly.

While gliding at 80kts, notice the rate of descent on the VVI.

You may turn a 360 as we usually do, or continue to a target altitude.

Exit the turn as a steep turn, but raise the attitude slightly again to maintain glide speed (or return to straight and level).

That's a basic steep gliding turn.

Top view of the gliding turn.
Real weather in UAE today includes a 19kt wind at altitude, resulting in my spiral being spread out by the wind.

Now climb back up to a safe altitude, and try it again. This time, descend at 120kts!

Note the rate of descent. You're heading down-hill a lot faster, now!

So now you can descend rapidly in a small area. Just be careful not to go too fast and steep, or you may find your self in a spiral dive, and break your aircraft!

A few tips on recovering from a spiral dive:

1) Close the throttle (to idle) - This will minimize the airspeed gained in the dive, which can become dangerously high!

2) 'Unload' the aircraft – Reduce the G-force to about 1G by pushing forward slightly on the controls (or relaxing the back pressure already in place). This is easier in real life, as you can actually feel the Gs! In the sim, just ease forward until you are only turning (changing direction) very slowly.

3) Roll wings level.

4) Gently pull out of the dive (not too quickly, or the G-force may damage the aircraft!)

Notice that 'pull up' is LAST. If you do it FIRST you will only turn tighter, steeper, faster, with increasing G-force... until... !!

All 'X-PPL' and 'X-IFR' tutorials are property of X-plane.org. You may link to these pages, but please do not re-distribute in any form.
If you would like to translate any or all of the content into another language, we'd love to hear from you!

3. The Practice

For practice, you can choose a field while the engine is still working, and position yourself ideally to fly the pattern. Once you have that mastered, 'surprise yourself' without preparing ahead, and see how you do!

Take-off and fly somewhere of known elevation (ie near the airfield in a flat area), and climb to 2,500ft AGL.
Identify the wind direction (I suggest nil wind for your first attempts), and select a field.

Fly to the High Key position, maintaining 2,500ft AGL, and arrive at about 80kts, with flaps up.

Simulate engine failure! Close throttle or actually turn it off. Set best glide speed of 75kts.

You are already at the High Key, so all you need to do from here is glide to the Low Key position.

You need to arrive at Low Key AT 1,500ft AGL. If you are looking like you'll get there low, fly as direct as you can (cut the corner). If you are going to be high, widen out, as you would in the engine failure downwind. DON'T circle / orbit!

Arriving at Low Key, you should be at 1,500ft AGL.

Now we KNOW that from this location in the circuit we can glide to the runway (field), even from 500ft lower at circuit height. So fly a nice, rounded curve to a short final position, adjusting your track according to how much altitude you still need to lose. There is a good 'trick' to determine this, though it's a bit harder in the sim:

Objects or points in your view that do not move up or down (or left or right, if it's something in the sky!) in your view -they just get closer- are on a collision course. We want to aim to 'collide' with a point a short distance into the field (25 – 33% length inset. We will use flaps to actually touch-down sooner). Check this from wings-level only; obviously the visual angle to the field will change when you roll the aircraft!

So if the aiming point is moving DOWN in your view (works from views other than straight-ahead as well) you are going too high, you will overshoot. Widen out the turn to compensate. If you are really looking high, lower some flap to steepen your glide (this is not ideal).

If the aiming point is moving UP in your view, you are undershooting, you may not make it! Cut the corner, fly more directly to the aiming point (if the field is nice and wide, we can land diagonally across it if we need to!). But don't turn too steeply or too hard, you will lose a lot of speed and height if you do.

Ideally, you will be able to reach your aiming point at 75kts, right on-target, with the flaps still up. But we would like to land a bit slower than that, and closer to the boundary, especially as this is off-runway!

Once you are sure you will make it to your aiming point, gradually lower the flaps and reduce your speed to land in the normal flared attitude just past the 'fence' (or field boundary). Don't lower the flaps too soon, remember they will decrease your glide range!

Short final. I have gradually lowered flap, and it is fully down. Now just concentrate on flying the landing.


Crossing the 'fence' (field boundary). A nice, safe height above a fence (if there were one) but not too high and fast either.

With some practice, you should be able to consistently achieve your chosen landing point. This is a critical requirement of real-world flight tests in light single-engine aircraft! For practice and tests in real-life, where the engine has not really failed, full-power is applied once the outcome of the approach is determined (ie would you make it?).

If you are needing more practice of a particular part of the pattern, fly just that section. This will probably be from Low-Key to the field.

Once you have mastered from High Key to the field, start practicing from higher altitudes, requiring you to adjust your approach to High Key, as well. Then start trying engine failures without first choosing somewhere to land.

If you can pull that off alright, try adding some wind; 20 – 30kts of wind blowing can make a HUGE difference! As with other glide approaches, if you are gliding into a significant wind, you can increase your glide range by increasing your glide speed by half the wind speed (ie 20kts headwind, glide 10kts faster).

The left-hand pattern is usually best as the pilot is usually sitting on the left side, and thus has the best view of the field etc. in this direction. Right-hand patterns work just as well, though. Try it out! I flew a right-hand pattern in a real life flight test when the engine was simulated failed, and there was no good field to the left. No problem.


In a real situation, there are other considerations as well: Engine Failure Checklist! This includes things such as:

-Trouble Checks; what has caused the engine to fail, and can we fix it? (ie run out of fuel in that tank)

-Mayday Call; if you're making a forced landing somewhere, you'll probably need a ride home!

-Passenger Brief; if you've got someone else on board, they'll need your re-assurance that you're well trained for this, and there is no need to panic (right?!).

-Shutdown Checks; once you're sure it's not fixable, and you're committed to the landing, turn everything off (but not the electrics until you've lowered the flaps!) and un-lock (but not open) the door(s).

Newer light singles are often fitted with Ballistic Recovery Systems (a parachute for the whole aircraft), so if things get really bad, you can float down. But a successful forced landing like in this lesson will result in less or even no damage to the aircraft, whereas using a BRS will result in expensive repairs, even if you land somewhere flat and unobstructed (re-fitting the chute, repairing the landing gear and possibly seats that are designed to absorb the impact on landing).


Single-engine jets and fighters can carry out a similar procedure if the engine fails. The High-Key will probably be more like 10,000ft though! And you'll probably be aiming at a runway (otherwise you'll be leaving courtesy of Martin Baker).

All 'X-PPL' and 'X-IFR' tutorials are property of X-plane.org. You may link to these pages, but please do not re-distribute in any form.
If you would like to translate any or all of the content into another language, we'd love to hear from you!

Set the wind at 15kts from your right. Angle should be between 60 and 90 degrees from runway heading.

Taxiing

Crosswind technique starts on the ground while taxiing, and before take-off. Wind blowing onto the aircraft from the side tend to try to lift up the wing on the windward side, especially in high-wing aircraft like the Cessna 172. We can use the controls to minimize this problem:

If the wind is striking your aircraft from somewhere ahead (see diagram), turn ailerons fully towards the wind. Pull back on the controls to raise the elevator.
Have a look at the controls in this position, and note where the wind is blowing from. The wind striking the aileron on the windward side will try to push the aileron (and therefore the wing) down, countering the lifting tendency. The elevator will also be pushed down.

If the wind is striking your aircraft from somewhere behind (see diagram), turn ailerons to follow the wind after it has passed over you ('with the wind'). Set the elevator in a neutral position.
Why not push forward on the elevator? Doing so would cause the wind to push the tail down, which is good, but the propwash from the propeller, if it overcomes the wind (more likely with higher throttle) it will try to lift the tail UP! A neutral position should be safe either way.
Again, note the position of the controls and the direction the wind is striking them. Again, the windward wing will be pushed down.

Take-off

Begin with the ailerons turned all the way towards where the wind is coming from. Begin normal take-off, gradually returning the ailerons towards neutral, to be almost level when you rotate.

At rotate speed, positively rotate (ie, bring the nose up to the desired climb attitude quickly) to get the aircraft airborne. If you rotate too gradually in a strong crosswind, the aircraft tires may skid sideways as their traction reduces when the wing starts carrying more of the load. Allow the the aircraft to yaw into wind when it lifts off.

Climb profile is the same as for a normal circuit.

Visualize a path, using reference points, in a straight line in-line with the runway. You want to fly over this straight line, but the wind will try to blow you to the side. Adjust the aircraft heading to maintain the straight path all the way upwind.

Cross-wind

On crosswind, the wind should be largely in line with your flight path, so only slight -if any- compensation for wind drift will be required. Your ground speed will be different, however. If the wind is from behind you, as in this example, you will get to desired downwind spacing very quickly! Don't fly too far away. I found with 15kts wind from behind on this leg, that a continuous turn all the way to downwind (ie not flying straight on crosswind at all) positioned me nicely.

Notice also that the circuit position at which you reach 1000ft (circuit height) will change with the crosswind.

Downwind

The only difference in the downwind will be that you need a drift heading to avoid being blown further away from the runway (in this example. Wind from the other direction will try to blow you back over the runway).

The runway is at right angles to our viewpoint, making the aircraft's 'drift heading' quite noticeable.


This is normal, properly balanced flight, affected by the wind.

With the flight path shown, it can be seen that the aircraft appears to be flying slightly sideways.

Base

Like the crosswind leg, the biggest change will be in your groundspeed, and where you reach your target altitude. While it doesn't really matter much where you reach circuit height when climbing, you do need to hit your target 500ft AGL turning final.

To achieve this, adjust your rate of descent in the conventional manner. In this example, the wind is from ahead on base leg, so it will take longer to get to the turn onto final approach. Reduce your rate of descent to avoid being below 500ft prior to the finals turn. (The more difficult case is probably where you have a strong wind from behind you on base, as your time to descend to 500ft can be very short!)

Final Final approach is flown pretty much in the usual way until the flare, with the exception that you will need to adjust your heading to remain on the centre-line. This can feel very strange, especially as you get lower and close to the runway while the nose is pointing off towards the airport terminal!

Landing

We don't want to land going sideways, however. In most cases, your plane can probably handle it, but the stresses on the undercarriage and wear on the tires will not be forgiving in the long term. The stresses on your passengers may make things unpleasant in the short term!

The flare to land in a crosswind is one of the trickiest techniques to get just right, but very rewarding when you do (because you know how difficult it was to get just right!). For a normal landing, we're only really concerned about using the elevator to flare to the correct attitude. In a crosswind landing, we are using all three axes in different directions to achieve the desired smooth arrival!

At the flare, we will transition not only to a nose-up position, but replace our drift heading (to compensate for drift) with a wing-down position instead.

Raise the nose as you usually would, but at the same time, use the rudder to yaw the aircraft nose back so that it is pointing straight down the runway. If we did nothing else, the aircraft would begin to drift sideways before touching down, and our efforts would be for nothing as we landing traveling sideways.

Prevent the aircraft drifting sideways by rolling the aircraft towards the wind. In this example, the wind is from the right, so roll right so that the right wing is down. How much? As much as you need to prevent the aircraft drifting! Too much will cause the aircraft to drift towards the wind, too little and you'll drift with the wind. Keep adjusting until you are safely on the ground! You will be able to estimate this more easily after a few practice landings.

If you've managed to get everything right so far (don't expect to first time!), then you will touch down on one main wheel first! This is perfectly normal for a crosswind landing.

Keep the aileron into wind, as you had it to put the into-wind wing down. As the aircraft settles, the other main, then nose-wheel will touch down.

Now reverse the control procedure you used in take-off: As you slow down, increase the aileron towards the wind, until it is fully deflected, as we want it for taxiing. You've arrived.
Note: X-plane sometimes under-estimates tyre friction, so you may find yourself having to drift sideways down the runway a bit to stay on centre-line.

I told you it was tricky, didn't I?
Here's some shots from the 3D cockpit of the approach and touch-down:

There are lots of examples of the real thing online, good and bad. Here's a compilation of some different ones.

(Some popular videos of crosswind landings are test flights intentionally landing sideways! You'll notice as well that the big jets don't usually lower a wing into wind; they are heavy enough that they won't get blown sideways much before they touch down, and their engines are dangling down there!)

All 'X-PPL' and 'X-IFR' tutorials are property of X-plane.org. You may link to these pages, but please do not re-distribute in any form.
If you would like to translate any or all of the content into another language, we'd love to hear from you!

Turning final, flaps up. Looks good from here...


Crossing the threshold. Height is ok, but we're faster than we should be...


Floating, waiting for speed to wash off...


Still floating...


Finally coming to a stop, after using an embarrassingly long length of runway!

EFATO

In this situation, the engine fails shortly after take-off while you are still heading upwind, or perhaps on cross-wind. The temptation will be to try to turn around back to the runway, but you are still at very low altitude and low speed, so the chances you can make such a tight turn and make it to the runway are slim in most cases.
The proper course of action, in a single-engine aircraft, is to choose the best possible spot to land ahead, within about 30 degrees either side of the nose.

There are obstacles out there (more in real-life than the sim!) but with proper application of skill, you will avoid them, or at least hit them as gently as possible! Here is a good example of a successful EFATO landing in a biplane (Tiger Moth?), despite striking an 'obstacle' on landing.

You can simulate your own engine failure by closing the throttle or mixture. Or for a more realistic and un-commanded failure, go to <Aircraft> <Equipment Failures> then the <Engines> tab. Set <Engine Fail #1> to 'Fail at exact height AGL' and input about 400ft.

Just another routine take-off...


...when the unexpected strikes. Engine failure!

Procedure:

1) Lower the nose to achieve best glide speed.
Before the engine failure, you are nose-high and climbing, probably at a fairly moderate to low speed. If you DON'T lower the nose, you will quickly stall. (There are real-life video examples of this as well. I will leave it to you to look them up if you wish to, the results aren't good).

Pushing the nose down promptly, we avoid stalling and re-gain best glide speed.


From this angle, it's clear there's no way we can make it back to where we just took off.

2) Select a suitable place to land. Flat and without obstacles, within 30deg of the nose (no big turns).

3) Use flaps as required to touch-down at an ideal place (just after a fence, for instance, not right before it!).

4) If time permits, make a mayday call!

5) Land safely, call home base for a ride home.

Nice, smooth landing. Ground is a bit rough, though... but then it's not intended as a runway.


Our intrepid pilot lives to fly another day. And better yet, so does the aircraft!

Obviously, the higher and further around the circuit you are, the more options you have. Just remember to avoid tight turns, and don't try to stretch the glide by raising the nose!

What about a nearby road? In real life, there have been instances of safe landings on roads, but landing on a road has substantial risks above landing in a nice clear field. A well-chosen field will probably have obstacles like fences (though probably small ones that you can roll through without serious damage) and perhaps rough ground. A straight section of road may avoid these, but are likely to hold solid obstacles like power lines and light posts along them, low walls dividing lanes, cars, trucks (can't roll through those!) and perhaps most dangerous of all, electrified wires along and across them. Those wires can tear apart your aircraft, or if not, guide your craft into the solid pole that holds them up! In summary, fields -wherever possible- are the safer option.

Engine Failure Downwind

In this case, you've made it to the downwind position when the fan stops turning. You are probably at a stable and reasonable high speed and 1,000ft above ground, so you have options.

Ideally, you can glide to set yourself in the perfect place to land, in the correct direction for the runway you are already using. From about mid-downwind this is usually possible in the C-172 and other similar types.

If you don't have enough glide range to make it to the runway in use (perhaps a strong crosswind is blowing you away), consider a cross-runway (might be quite close!) or perhaps some of that nicely mown grass near the runways. If you can't reach anything like that, then you're likely stuck landing in a field or something; use the EFATO procedure in that case.

Assuming you are mid - late downwind when the engine stops, turn immediately towards the runway threshold. This at least maintains the maximum number of options and gives you the best chance of making it all the way.
Set best glide speed (75kts), and assess where you are going to end up. if you look like you have plenty of range, you may wish to widen out to set yourself up on short-final. If the runway is quite long, you may be able to shoot to touch-down at the mid point, or another point from which you can safely stop.
If it's looking marginal, aim straight at the nearest part of a runway (consider a cross runway), and make a gentle turn to line up only when you are very close.

If there is a strong wind against you, increase your glide speed by half the wind speed (ie flying into a 20kt wind, add 10kts to glide speed).
Leave flaps up until you are sure that you will make it. You may lower them earlier if you are looking likely to be too high.

Hint: If it looks like you will undershoot by just a short distance, maintain best glide with flaps up until you are forced to level out about 30ft above the ground. As the speed starts to decrease, add in flap. This will cause the aircraft to 'balloon' up slightly with the increase in lift and give you a slight increase in range! This only works if you leave the flaps up until almost the last moment.

Engine failure abeam the runway threshold. Immediately turning towards the runway.


Quickly it can be seen we are going to be high, so turning away a little to widen the approach.


Turning final. We are still high, so full flap is extended.


Caution! Full flaps and no power requires a steep glide angle to maintain a safe speed!


Another happy landing.

Whatever the wind is doing, the circuit pattern itself remains essentially the same. We may need to adjust our flight to compensate for wind effects, however.

We will consider the effect of wind from the side in the next lesson, here we will look at wind blowing directly down the runway towards us. We will not consider wind from behind us, as in that case we should be landing / taking off in the other direction!
(For interest, you may wish to compare approaches and landing distances of 20kt headwind vs 20kt tailwind. Try landing on a short runway with a tail-wind - but never in real life!!)

Set 20kt of wind blowing down the runway towards you in the weather menu.

Check that it's from ahead of you, not behind! There should be a wind-sock near the end of the runway in most cases to assist with this.

Now we will consider the differences on each leg of the standard circuit.

Take-off & Upwind

Having 20kts of wind blowing onto us from ahead is equal to 20kts airspeed (standing still on the runway with brakes applied, you are already moving through the air at 20kts). So the take-off will be shorter! Your airspeeds are still the same, but your ground-speed is LESS.
Your angle of climb will be steeper, but rate of climb remains the same.

Cross-wind

After turning left onto crosswind, the wind is now from your right. If you make no change to your circuit, you will be blown to the left (red arrow in diagram above). To counter this, make your heading 10deg or so to the right (towards the wind).

Downwind

The wind is behind us now, so no worries about drifting right or left. You will notice, however, that you fly the downwind leg faster, with the help of the tailwind!

Base

As on crosswind, the wind will blow you sideways. Again, turn towards the wind enough to keep a straight path to your aiming point.

Final

Hopefully you've corrected for wind drift on base, and have turned final in the usual location. Now with the 20kt headwind, it is going to take much longer than usual to reach the runway.

If you use the same throttle setting as usual, your descent will be steeper (but at the same rate) and you will under-shoot the runway. To counter this, raise the nose a bit, and increase the power a bit, just as if you were dropping low on a normal approach. Fly the normal 3deg profile.

Landing

Landing is like normal, and normal speeds, but because of the wind, your ground-speed is lower, so you will use less runway to stop.
If you were to turn up the wind speed to equal your normal touch-down speed, your landing roll would be zero!

Austin posted an interesting read about various flying myths a number of years ago, one of which deals with wind, airspeed, and ground-speed. You can see it here: MYTH: I MIGHT STALL IF I TURN DOWNWIND!


Short-Field Circuits

We don't necessarily need a short runway to practice short-field circuits, the point is that we can take-off and land in a short distance. These can be fun, and challenging!
The key to good short-field circuits is accuracy and proper technique. Hard braking is simply the last, and one of the least important parts!

I kept the 20kt headwind we were using above. This helps short-field operations considerably!

Take-off

Before beginning the take-off, we need to do some things:

1) In a real aircraft, you would have used performance charts to calculate take-off and landing distance required, and ensured that these distances were available.
2) Ensure we are using the maximum runway length available. Ensure you line up right at the edge!
3) Nominate a decision point. This needs to be an easily identifiable point (a taxiway, marker, change of surface, runway marking, etc) from which we can still safely stop the aircraft on the runway, but far enough from the start point to know whether the aircraft is performing properly and can be reasonably expected to make it in the distance available.

Some aircraft manuals specify a different to normal configuration for a short-field take-off. Some earlier model C-172s recommend flaps zero, but the S model uses the usual configuration, flaps 10.

Now apply maximum brakes (<v>) and apply full-power. Once you have verified the engine is producing full-power, release the brakes.
The remainder of the take-off roll is the same as for a normal take-off, except that as you pass your decision point, you need to decide to go or not to go. In the sim, you are probably go!

Once airborne, instead of accelerating to Vy, we will climb at Vx until we reach a safe height. In some situations, this height may be defined by the height of an obstacle to clear (such as trees near the end of the runway), but in our case, we will nominate 200ft AGL.

So now that we are airborne, accelerate to Vx speed (55kts) then raise the nose to maintain it. Remember from Climbing and Descending: this is a much steeper angle than usual!

Once you pass 200ft, lower the nose slightly to accelerate to Vy (but not so far as to cause you to descend), then continue circuit as normal until we get to finals.

Final

The approach path for a short-field landing is the same as for any landing, still at a 3deg slope down to the runway. Speed and precision are the key.

After turning final at 500ft, configure the aircraft with full flap, and use a lower than usual speed, about 60kts.
As always, have an aiming point, and a nominated touch-down point. In this situation, it is critical to touch-down on the nominated point without any excess speed!

Fly the approach to 200ft AGL at 60kts. This is the continue / Go-around point. If it looks like you will be able to touch-down successfully on the nominated point, continue. If in doubt, go-around and try again!

Landing

As we continue below 200ft, reduce power to begin slowing down. Ideally, we want to touch-down as the stall warning occurs; the actual speed for this will vary with weight, but you should have some idea from the advanced stalling exercise. But be careful no to slow down too quickly and stall before touch-down!

Flying this part of the approach in a real C-172, I would not look at the airspeed indicator. I can see out the window, and by how the aircraft is performing, whether or not I am at a suitable speed (ie, if you are nose-low at the flare, I guarantee you are too fast!). The 'feel' isn't quite the same in the sim, but you have it about right if, as mentioned before, the stall warning horn sounds just before touch-down, and the nose is high (even before the flare).

Once you have touched down, allow the nose-wheel onto the ground (not too hard, please!), select flaps fully up (to put as much weight on the wheels, rather than the wing) and apply hard braking <v>.

If you've done it right, you should stop in a surprisingly short distance. With a bit of head-wind to assist, a few aircraft lengths is quite possible.

Ideally, I would have touched down here.


Actual touch-down point.


Wheels stop! I didn't raise the flaps in this case. In the real world it would make a difference, though!


A different angle, showing the less than perfect landing!


Touchdown.


Full-stop.

If you've succeeded in landing nice and short, you may have enough runway left to make a short-field take off from where you stopped, to have another try!

I have landed a number of real aircraft on the piano keys (the markings at the very ends of the runway) and stopped on the numbers. Can you do that in X-plane?

Now find some short un-paved runways and use those!

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If you would like to translate any or all of the content into another language, we'd love to hear from you!

 

The first turn, upwind to cross-wind, is made at 500ft AGL (above ground level). Climb is continued and aircraft levels off at 1,000ft AGL. Descent begins at the end of the downwind, and turn onto final should roll-out at 500ft AGL.

The circuit combines techniques you have previously learned -climbing, turning, descending, stalling (almost - just before touch-down) but in a short and repeating period.
The part of the lesson involving the flying techniques you have done before should be straight-forward enough, the real opportunity there is being as accurate as you can. The parts that are a bit harder are take-off, final approach stability, and the landing itself.

Take-off.
This seems simple enough, and it's probably one of the easier parts of this lesson. What separates an adequate take-off from a good one:
1) Staying straight as you roll along the runway
2) Knowing your limits -how late can you abort and still stop in the remaining runway?
3) Rotate and lift-off at the right time
4) Remaining in-line with the runway as we climb at the correct speed.

Final Approach.
This is simply a descent down to the runway, but the key to a nice landing is a nice approach:
1) Staying on the centre-line (properly in-line with the runway ahead, not approaching at an angle)
2) Staying on the correct vertical profile (not too high or too low -ideal profile is 3degrees from start of final approach to touch-down point)

3) Staying on correct speeds

Landing.
It's one thing to plonk the aircraft on the runway and apply the brakes, it's another thing to land so smoothly and accurately that your grandmother in the back doesn't even know you've arrived!
1) Correct speed before / at touch-down
2) Accurate touch-down point (not too far down the runway, not too close to the start. The pair of wide white markings (1000ft markings) are a good spot)
3) Smooth 'flare' to appropriate attitude

4) Gentle touch-down and nose-wheel down

To start with, we'll fly circuits without wind or turbulence. Even so, making a good landing can be an 'art' much as a science!

Begin on the runway in the trusty Cessna 172, engine running. Ensure the runway is a reasonable length, and sealed. Most any international or regional airport should do, but avoid small grass strips for now.
Look at the altimeter, and note the altitude shown wile you are on the ground. We want to turn crosswind 500' above ground, and level off 1,000' above ground. Work out now what these altitude will be for you, by adding those values to your altitude on the ground.

Ensure the weather is clear and calm.

TAKE-OFF
Look ahead at the runway centre-line markings into the distance. Ensure flaps are down 10degrees. Smoothly increase to full power.
At this point the aircraft will begin to roll quickly forward. It will also tend to yaw to the left. Use the rudder to stay straight on the centre-line; not too much or you'll find yourself swinging side-to-side then go off the runway! As always, small corrections.

As speed increases past about 40kts, gently ease back on the controls: about 1/4 of the way back. If the aircraft is not rotating and getting airborne when you get to 55kts, ease back a little more until it does.
Once you lift off, adjust the attitude to maintain a very slight climb. We want to climb only gradually so that the aircraft will accelerate to the best rate of climb speed, Vy, 75kts.

UPWIND
When you have achieved 75kts, raise the nose to climb at that speed. Choose a reference point directly ahead, in line with the runway (which is now behind you, of course) to fly towards. Use rudder as required to stay in balance, and maintain wings level. (Hint: If the wings are level and your direction is constant, you are in balance. If the wings are level and your direction is changing slowly, use the rudder to stop the yaw)
Now we are in familiar territory: A straight climb!

Passing 300 feet above ground, raise the flaps, and adjust the attitude to maintain 75kts.

At 500 feet AGL, look left 90 degrees, choose a reference point there, then gently turn towards it.

Remember, in a climbing turn, angle of bank should not exceed 20 degrees, and you may need to lower the nose slightly to maintain your speed.

CROSSWIND
You should now be climbing at 90 degrees to the runway. This is the crosswind leg. As the climb continues up to 1,000ft AGL, you may allow the speed to gradually increase up to 90kts.

Next we need to level at 1,000ft AGL, and turn downwind (another turn 90deg to the left). These sometimes occur simultaneously. In preparing this lesson, I found that once I had leveled and trimmed, it was time to turn.

DOWNWIND
Three things to consider about flying the aircraft downwind:
1) Height. You need to maintain 1,000ft AGL
2) Heading. You should be flying parallel to the runway. You can double-check this by looking at the direction indicator; if you are on the correct heading downwind, the runway number you took off on should be at the bottom of the instrument.
3) Spacing. You should be a bit less than a mile from the runway. Just look to the side and visually estimate.

Hopefully we are now flying stably and trimmed downwind. Perfect time for before-landing checks. Exactly what this includes depends on who you ask, but will be something like this:
Brakes checked (in a real aircraft, press on the toe brakes to ensure there is brake pressure) and off.
Undercarriage down. In our Cessna 172, it is always down, but it is a good habit to begin checking this now.
Mixture rich. For circuits it is unlikely you have adjusted this, but returning from a long flight it will probably need to be set full-rich.
Fuel quantity sufficient to continue with more circuits, and pressure ok.
Oil temperature and pressure ok.
Radio the tower for landing or touch-and-go clearance. Not really needed unless you are flying online, or for real!

Check again Height, Heading, Spacing, and adjust if necessary.
We will continue downwind until we are approximately 45deg from our intended touch-down point on the runway.

BASE
Once at 45deg to our planned touch-down point, reduce power to 1,500rpm (you will need to adjust this as your speed changes), made a medium turn left through 90 degrees (look out first and choose a reference point), and set flap to 10deg. These three actions are best completed simultaneously.
As you turn, maintain the nose attitude. With the lower power, and decreasing speed, it will try to drop slowly. Hold it up until you reach 75kts, then lower the nose slightly to maintain that speed.
We want to be on final at 500ft AGL. To enable us to do this accurately, we will need to control our rate of descent on base so that we reach 500ft once we are in-line with the runway.

We are starting at 1,000ft AGL, so we have to lose 500ft on base. Look ahead at how far you have to go before you are in-line with the runway. Does it look like you will be high or low?
If you are looking high, reduce RPM slightly -perhaps 150RPM-, and adjust the nose attitude to maintain 75kts. This will increase the rate of descent.
If you are looking low, increase RPM slightly, and raise the nose to maintain 75kts. This will decrease the rate of descent.
With practice, estimating and adjusting the descent will become easier.

Set flaps to 20deg mid to late base. If you are tending high, you can set 20 flap sooner. If you're really high, consider setting 30deg before turning final.

We want to begin turning onto final approach BEFORE we are in-line with the runway, otherwise we will over-shoot. Plan to begin turning so that a gentle 20deg angle-of-bank turn will bring you into line perfectly. This will probably occur approximately 15deg from the centre-line.

As you turn, look ahead to the runway and judge whether you will over-shoot, under-shoot or be on-target. Adjust the angle-of-bank as required to roll-out in-line with the runway.
Caution: Avoid using more than 45deg angle of bank, as you will risk stalling. In this case, you've started the turn far too late, and you are better off going-around again.

You'll probably notice that you can't see much on the left 45deg view angle in the cockpit. The real plane is like this too, but in the real plane you can lean forward to look around the pillar blocking your view!

FINAL
Hopefully you are now established on final approach, in-line with the runway. Once this is the case, set 30deg flaps. Adjust the throttle setting and attitude as required to maintain the approach profile.

There are three things to consider to ensure a stable final approach:
1) Centre-line. Are you in-line with the runway?
2) Vertical profile. Ideal approaches are flown at a 3deg angle down. We judge this by looking at the shape of the runway from our perspective (runway aspect).
3) Speed. We want to fly the initial final approach at 65kts. If we are too fast, we will probably over-shoot the runway, and certainly our aiming point. If too slow, we risk stalling at low-level. Allow the speed to reduce to about 60kts as you approach 200ft AGL.

If you are not flying straight in-line with the runway centre-line, or are off to the side, make a small turn to bring you in-line before you reach the runway. Intercept the 'extended centre-line' as soon as possible, but without making large turns.

If you are too high, lower the nose and reduce RPM to fly smoothly down to the correct profile, then raise the nose and increase power a bit once on-profile again.
If you are low, raise the nose and increase power to fly up to the correct profile, then lower the nose and reduce power slightly once on-profile in order to stay there.

You know you are maintaining a constant profile (angle down to the runway) if the aiming point on the runway is staying in exactly the same place in your view -it should not move up or down, just get bigger.

If you are too fast, reduce power. If too slow, increase power. You will probably have to adjust your attitude as the speed changes to maintain the correct profile.

Decision height is 200ft AGL. At this stage, you should be stable in all three ways to continue. If any one of the three is not right, go-around and try again.

Below this height (200ft AGL) allow airspeed to decrease gradually, so that you cross the threshold (fly over the beginning of the runway) at no more than 60kts.

LANDING
As you fly over the beginning of the runway, smoothly reduce RPM to idle. As you do this, you will need to ease back on the controls to prevent the nose dropping down. This should occur perhaps 50ft above the runway.
Keep flying down to the runway at the same angle for now, allowing your airspeed to reduce.

Now the tricky bit: raise the nose to hold the aircraft in the air just barely above the runway. This is known as the 'flare'. If your speed is right, this should put the horizon approximately in line with the top of the instrument panel (this will depend somewhat on your viewing angle in Rendering Options).

Now hold this attitude. As the aircraft begins to settle, raise the nose a bit more, until the horizon is below the top of the instrument panel.
If you are just barely above the runway as planned, the aircraft will continue to slow, and will smoothly touch-down on the runway.

DON'T relax on the controls yet!

Maintain the back-pressure on the controls that you had at touch-down. Keep the aircraft traveling straight down the runway using rudder.
As the aircraft decelerates on the runway, the nose will gently ease down until the nose-wheel is on the ground.

With the nose-wheel down, apply the brakes to stop.

OR

Once the nose-wheel is down, select flaps to 10deg and smoothly add full power to take-off again (for a touch-and-go).

Congratulations, you have completed your first circuit! Don't worry if you've found it difficult to do so much in a short period of time, this is normal. And NO-ONE has even flown a perfect circuit!

If for whatever reason you need to abort the approach and landing (even after touch-down if required!):
1) Smoothly increase to full power.
2) Raise the nose to climb (but not so far that you star to slow down). If flaps are down for landing, make this a very slight climb until you accelerate to Vy (75kts). Accelerate and climb at Vy back to normal circuit height (1000ft AGL).
3) Raise flaps one stage at a time, if they are down.
4) Proceed as after take-off, re-joining the normal circuit pattern (you may need to fly straight and level over the runway to your normal cross-wind turn point if you aborted along final somewhere).

In real-life, you would make a radio call to inform other aircraft / the control tower AFTER you complete the above.

That's 'all' there is to it!

Next lesson will look at circuit variations (without flaps, for example) and circuit emergencies (engine failure!)

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Consider the effect of power only (flaps up, power at 1600rpm) compared to the basic stall:

D - Deceleration will take longer because we are still producing thrust.
A - The prop is blowing air over the wing, effectively lowering the angle of attack of the wing in the propwash, so the deck angle at the stall will be greater!
S - Stall speed will be lower, as with the nose high, the thrust is actually helping to pull the aircraft up, so the wing doesn't have to do all the work.
H - Height loss will be less, since the engine is already producing some thrust, and will reach full power more quickly.

Now if we combine these two, approaching a stall with flap down and power on:

D - Deceleration effects of power and flap cancel out, so it is similar to the basic stall.
A - Attitude effects also cancel out, again similar to the basic stall.
S - Stall speed effects combine, so the stall speed will be the lowest.
H - Height loss is similar to the basic stall, as the power and flap effects cancel each other out.

Let's try these out in the air.

Begin at 5,000' above ground, and the usual 100kts.

If you haven't done so very recently, practice a basic stall, as in the previous lesson. This will make a good reference point to look back to.

Well will first practice a stall with flaps only. Reduce power to idle, and once in the white arc, lower full-flaps (30deg). Maintain altitude, remembering that as the flaps lower, the aircraft will want to balloon upwards. Also, as the flaps come down, be aware that deceleration will occur very quickly.

As in the basic stall, recover as soon as the nose begins to drop. As soon as you have completed the initial recovery actions (nose down, power up), select flap 20. This will reduce drag and allow the aircraft to accelerate easier.
Once the aircraft is unstalled, select flap 10. Once you are recovered to level flight, fully retract flaps (0deg).

Caution: Do not hold the aircraft into the stall, or pull into the stall hard with power and / or flaps applied, as the aircraft will likely wing-drop. If a wing-drop does occur, recover as normal, rolling level once unstalled.

Wing-drop as seen inside and out. Treat like any other stall.

Aircraft climbing at Vy after wing-drop stall recovery. Note that height loss can be substantial.

Compare the effects of this stall compared with the basic stall (D.A.S.H.).

Now try a stall with power on, but flaps up. 1600rpm should be ok if you maintain your height accurately, but if the aircraft isn't slowing down enough, reduce the rpm by 100rpm or so.
Recover using SSR.
Compare (D.A.S.H.)

Now we'll combine power on and flaps down. It is best to recover this one once all the incipient warning symptoms are present, rather than the stall itself, as wing-drop is far more likely. But hey, it's just a simulation, do what you like!

Reduce power to 1600rpm. Once in the white arc, lower full-flaps. When all warning symptoms are present, or at the stall itself, recover (SSR). Retract flaps as in the flaps only recovery (one step at a time).

Compare (D.A.S.H.)

This last configuration -flaps down and power on- is like the aircraft will be configured on final approach to land; it is often referred to as a 'stall in the approach configuration' for this reason. Obviously a stall at that stage of flight needs to be dealt with quickly and correctly!

Once you are consistent with the approach configuration stall recovery, move on to the next lesson. Circuits, take-offs and landings at last!

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Why does this occur? At small angles of attack, air flows over the wing smoothly, and 'sticks' to the surface of the wing. At the stall, however, the change in direction and pressure over the wing becomes too great, and the air 'breaks away' and becomes turbulent.

For level flight, the lift generated by the wing must be equal to the aircraft weight. The aircraft will maintain it's height. A simplified lift equation is: Angle of Attack times Indicated AirSpeed equals lift (AoA x IAS = Lift).
If we slow down, lift will decrease. If we still want to maintain our altitude, then we must increase the angle of attack in order to maintain the same amount of lift at the lower speed. If we slow down still further, we must increase the AoA further. If we continue to do this, eventually we will exceed the critical angle of the wing. Lift will reduce and drag will increase; the practical result is that our aircraft's nose will pitch down (in all but the most radical designs) and we will begin to lose altitude. This is the stall.

Before we learn what to do about a stall, let's learn to recognize it. The best way to deal with a stall is to avoid it in the first place, so first we will look at signs of an approaching stall (incipient stall):

Low and decreasing airspeed*
High nose attitude*
Low engine power*
Low noise (engine and airflow)*
Reduced control responsiveness (due low speed - see Lesson #1)*
Light control buffeting (probably not in the sim, but in real life this can be key)
Stall warning light / horn (if fitted)


*Assuming a stall approaching in decelerating level flight

If you detect some or all of these symptoms, be aware you may be about to stall!

At the stall itself:

Heavy control buffet (in real life)
Nose pitches down
Aircraft begins to lose altitude
A wing may drop (sudden un-commanded roll). This is almost certain with the default -172, but should be minimal using my tuned version (linked below) unless you are pulling too hard into the stall.


Remember, the stall is caused by the angle of attack being too great. To unstall the aircraft, YOU MUST REDUCE THE ANGLE OF ATTACK.

The Standard Stall Recovery (SSR) is as follows:

1) Simultaneously lower the nose and set full power (smoothly, don't slam the throttle). This will unstall the aircraft and quickly begin accelerating the aircraft to a safe speed (about 65kts).
2) Roll quickly to wings level, if you are not level already.
3) Raise the nose to the horizon (roughly level attitude).
4) Accelerate to Vy speed and climb (if a climb is desired - usually yes, as you have lost altitude in the stall). For the purpose of this lesson, we will simply return to level flight, so that we can then note the height loss in the recovery.

Before we begin the practice exercise, ensure that we have clear airspace: We have at least 3,000ft of height above ground, and we aren't going to fly into anything - hills, other aircraft, cloud. (In real-life flying, you should make a 90 or 180 degree turn to ensure the airspace around you is clear)

The default C-172 in X-plane wing-drop stalls rather violently and immediately. A real one doesn't do this.
Get the tuned C-172 here, which behaves closer to the real thing, and more appropriately for learning stalling.

First, we'll try a 'stick recovery'. This is the SSR but without adding power. The point is to show that the power is not needed to break the stall, and will provide a reference to see how much less height we'll lose when we do use power later on.

Set yourself up flying straight and level, at least 3,000ft above the ground, maintaining a nominated altitude (so that we can see later how much altitude we lost in recovery) and a fixed reference point ahead.

Smoothly reduce the engine power to idle. The aircraft will begin to slow down; as it does so, raise the nose to maintain the altitude. Use a bit of trim to help hold the nose up, but only until you pass about 80kts. After that, just use the stick. The first few times you may struggle to maintain the height, but after a few runs you'll be able to estimate how much pitch-up you need.

As you decelerate, look for / try out the symptoms of the approaching stall. You might not see them all the first time, keep an eye out for them as you practice stalls.

You may need a little rudder to stay straight. It can be hard to tell if you are straight with the nose up obscuring the ground. Use a cloud, or you may be able to see some features down the side of the panel.

As soon as you notice symptoms of the stall approaching, stop using the ailerons. If you do, you may stall one wing before the other, resulting in a wing-drop. We'll discuss this more in a later lesson.

As you reach the stall speed (this might be off the clock on the ASI!), remember that the nose will pitch down, no matter what you do. As the stall occurs, you should be quite nose-up, using quite a bit of back-stick to hold it there. We know that in order to un-stall the aircraft, we must reduce the angle of attack. To do this, just relax the back-pressure on the stick you are already holding. There should be no need to push it forward any further than that.

Aircraft slowing to the stall, maintaining altitude.


Aircraft stalled (pulling nose up but aircraft descending)

With the back-pressure removed, the aircraft will naturally nose-down and un-stall. This is the 'stick recovery' because we used the stick only (or wheel, or mouse!) to un-stall the aircraft.

Once un-stalled, the aircraft will pick up speed again as you descend. Roll wings-level and add power and return to straight and level at whatever altitude you are now at.

Notice that you will have lost probably in excess of 300ft.

Imagine if you had stalled on short-final to land; you might not have 300ft to lose! To minimize the height loss in the recovery, we need to increase the acceleration in the recovery, so that we can level or climb sooner at a safe speed.

Now to apply the proper SSR.

Approach the stall again, as we did before. Again, as before, when the stall occurs, allow the nose to drop, but at the same time, smoothly increase the throttle to full power. Now the aircraft will recover to a safe speed (65kts) much sooner, and you will be able to level the wings and return to level much sooner. The result: Less height lost!

Practice a few stalls. With practice using the correct technique, you should encounter minimum height loss.
Try some recoveries from just before the stall occurs. Done gently and correctly, you might not lose any height at all! This is the ideal stall recovery, occurring before the stall actually happens.

Note: If are having difficulty with the aircraft rolling sharply at the stall, try using a bit less control to hold the nose up, move the controls more gently, and recover a little sooner.

Next, we'll try some stalls with flaps down and power applied. Once we're competent with that, we'll finally learn the art of take-off and landing...

Remember: To unstall the aircraft, you MUST REDUCE THE ANGLE OF ATTACK

All 'X-PPL' and 'X-IFR' tutorials are property of X-plane.org. You may link to these pages, but please do not re-distribute in any form.

If you would like to translate any or all of the content into another language, we'd love to hear from you!

 

Now lookout where you are going to turn. We'll begin to the left.
Roll smoothly to the left, using a little rudder to balance while rolling. Stop the roll at 30deg, and centralize the rudder. At this point, the nose will gradually start to pitch down if we do nothing about it. While maintaining the roll angle (this may require a small amount of aileron to do so), ease back on the controls just enough to maintain the attitude.

We're now turning to the left. While turning, look primarily out the middle of the window to maintain the roll angle and pitch attitude. Now and then, scan to the instruments, check the altimeter (steady height), artificial horizon (correct roll angle) and balance ball (centred). Remember to keep your eyes outside 80% - 90% of the time, don't focus on the instruments. If the picture outside is right, the instrument indications will be too.

If you notice you are losing height, raise the attitude a bit. If gaining height, lower it a bit. Ensure you maintain a constant bank angle as well, because if this changes, the required attitude will change as well.
Take your attitude cue from the middle of the view, this will become important when we turn the other way.

Approaching our original reference point, we will anticipate it and begin rolling level 10deg early. A good rule of thumb is to start leveling when the number of degrees from your desired heading is equal to one-third of your bank angle (30deg angle of bank = 10deg anticipation). Adjust your roll-rate to be level at your desired heading, in this case, aiming straight for the reference point we chose before we began.

Ensure that you have relaxed the back-pressure on the controls that you needed to maintain the attitude, once you are straight again. Assuming you were properly trimmed level before we began, and the turn wasn't too messy, the aircraft should return to it's nicely balanced straight and level state.

A turn to the right is the same, except in the other direction. If you have used the middle of the view for attitude reference, there should be no difference there. A point of note for Real Life flying is that for this same principle to apply, you must reference the horizon to a point on the nose or instrument panel directly in front of you, not the middle of the nose / instrument panel (unless flying an aircraft with pilot's seat on the center line).

We will investigate steep turns (greater than 30deg) in a later lesson. Turns using less than 30deg angle of bank work perfectly well using this procedure.

A challenge before you move on: Try combining climbs / descents and medium turns! You will be doing these constantly when we get to flying the aerodrome circuit. It's simply a combination of the two techniques at the same time, with just one caution: Climbing and turning demands more from the aircraft aerodynamically, so be careful you don't fly too slow, or turn too steep, or you may stall the wing!
Try starting from straight climbs or descents initially, then initiating the turn. Then try initiating a climb or descent while already turning. How precise can you be?!

From this point on, your instructor doesn't get to fly much anymore; you can do all the general handling yourself!

Before we start trying to take-off and land, we will learn one more thing: Stalling. Knowing to recognize one and how to react to one will keep you alive when flying slowly goes wrong!

All 'X-PPL' and 'X-IFR' tutorials are property of X-plane.org. You may link to these pages, but please do not re-distribute in any form.

If you would like to translate any or all of the content into another language, we'd love to hear from you!

Somewhere in the middle there is a speed at which a reasonably low amount of power is required just to maintain the speed, and the engine is delivering nearly the maximum it can, so we have the most excess power available to climb. This will give us our Best Rate of Climb speed, known as 'Vy'. We will gain the maximum amount of height possible in a given period of time. For a real Cessna 172S, this is approximately 75kts. Typically we climb at Vy after take-off, so that we can get to a safe altitude as soon as possible.

If we climb the aircraft at a higher speed, for instance 90kts, we will cover more ground horizontally in that same period of time, but our gain in height will be less. This is known as a cruise (or 'normal') climb, and can be any speed higher than Vy. This is fine if we are at a safe altitude and are trying to get to our destination quickly.

Finally we will consider 'Vx'. This is a climb at a lower speed than Vy; for the Cessna 172S this is approx. 55kts. That's a lot slower than Vy, so for that same period of time, we will cover only a short distance horizontally. Because we are not at the ideal speed that provides the maximum excess power available (Vy), our rate of climb will be less than Vy as well. So how is this useful? Vx gives us the best angle of climb. We don't go up as quickly, and we don't cover much ground horizontally, but we go upwards most steeply. This is useful if you happen to have tall trees at the end of the runway!

For descents, the power available is no longer a problem. Like a car on a hill, you can roll down with little or no effort at all!
To control the rate of descent, we can select an airspeed to descend at, then use a power setting less than that required to maintain that speed in straight and level. In order to maintain that speed, we lower the nose to go down-hill at an angle steep enough to hold the speed. To descend more quickly, use less power, and lower the nose further to maintain the speed.
Be careful, modern aircraft are quite 'slippery' and if you descend too steeply, you may exceed the aircraft's redline speed!

Begin in the air at 3,000', 100kts and straight and level.

Three things need to change whenever we begin or end a climb or descent: Power, Attitude, and Trim ('PAT').

To begin a climb at Vy (same procedure is used for any climb, we will use Vy for this example), assuming there are no aircraft ahead and above us that we will run into, choose a reference point ahead that we will be flying straight towards, then 'PAT'; select Full Power, raise the nose Attitude to the appropriate level (see screenshot) and use the Trim to hold the attitude.
Initially speed will gradually decrease from 100kts, hopefully settling to approximately 75kts.

In some aircraft, with full power applied and the lower speed in the climb, the aircraft will begin to yaw to the left. Counter this with rudder. In our X-plane C-172, though, the effect is negligible.

If the speed settles too high, raise the attitude a bit and hold and trim it. Adjust again if required to get it just right. If the speed goes too low, lower the attitude to stabilize the speed at 75kts.

Just like for straight and level, make small changes to avoid over-shooting.

Now we are established in the climb. Hopefully we have a target altitude to level at; in this example we will use 4,500ft. We will need to begin to level off just a bit before we reach that altitude. Larger and faster aircraft will need to begin levelling sooner than our Cessna; 10% of the rate of climb -read from the VSI- works well in most cases. In the lightweight Cessna, however, a little later will probably work better as this little aircraft has very little inertia! We will use 50'.

Levelling off from a climb 'APT'; slowly begin to lower the Attitude when we are 50' from the target altitude. At the moment we are only doing 75kts, so we will need a slow-cruise (higher) attitude initially, slowly lowering the attitude until we have accelerated to 100kts (as in Straight and Level Advanced). As we reach 100kts, reduce the Power to normal cruise setting. Now Trim for straight and level. You're done!

A descent is similar. Again, choose a feature ahead of the aircraft to track straight towards. 'PAT' procedure is used again; reduce power to 1700RPM ('P'), lower the nose slightly, just enough to maintain the present speed ('A'), then trim to hold the attitude ('T'). You are now established in a straight descent.

As with a climb, adjust the pitch attitude to get the speed just right. If you are going too fast, raise the nose a bit. If too slow, lower the nose. Hopefully now we have achieved a nice rate of descent, perhaps around 500ft per minute.

If we want to descend more quickly, but maintain the speed, reduce the RPM, then re-adjust the attitude to maintain the speed (pitch down).

If you want to descend more slowly, increase the RPM, then re-adjust the attitude.

To level from a descent, use 'PAT'. Anticipating by about 10% of the rate of descent (as seen on the VSI), increase power to normal cruise, raise the attitude to the normal cruise attitude, then trim to hold it. Done! Unlike the climb, we don't need to worry about a slow-cruise attitude at first, as we have -hopefully!- maintained the cruise speed throughout the descent.


Some concluding thoughts:
Maintaining a climb or descent is similar to maintaining straight and level, except that you happen to be going up or down. Also the altitude will be constantly changing, and we adjust the pitch to control the airspeed.

Try some climbs at different rates, for instance Vx, 55kts. Note the difference in attitude (it will be quite high!). The aircraft will probably be less stable at this speed as well, so you will have to work harder to keep it just where you want it.

Make some descents at different speeds and power settings, noticing the effect of the rate of descent. If you use low power, but low speed, you might find that you are not descending at all!

Low RPM, but low speed. Moderately low rate of descent.


Moderate RPM, high speed. Higher rate of descent.

1. Weight
2. Lift – In level flight this will equal weight
3. Drag
4. Thrust -At a constant speed, this will equal drag
   

Notice in the illustration, that these forces do not all line up with each other. Therefore, they create rotational moments (couples).

Lift and weight create a nose-down couple.


Thrust and drag create a nose-up couple.


Therefore they cancel each other out, to some degree. Any residual rotational moments are compensated for by the horizontal stabilizer; the pilot will use the trim to set the force produced by the stabilizer to maintain straight and level.


Now as long as nothing changes, and ignoring things like wind or turbulence, the aircraft will stay balanced all day long. In reality, however, we will from time to time change our thrust, or speed, or lift, and weight will change as we burn fuel (or drop payload) etc. Whenever any of these changes, the balance of the aircraft will be upset, and it will have to be re-trimmed (re-balanced). In the below example, thrust is increased, which will cause a nose-up moment. This has been compensated for by reduced down-force by the stabilizer.



Again, we will begin by starting in the air. Set 1,900RPM, and then position the aircraft approximately 3,000ft up and 100kts airspeed, as in the previous lesson. Once you are there, quickly press 'p' to pause the simulation.


At this speed and power setting, the aircraft is quite close to balanced. The aircraft should now be paused in a straight and level condition, or at least close to it. Before we move on, we are going to note a few things about how straight and level appears to the pilot from the panel view (in the cockpit!).

There are basically five parts to straight and level:

1. Constant Direction
2. Constant Altitude
3. Constant Speed
4. Wings Level
5. Aircraft in Balance (not skidding sideways)

Notice where the horizon is relative to the top of the instrument panel.


This should be, or be close to, the angle required for level flight. This is known as the aircraft 'attitude'. We will confirm and adjust this later, as required.

In order to maintain straight and level, we must use the elevator to keep that distance between horizon and top of panel (the attitude) constant.


Horizon moving up, aircraft pitching down. We need to gently raise the nose to set the horizon back to it's original position over the panel.


Horizon moving down, aircraft pitching up. We need to gently lower the nose to set the attitude back to it's original position.


Now it looks like we are maintaining level flight!

Un-pause the simulation and try to maintain level using this technique. Use the trim to help it to stay there. Remember to make small, gentle changes to avoid overshooting past where you want to be. You may also require a little aileron to keep the wings level.

For now we are practicing VFR (Visual Flight Rules) flying, so 80% to 90% of the time, you should be looking out the 'window' at where the horizon is, and flying the aircraft to keep it where it should be. Only 10% to 20% of the time, maximum, should be spent looking at the instruments on the panel to confirm precisely what you are seeing outside.

Now we need to confirm that this attitude is precisely the one we need to maintain our altitude, and therefore be truly level. It's very hard to tell visually (by looking outside). Instead, glance down at the altimeter, note it's reading, then look back up at the horizon again, and continue maintaining the chosen attitude.


After a few seconds, glance at the altimeter again. Is it indicating differently to what it was before? Have we gone up or down a bit? If we have, then we are not truly level.

In this example, we can see that we are descending slowly.


In order to get back to straight and level proper, raise the attitude slightly, as seen below, and hold it and trim if required.

The change is probably best seen in this case relative to the compass that sits above the rest of the panel. Changes smaller than this may be required!

While holding the attitude, glance at the altimeter, then back up again. After a few more seconds, check it again. Has it changed? We we climbing or descending? If so, make another small adjustment in the appropriate direction to stop it, and repeat the above procedure.

After a tweak or two to the attitude, you should be able to achieve precisely level flight.

This is all well and good, but we need to be able to select and hold an altitude of our own choosing, not just the one when happen to end up at. Achieving this is simply an extension of what we just did to set and hold our altitude.


In this example, we are at 2,900ft. We want to be at 3,000ft precisely.

To achieve this, make a small attitude change to induce a slow gain in altitude. This is the same as what we did before, but instead of trying to stop a trend we are starting one. Again, make the change small, and allow time for the altitude to change.


As we approach our desired altitude, stop the trend as you did before. If you got the change right, you should now be straight and level at, or very close to the altitude you have chosen!


This technique is for making small adjustments only, say 200 or 300 feet or so in the Cessna 172. Faster aircraft might use it for somewhat greater changes, as they will climb / descend more rapidly. We will cover full climbs and descents in a later lesson.

Setting and holding precise headings (straight) uses a similar technique.

Again, we use our eyes looking out the window primarily. If the wings are level, and we are in balance (not skidding sideways) then we will maintain a constant direction. Choose a reference point outside to aim the aircraft towards. This may be a hill, a town, an airport, or any other fixed point. Even clouds can be used if there isn't too much wind blowing them around.

In this case, I am using the tip of a spit of land. Exactly where the middle of your view is relative to the instruments may vary; I am using a widescreen monitor that shows the full width of the 2D panel.

Choose something in the middle to far distance. If you choose something too close, you will fly over it and it will disappear rather quickly. Keep the aircraft pointed at that point with the wings level, and you will automatically be in balance and flying straight. You may also wish to note the actual heading of the aircraft as well, as a confirmation that we are continuing on the same heading if you lose or need to change the reference point.

In this case, we are heading 220 degrees.

If you find your aircraft pointing slightly off heading, or need to change heading by just a few degrees, roll the aircraft in the appropriate direction slightly. No more than a few degrees is necessary. Again, allow time for the aircraft to gradually move to where you want it, then roll level and maintain it again.

Error of between 5 and 10 degrees right. Slight left bank brings the heading back to 220 in just a few seconds.

You should now be able to set, maintain, and regain straight and level precisely. In the next lesson, we will look at flying straight and level at different speeds and different configurations.


Why not look at the instruments more, if they can show us more precisely our performance (heading, altitude)? The problem with most aircraft instruments is that they lag behind what the aircraft is actually doing. It takes time for changes to register, particularly altitude. While this lag may only be a second, by the time it shows up, it will aleady be getting worse! There are techniques to minimize this issue, which we will cover in a later lesson, but for now we are concentrating on visual flying – in the real world, you need to be looking outside all the time to avoid obstacles such as terrain, clouds, or other aircraft!

There is also an advantage to looking outside, in that you can predict in advance that something (heading, altitude) will change before it does. This is because in most cases, in order for heading or altitude to change, the attitude or bank angle must first change. If you see it change, you can change it back to where it should be before any significant change in heading or altitude can occur. This will greatly enhance your accuracy compared to looking primarily at the instruments.
All 'X-PPL' and 'X-IFR' tutorials are property of X-plane.org. You may link to these pages, but please do not re-distribute in any form.

If you would like to translate any or all of the content into another language, we'd love to hear from you!

For many of you these will be well known, but for others they may be yet unfamiliar. A proper understanding of the controls and how best to use them is essential to the proper and precise control of our aircraft that will be required in the lessons to come.
 

Elevator
This control will cause the aircraft to pitch up (pulling back / mouse down) or down (pushing forward / mouse up). This allows the aircraft to climb or descend.

Ailerons
These controls will cause the aircraft to roll left or right in order to make turns.

These function by moving the joystick sideways, or the mouse left / right in the control box.

Rudder
Use of the rudder will cause the aircraft to 'yaw' or skid left or right. This is also the usual method used for steering on the ground.

Input will depend on your control setup. Real aircraft use pedals -one for each foot- and there are USB rudder pedals available for computer flight sim use (CH Products and Saitek are two manufacturers); pushing the left pedal will yaw the aircraft to the left, and vice-versa.

More common, however, is a 'twist grip' joystick, which in addition to moving forward and backward, left and right, can be twisted for rudder control.

If you are using a mouse for control, then X-plane will automatically input some rudder for you when you use the ailerons. For full control of the aircraft, however, you need to have at least a joystick with a twist grip.

Throttle
The throttle controls the engine power to increase or decrease airspeed. You can increase the throttle by pushing the joystick throttle slider forward, or by pressing and holding <F2>. Slide the throttle back to reduce power, or press and hold <F1>.

Alternatively, you can click and drag the throttle handle up and down with the mouse when in panel view (it is a black or grey knob, and you may need to scroll down to see it).

Trim
Trim is used to set a constant force on the controls, so you don't have to constantly hold the joystick in a deflected position to keep the aircraft pointing the way you want it to.

To trim nose-up, press ']' and to trim nose-down, press '['.
In practice, if you find yourself having to hold the joystick back a bit to stop the aircraft from diving down towards the ground, you can trim up (hold ']') so that you can centre the joystick, and the controls will be set in position to hold the nose up without your input.

My preference is to assign joystick buttons to the Trim Up and Trim Down commands; many real aircraft do this. You can also click and hold on the trim wheel in the panel view, near the top to trim down, or near the bottom to trim up.

You can also trim the ailerons and rudder (not all real aircraft are equiped with these functions however).

To trim ailerons left and right, use '8' or '0' respectively. '9' resets aileron trim to normal.

To trim rudder left and right, use '5' or '7' respectively. '6' resets rudder trim to normal.
 

Flight Exercise

Enough theory, let's put this into practice!

(Actions to be performed in X-plane are coloured red)

Load the X-PPL Cessna 172, or the default Cessna 172 (usually found in: Aircraft\General Aviation\Cessna 172 XPPL-10)
 

Ensure you don't have any wild weather set up. By default X-plane may have some turbulence and wind, so I recommend setting the 'turblnc' slider to zero if you haven't already.
Select >Environment< then >Weather<. At the top select 'Set weather uniformly for the whole world' and ensure your settings look very much those shown below:
 

Obviously, for most lessons, we want to fly during daylight, so set the time to about noon by selecting >Environment< then >Date & Time< then moving the Time slider to the middle.

Select >Location< then >Select Global Airport<. Type in NZGM, or another airport of your choice that is in a relatively flat area, then >Go to this Airport<.

NZGM is in scenic New Zealand, and you may wish to enhance the scenery by downloading and installing X-Plane 10 New Zealand Pro 1. (Not recommended for older, slower computers, though)

We will learn how to take-off later, once we are familiar with the various controls. For now, we'll cheat a bit and start ourselves off up in the air. First though, set the throttle on the ground (with brakes left on) to achieve approximately 1900RPM, so that when we set ourselves up in the air, we won't immediately start gliding down!

Now go to >Location< and >Local Map<. On the top right are boxes indicating the heading, altitude, and speed of the aircraft. Presently we are on the ground (the altitude is above sea level, not ground level, which is why it is not showing zero). Increase the altitude by 3000 feet (which will make the value something greater than 3,000ft unless your airport is exactly at sea-level!) and change speed to 100.

Now when we leave the map view, we will be in the air, flying at 100 knots and 3,000 feet above the airport.
You may wish to press 'p' to pause the simulator while you read-ahead.

 

Now let's try out the controls!

First gently use the Elevator to pitch the aircraft up and down a bit. If you move the controls too much or too quickly, you may stall the aircraft and send it momentarily out of control! The key to good, accurate control of the aircraft is to be smooth and gentle.

Notice that when the aircraft is pointing down a bit, the altitude decreases, and the airspeed increases (going 'downhill'). The opposite occurs when flying upwards (going uphill).

 

Now let's use the Aileron. Smoothly move the joystick (or mouse) left and right. The aircraft will roll left and right, and world outside will appear to tilt.

Notice that the more you move the controls, the faster the aircraft will respond.

You may notice that as the aircraft rolls, particularly if you do it quickly, the aircraft will briefly skid sideways a bit in the opposite direction. This is known as 'adverse yaw' and we need to use a little rudder to counter this. More on this later.

 

Roll the wings back to level, and we'll try the Rudder. If you are using just the mouse, this will not apply.

Press each pedal / twist the joystick gently each direction. The aircraft will skid sideways in the direction of input, then start to roll the same direction as well. This is normal; you may wish to use the ailerons to keep the wings level as you do this.

If you just press and hold one rudder, the aircraft will skid, then roll, and the nose will begin to drop lower, as seen below:

In practice, the rudder is primarily used to balance the aircraft, not as a primary means of changing direction.

Let's go back briefly to adverse yaw. To counter this, whenever you roll the aircraft, use a bit of rudder in the same direction until you return the aileron controls to neutral. If you use a lot of aileron, you will need more rudder. When the aileron is centralized, the rudder should be too.


Throttle control is quite simple in this type of aircraft. Move it forward to increase power, and move it back to decrease it. Setting the throttle to the RPM you want is ideally done in two steps:

First adjust the throttle until the engine sounds 'about right'. If you want full power, it will be noisier, if you are reducing power to descend, it will be quieter, to set cruise power, it should be quite noisy, but not as much as full power.

Second, glance at the RPM gauge, and make small adjustments as needed to get the precise RPM you want. The longer you use the technique, the fewer small adjustments you will find you need.

Realize that in an aircraft like this, with a simple fixed-pitch propeller, the RPM will increase and decrease if airspeed increases or decreases.
 

Using the Trim at this point will make things a bit easier. More than likely, you are having to use the controls to keep your aircraft flying where you want it to. If not, speed up or slow down a bit, then you will!

If you are needing to hold back on the controls, then trim up until you can centralize the controls and the aircraft flies level. You may need to tweak the trim a couple of times to get it just right. If you are having to hold the nose down, then trim down.

If you wish to practice, intentionally put the aircraft 'out of trim' by moving the trim well away from what is needed to fly 'hands off' and level, then set it back to the correct position again.

Anytime you change the speed or configuration (flaps, etc), or throttle setting of the aircraft, the trim will need to be adjusted.

You should now understand the basic controls of the aircraft, and be able to control and trim it as required.

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In the next lesson, we will learn how to fly precisely straight and level.

All 'X-PPL' and 'X-IFR' tutorials are property of X-plane.org. You may link to these pages, but please do not re-distribute in any form.
These lessons are for personal and non-profit use only. Commercial use is forbidden except by permission.

 
After using this series of tutorials, you should be proficient in general flying skills in X-plane. While most of the tutorials focus on light general aviation aircraft, the same principles apply to almost any fixed-wing aircraft.
Many people -myself included- have found experience in flight simulators such as X-plane has helped with real flying later on. While your experience may vary, it is hoped that this will at least give you a head-start. The lessons follow a similar sequence and method as training to fly a real aircraft in a real flight school. This is possible because the author has experience as a real instructor in a real flight school.
The actual methods and sequence of lessons will vary at different flight schools, and this series will vary some things to better suit the application – desktop flight simulation. If you take real flying lessons, and your instructor tells you something different from what you have learned here, ALWAYS do what your real-world instructor says!

 
Most lessons will use the Cessna 172SP, as this is a reasonably simple and easy to fly aircraft, and everyone has it by default. You can of course use another aircraft of your choice, if you wish.
Links will be provided to appropriate files as required along the way, so that you can download them if you wish.

An updated and more realistic version of the default C-172SP is available to download: (X-plane version 9.6x) or (X-plane version 10.2x or later). This is optional, but highly recommended, especially once you get to the stalling lessons.

It is assumed that you have a full installation of X-plane 10, including some Global Scenery. If you have a different version, then the exact key-commands, and the sequence of menus and layouts may vary. Also, if you have not installed all the Global Scenery, then we may sometimes use a scenery area that you don't have installed. In this case, simply choose another area that you do have installed.

 
For the most of the tutorials, there will be a text description, and usually an image to illustrate what is being taught. Where flight action is required by the end user (you!) the text will be displayed in red.

Probably the best way to use these tutorials will be to read through each one before you fly it, then go back over it as you are flying the exercises prescribed.
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Before you begin, it may be worthwhile downloading the X-Plane Keys reference guide for XP10 from the download manager.
Many of the keys for X-plane 10 have changed, and can be found in your X-plane 10 \ Instructions folder, or in the Settings / Joystick and Equipment menu in X-plane itself. A few important ones are summarized below:
 
2D cockpit view: W
Other views: SHIFT – <number keys>
To look around: Q or E in 2D cockpit. Hold right-mouse button and move mouse in 3D views.
 
Flaps: '1' to raise flaps one notch. '2' to lower flaps one notch.
Throttle: Ideally use one on your joystick, otherwise 'F1' to decrease throttle, 'F2' to increase throttle.
 
Gear: 'G' to toggle gear (not applicable in our Cessna 172)
Brakes: 'B' to toggle brakes
 
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The tutorial threads will be locked, so no comments are possible here. The goal is to provide the best 'learn to fly in X-plane' series that is possible, so if you would like to comment, make a suggestion, or point out an error (thanks to those who have already helped in this way!), please PM or e-mail the author (Voidhawk9).
 
I hope that you enjoy these tutorials, and that they are useful in your X-plane and potential real-world flying experience!

 
All 'X-PPL' and 'X-IFR' tutorials are property of X-plane.org. You may link to these pages, but please do not re-distribute in any form.
These lessons are for personal and non-profit use only. Commercial use is forbidden except by permission.