LeSving wrote:
some luck and no wind
Hand-flown. It was my first ‘post lockdown flight’ in summer 2020 so I was looking at my Skydemon track afterwards or I wouldn’t have noticed.
That is a part of the FAA CPL (which I have) but is difficult to do because you have to keep looking at where the left wingtip is pointing, while looking at the altimeter.
It also has to be done at a very low level – IIRC about 1200ft if flying at ~120kt. I am not going to think about the maths 
If you want to do it at say 5000ft you end up with the wingtip pointing at a very distant point which is then hard/impossible to judge and you certainly won’t end up flying a circular route.
lionel wrote:
That can be achieved by a different technique, of maintaining a spot on the ground (the spot around which you want to turn) at constant angle to your longitudinal axis by varying your roll angle.
I know. It’s a standard “maneuver” I use when instructing. Then we have two spots and fly in an “8” around them. Takes some training with no wind, and MUCH more with wind To compensate for wind is one of the main purposes with the maneuver.
To get one circle this way as round as in that plot? perhaps, with some luck and no wind.
LeSving wrote:
Yes, but given a slight breeze, and you won’t fly over the same spot on the ground again
That can be achieved by a different technique, of maintaining a spot on the ground (the spot around which you want to turn) at constant angle to your longitudinal axis by varying your roll angle.
Peter wrote:
That could be done by hand. With great care it is possible to fly an accurate rate 1 turn and hit your own wake.
Yes, but given a slight breeze, and you won’t fly over the same spot on the ground again, not even on autopilot. It would not be a circle You could make the circle really big of course, essentially a series of straight lines.
You guys fly nicer by hand than I do on autopilot 😂
That could be done by hand. With great care it is possible to fly an accurate rate 1 turn and hit your own wake. I’ve done it a few times but mostly it doesn’t work. You have to descend a little too because the vortices descend at about -300fpm.
In still air, a constant rate turn will produce a circle.
I reckon it was done on autopilot though :smile;
Another one for consideration:
is that a Precision Pilot Competition
Yes. Really hard, but really fun. Need more practice, and a super good compass, or gyro. Normally I would say within a minute is super high precision. Here precision is within a second.
It’s the thing with precision flying. It seems impossible at first, but that’s in large due to zero focus on that aspect. It’s amazing what kind of precision is possible (like that IFR tracking is an evidence of) I remember when I was doing night flying. The instructor wanted me to use the AI (G1000) to stay on the correct track and correct alt. The alt was 2000 feet. I asked him how big a fudge factor he expected. He just looked at me slightly irritated and said: “I said 2000 feet” Well, it wasn’t impossible after all. Adding more factors, it gets more complicated of course.
Respect! I wouldn’t want fly IFR without AP. I can do it in case of equipment failure, but in high stress situations, eg turbulence and many heading and altitude changes, I sure am happy to have an AP. Feel it makes my flying safer as it frees up mental capacity.
