They say you never stop learning in aviation. This little snippet illustrates that.
Last week I was out renewing my instructor rating, and amongst other things, I had to demonstrate a rate 1 turn on instruments. Easy, right? Look at the Turn Coordinator and line up the wings of the little aeroplane on the tick marks.
But how do you do that in an aeroplane equipped with an EFIS (electronic flight information system, or glass cockpit). They often don’t have a conventional Turn Coordinator. Well, you could calculate the bank angle (TAS divided by 10 plus 7 degrees) and use the Skypointer on the attitude indicator.
But thanks to pilotworkshop.com who send a free weekly email with tips, I learnt an easier way. Beneath the heading indicator is a magenta trend ribbon, showing which way you’re turning. This has marks – in my Dynon D100, that’s a bracket which corresponds to Rate 1. So just add sufficient bank that the magenta line reaches the bracket. And the trend line itself is quantitative – the longer the line, the greater your rate of turn. The end of the line shows the heading you will be on in 6 seconds. And that 6 seconds seems to be a standard on all displays.
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So…. If in doubt, read the instruction manual. I read mine years back, but at that time, instrument flying was far from my thoughts.