The Effects of Wind

If you read the Commercial Pilot Practical Test Standards (conveniently provided by the FAA online), you'll find that for some maneuvers the FAA expects you to apply wind drift correction. And, while for others, there is no specific wind drift correction technique specified in the PTS, you're still expected to use good judgment and take wind into consideration. This was quite evident for me in a recent lesson.

As usual, we took off (this time westbound) from Paine Field into the practice area immediately to the west of the airport. That day, winds aloft were quite strong: around 30 knots from the south. We started off by doing chandelles. My CFI pointed out something I didn't quite realize before -- but in hindsight, it makes sense. Make the climbing turn into the wind -- that way, the airplane does not get blown away from the practice area in which you just checked for other traffic. Likewise, for lazy eights -- begin the maneuver with the wind either to your left or to your right. Beginning the maneuver in such a way not only will keep you more in the practice area, but it should also help you with maintaining the entry airspeed at the 180-degree point.

Where the wind matters even more, though, is during maneuvers performed with reference to the ground. For the commercial single engine checkride, that would be eights-on-pylons. And, although the FAA does not specifically classify it as a ground reference maneuver, a steep spiral is performed with reference to a ground point, and maintaining equal distance all the way around the point certainly requires correcting for drift. Needless to say, I found that while my steep spiral may have been coming along well in a no-wind situation, it looked much worse with wind than without. My CFI offered a hint , which we'll have to try out next time I'm doing steep spirals: try to do steep spirals over a point formed by an intersection of two roads rather than over one distinct point (like a tree). The reasoning is that with an intersection, you can approach the point along one of the roads. This will help you align yourself, and verify the alignment, as you're approaching the point over which the steep spiral will be done. We'll see how it goes next time on a windy day! And hopefully that really windy day won't be the day of the checkride. :-)