Flying The Ball

A close friend e-mailed recently to inquire about what happens to the turn coordinator/turn and bank instruments ball in certain flight attitudes. After giving him what I thought was the answer he needed, several more e-mails ensued, each one raising my frustration level-admittedly not a difficult thing to do. Finally, I picked up the phone and called, and Im glad I did, since his real question had very little to do with the ball. But his questions-and little bit of research I did to verify my understandings before responding-highlighted one thing: There probably are a large number of pilots out there who have forgotten exactly what the little ball does and how it does it. Theres also another number of pilots who never were taught these things correctly. Lets try to fix both problems. First, though, lets refresh our understanding of why and how an airplane turns.

Key Takeaways:

• The article aims to refresh pilots' understanding of the turn instrument's ball, emphasizing its role in indicating the *quality* of a turn, not its rate or bank angle.
• The ball's position reflects the balance between gravity and centrifugal force during a turn; a centered ball signifies coordinated flight where forces are balanced.
• A slip (ball to the inside) indicates insufficient yaw for the bank, while a skid (ball to the outside) indicates excessive yaw, both requiring coordinated adjustments of rudder and/or bank angle to center the ball.

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