During the Pre-Solo phase of their training, flight students are introduced to what are known as Ground Reference Maneuvers.  These include 1) Rectangular Pattern, 2) Turns Around a Point, and 3) S-Turns Across a Road.   The purpose of the maneuvers is for students to learn how to make the airplane follow an intended track over the ground without allowing the wind to cause the plane to drift off that track.  This is accomplished through wind correction angles on the heading and with varying degrees of bank in the turns, depending on how the wind is influencing the plane’s ground speed.  Faster ground speed (tail winds) requires steeper banked turns and slower ground speeds (headwinds) require shallower turns.  As the student progresses through the three maneuvers, increased finesse and precision are necessary to fly the designated track.

Below are the GPS tracks for a GRM lesson flown at 1000′ altitude yesterday afternoon.  Winds were approximately 12 knots from the North.  This being the student’s first time flying the maneuvers, I’d say they did fairly well.  With practice, of course, the student’s performance will improve.

During a training flight heading to Monterey, CA, this was the view we had looking forward out of the cockpit window.  It’s times like these in particular that I’m reminded how lucky we are as pilots.

When people are thinking about the possibility of learning to fly, they most often will start off by taking a Discovery Flight.  Both on this blog and on YouTube, I’ve posted a large number of videos serving as examples of what Discovery Flights are like, but I can’t say that I’ve ever captured the magic of flying as well as this video produced by Tristan Brotherton, a passenger on one of my most recent introductory flights.  If you find yourself saying “I’ve got to do this!”, then you may very well be destined to become a pilot.  Enjoy!

Flying over San Francisco Bay from tristan Brotherton on Vimeo.