Aviation Safety's Slip/Skid Lesson

If you're a pilot, do you know what the rudder is for? In this short video, Aviation Safety magazine's Jeb Burnside shows the most basic of flying skills: How to keep a turn coordinated.

[lambertoroscioli]

A big opportunity was lost here for a very good lesson. The key here is to understand that a skid can be a killer. Having the ball on the side of the high wing (when looking at the turn coordinator as in video time 0:48) can be very dangerous for a pilot that does not understand the dynamics of a stall. For example, if you are turning to the left, and you have too much left rudder (a skid, as in trying to cheat a base to final turn in the event you overshot final) if you slow the airplane down and things get ugly, the stall warning goes on and you panic and you want to roll the airplane to the right, you incorrectly turn the yoke/stick to the right. You now have set up the classic spin, why? You have the yoke to the right but rudder to the left. The left wing will stall first (because you have down airleron on that wing trying to "lift it" up and added drag) so with left rudder already in, the airplane will roll to the left (which happens VERY quickly because the airplane is already rolled left). They key is to remember to ROLL the airplane back level with the RUDDER. Step on the ball! In a slip, the airplane tends to roll in the direction of the high wing during a stall (because you have the rudder already in the proper "direction") and so the airplane will go level before rolling all the way to the other side. You have more time to "catch" it... Learn slip vs skid FULLY before your next flight. Practice rudder work WITH AN INSTRUCTOR to FULLY understand slip and skid and how the airplane reacts.
COMMENT: I am NOT an instructor so don't believe a word of this. Ask your instructor!!!

[robertkurzwernhart]

I used to explain and demonstrate to my students the three  functions of the rudder .
1. The rudder is used to prevent SLIPP or SKID .
2 . The rudder is used to control ADVERSE YAW ( WHILE ROLLING INTO A BANKED ATTITUDE ) .
3 . The rudder is used to PREVENT YAW ( WHILE SIDE SLIPPING ) .

Yawing is the effect of bank and the higher the rate of bank  , the higher the amount of adverse yaw .

[joshbrar]

Always helps to see a quick real life situation of an instrument to get the fundamentals down!

[Riekerinc]

Nice example of slip indicator purpose...being the manufacturer of slip indicators is it great to see this instrument in use!

[backpackerthrulife]

I still don't know what a slip and a skid are, and how the rudder affects a turn. All I know is "rudder this way when ball goes that way." It wasn't a slip/skid lesson.

[alexl]

I've been reading this page in my study book over & over again for the past 2 days & could not understand... 2min video & BOOM *viola...
Great & simple video, THANK YOU FOR EXISTING lol & making this content!

[SSGPlazmoid]

I think something to mention with respect to steep turns and using ailerons to maintain coordination is the overbanking tendency in steep turns due to the raised, outside wing having a greater angle of attack than the lowered, inside wing. To stay coordinated it may be necessary to use a touch of opposite aileron pressure to keep the bank from increasing while at the same time using rudder to keep the ball centered.

[flofontanella]

This should be called "Coordinated flight"

[FMWeasel]

Though probably not worded as simply as it should be for folks new to aviation, I think the point he was trying to stress was the simultaneous use of yoke/rudder input to coordinate the turn. This is opposed to correcting for slip/skid by "stepping on the ball." If the ball is giving you a direction from which to step on it, it means you're already uncoordinated and stepping on the ball will correct that. If the inputs are applied simultaneously, the ball will stay centered the entire time.

[stihlnz]

Its the last thing you polish in your skill set and the first thing you forget when aren't current.

[BillPalmer]

Here’s a car analogy.
If you turn the steering wheel too sharply and the back wheels skid out from under the car, that’s a skid. (Too much rudder)
If you’re driving on a banked curve race track and you’re not fast enough to stay on the slope, but start to slip down the incline while your car remains pointed uphill, that’s a slip.

[MikeKobb]

Appreciate the video, but I agree a little bit with SaveAmericaGuy -- if you're going to argue that the ailerons are a tool to coordinate the turn (as opposed to the classic "setting the bank angle and stepping on the ball" as S.A.G. suggests), then I think you really need to expand upon that point to a much greater extent.

As it is, I had to play the video twice just to figure out what the heck you meant at the end when you said "you can use ailerons".

[ninemilliondollars]

So my comment, being completely unfamiliar with flying a fixed-wing aircraft is this. When turning a plane it's possible to get the plane to slide/skid sideways and lose lift because the air is not going over the wing as in straight-forward flight. So you use the rudder to orient the plane more so as to reduce the slide. And the ball provides a visual indication of this. By moving the ball as was said, you rotate the plane and improve it's aerodynamics and reduce the slide/skid. Yea/Nea?

[wombat]

The video mainly shows the instruments. They could be anything from clocks to oven thermometers. I want to see what slip and skid are, respectively, and WHY AND HOW the rudder acts on them. By "HOW" I don't mean how your hand moves among the instruments, but what is the physics involved.

[pilotsabin]

During the turn using a less rudder for a coordinated turn is Slip and During the turn If more rudder is used on the same side is Skid. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[saiful]

If you turn neatly using the rudder a little bit, the ball will remain centered. If the ball is to the right of center, "step on right rudder" until the ball is in the middle.

[jdrabble]

Big thank you for your video! I am doing my PPL exams here in the UK and the book we've been given described this but was the wrong way around in terms of what is a skid and what is a slip, thank you for clarifying!

[Shmey]

I am not sure if I'm going to answer what you're asking. If I am hearing you correctly, I think it's either lighting/technical difficulties with the camera, or because different airplanes would react differently with inputs.

He did say he would have preferred to use a twin for this demonstration.

So, take what I've said with a grain of salt. It is merely speculation.

[Windtee]

I understand your argument but, you and I both know we're able to influence coordinated flight by applying or removing bank-angle to "center the ball".

[TheGroundedAviator]

I remember them all being "stand on the ball" until I wanted too do more then stand on theirs!