Over-controlling in turbulence

I asked an examiner who is captain on B738 that question and he said that when you fly yourself you do not yourself notice the amplitude of your own control inputs.

I reckon he is massively over-controlling the aircraft, but maybe not?

I always thought you were done with proon?
To me it also looks like overcontrolling but I jumpseated on B737s a couple of times and they really do work their steering wheel a lot. On proon some 737 drivers explain the video quite well.

Wonder what the AIB report would look like if an accident happened and they found the camera had caused trouble with the controls, as in the recent USAF case

Peter wrote:

And like many I got banned from proon.

I asked because there is a similar thread about this video on the front page of proon.

Personally I dont’t like this way to steer an aircraft. I always encourage my students and copilots to be “lazy” by only compensating a trend and not trying to fight every gust. Turbulence is a stochastic process. For every gust from the left there will be one from the right which cancels it out. So the best thing to do in turbulence is: nothing. This is how I fly and it works well for me. But again: I don’t fly the 737 so what do I know.

For me, the next best thing to fly an aeroplane is to ride a horse really well. As a grown up male person I rarely cry, but last summer I was following the olympic dressage competition (because one of our clients was competing there as well and I was just curious) and the ride of the gold medalist Charlotte Dujardin really brought tears to my face. Rarely in life one sees such perfection without seeing how it is done (this ride scored the higest marks ever awarded). From my own experience I can tell that she works at least ten times as hard as that 737 pilot but you can’t see that at all. And this is my aim when flying an aeroplane.

what_next wrote:

Personally I dont’t like this way to steer an aircraft. I always encourage my students and copilots to be “lazy” by only compensating a trend and not trying to fight every gust. Turbulence is a stochastic process. For every gust from the left there will be one from the right which cancels it out. So the best thing to do in turbulence is: nothing. This is how I fly and it works well for me. But again: I don’t fly the 737 so what do I know.

My instructor teaches me the same way as you teach your students. But I must admit it is difficult for me not to instinctively try and fight the gusts. Strangely enough I managed better once he let me fly solo in windy conditions.

If I remember correctly, the issue is time.l, only.

You have a short time until you notice the attitude change, the another until you make control changes and yet another until they become effective.

Unless you can anticipate the temporary changes, gusts or otherwise, you cannot improve the situation. By the time your changes have an effect, they are no more useful.

In sailing, you cna anticipate waves and gusts to an extent.
I dont believe they same applies to flying.

Weird – is it because most of my flying so far was in a small aircraft with low wing loading?
The DA40’s huge wingspan translates into a lot of beating from gusty winds.
Whenever this is left uncorrected (for example, if the right seat PAX is flying) I find it very uncomfortable and also scary.
The GFC700 autopilot does an amazing job at ironing out turbulence (within its capabilities – it’s only 2 axis) and I often thought “if he can do it, then I should too”.
Just recently my passenger filmed a landing where we had 40+ knots of wind. I’ll post it as soon as I’ve figured out how to rotate it without crashing the Mac…
It shows the beating the plane took. I think we would have been airsick if I had not “fought back” to keep the dirty side below.

I recently flew in an Extra 400 which is a heavy plane with substantial wing loading (more than a PA46).
I was in the cabin and the pilot did not correct for the gusts. I felt uncomfortable and almost unsafe.
The plane was banking maybe 15 degrees at times and yawing a lot too. This was especially unpleasant sitting in the back.

So to sum it up, as long as the aircraft is within maneuvering speed, I do correct for turbulence!

It’s mostly a waste of effort to control too much IMO. I let the aircraft and the randomness of the turbulence do the job itself, and focus on the “integrated” flight path.