CSq_JOE told me about this one. I am still working on it, but I have already found it to be helpful in turning tighter when close to the ground. It is best to have your speed up when you do this, but it still works even when you are low on energy. It is somewhat like trim in that If you over-do it, you can stall, and go into the ground sooner than you wanted.

Again this one takes practice. To make a ‘left’ cross controlled turn; you must give it right aileron, and left rudder. (Just the opposite for a ‘right’ cross controlled turn.) What happens is, the plane will weather cock to the left, and it will do it much faster than it would if you have full left aileron. When the plane weathercocks to the left it will be rather flat in it’s relation to the ground, and it will turn quickly, too quickly!

That’s where the practice comes in. You have to learn to control this fast turn. If you let it go too fast, you will lose too much energy. You will stall and crash to the ground. It is best to let it turn more slowly at first, to maintain control. To learn where your limits are you have to go over them, so don’t be afraid to crash, it will happen. After a few crash’s, or temporary loss of control, you will have a better idea of what you have to do to keep the plane in the air.

Like I say, I am still learning this, so I am not an expert at it, but I can see that it can make for some really tight turns close to the ground once it is mastered. (Maybe this is how Blackie out turns me when we are close to the ground?)

Energy is the variable here. The faster you are going the more rudder you can give it without losing control. So, every time you use a cross controlled turn it will be a little different as to how much rudder you can give it because of the variation in speed, or energy. It’s like trim in this respect. It will take some getting used to, but once learned it will be an advantage to those willing to make the effort to learn it.

When doing this turn there will be some side slipping. The main thing is to maintain control while turning as fast as you can for the amount of speed you have. Instead of just giving it allot of rudder, for now, I am just bumping the rudder more and more till I find the limit.

Keep in mind that soon after you find the limit, your speed will start declining, which means you will have to let off on the rudder more and more to maintain control as your speed decreases. It is constantly changing; the same thing is true for elevator trim. This may all sound complicated at first, but once it is learned, (like trim) I think it will become second nature.

During a dogfight while up high, I found that I can turn faster to line up with my opponent by not trying to mach his altitude. Rather, if he is higher than you are, keep your nose low in a turn to keep your speed up. Let him take the high road, and you take the faster low road. Stay low behind him. Then when he starts coming down because he sees you behind him, and he needs more speed, you will overtake him as he lowers his altitude. Patience is the key here.

On the other hand, if the bandit is higher than you, and he is also coming up on your six, and it looks like he will overtake you. I have found that (While I am still low in the loop, and he is still high in a loop.) if I dive for the ground that it sometimes gives me enough time to gain enough speed to come back up to him while he is diving down at me to shoot him about the same time he shoots me.

I usually dive almost all the way to the ground to gain the speed I need for this situation.

KK_VonBlaster