Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Emergency Decent -positive load??

Asked by: 3485 views Flight Instructor

Why is it that one of the reasons to perform an emergency decent in a turn is to "maintain positive load factors on the plane?" (ASA oral exam guide).  I understand clearing for traffic and looking for a landing spot, but not this other reason. I'm probably missing something obvious.... I understand that turning will also reduce the vertical component of lift, but what does the load have to do with that in helpful way?    

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Nov 14, 2015

    The Airplane Flying Handbook states that the maneuver should be made in a turn to look for other traffic and emergency landing areas.

    It also states that the maneuver should be “initiated” with a turn to maintain positive load factor. I suspect that they don’t want you to just push over to start the maneuver.

    As far as positive load factor is concerned, the Vomit Comet can only sustain zero G for about 25 seconds by following a parabolic flight path. I don’t think there is much chance that you will not maintain a positive load factor once in the descent.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. thomas johnston on Nov 14, 2015

    I see, so maybe this is a way to practice not exceeding the negative g limit, which is much less than the positive limit. That is, if a pilot is to slam the nose down in a hurry.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.