Steep Spiral: Downwind or Upwind Entry?

My answer... always put the landing gear down first.

Ask any two CFI's how to enter this maneuver correctly, one who believes that the downwind entry is the way to go and the other who believes upwind, and what you might witness is the equivalent of watching two caged monkeys throwing feces at one another. In the end they are both throwing the same stuff, it's just different colors.

In my experience, the argument here is this. Those who lean toward the upwind side cite that the most current edition of the Airplane Flying Handbook FAA-H-8083-3 (remember the FAA-H-8083-3 part in a little bit). While the AFH does not specifically tell you how to enter the maneuver in black in white, it does depict an airplane entering the maneuver upwind as seen in figure 9-2 on page 9-3. Here's a link to the AFH as found on the FAA's Training Resources and Guides section of their website. It is on page 43 of the .pdf file, or if you have your AFH handy, page 9-3.

http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aircraft/airplane_handbook/media/faa-h-8083-3a-4of7.pdf

So, you can see how one can easily perceive that the entry to this maneuver is made on the upwind as the AFH clearly depicts the airplane entering the maneuver upwind. To further back this up, you can look at the Commercial Pilot Practical Test Standard. It looks something like this:

V. AREA OF OPERATION: PERFORMANCE MANEUVERS

B. TASK: STEEP SPIRAL (ASEL and ASES)

REFERENCE: FAA-H-8083-3 (Do you see where I am headed with this now?)

Objective: To determine that the applicant:

1. Exhibits knowledge of the elements related to a steep spiral.
2. yada
3. yada
4. yada
5. etc
6. etc

Nowhere in the PTS does it specifically tell you how to enter the steep spiral. If you want to have a look for yourself, here is the link to the Commercial Practical Test Standard found on the FAA's website. Steep spirals are found on page 55 of the .pdf file or on page 1-23 if you have your paper copy handy.

http://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/airmen/test_standards/pilot/media/FAA-S-8081-12B.pdf

It simply says to refer to FAA-H-8083-3, and what does FAA-H-8083-3 show us? It depicts the airplane entering the steep spiral downwind. Nowhere in the text does it specifically say upwind or downwind, so by default we look at the picture.

If you weren't already a believer of this side of the argument, you can see why some pilots out there think that the upwind is the way to go.

There are also several instructors out there that say downwind is the way to enter the maneuver. Those who believe this doctrine also cite the AFH. Again, the AFH does not specifically tell you upwind or downwind; however, it does tell you that the maneuver is very similar to the ground reference maneuver, turns around a point. So, what do we know about the entry to all of the ground reference maneuvers that all Commercial Pilot and CFI applicants should know by this point in their training? Ground reference maneuvers are entered on the downwind.

Let us revisit private pilot ground school and analyze why we want to enter downwind on ground reference maneuvers for just a second. The reason we enter downwind on ground reference maneuvers is so that we enter with the fastest groundspeed. We enter with the fastest groundspeed so that, during turns around a point for example, we have to begin the turn with the steepest bank angle possible. We enter with the steepest bank angle possible so that it sets the pace for the rest of the maneuver. The pilot now knows what the steepest angle of bank looks like and can manage the smaller bank angles throughout the rest of the maneuver so that he or she is able to maintain a constant distance around the reference so as to roll out back on the initial entry point.

With that logic in mind, since a steep spiral is similar to a turn around a point, wouldn't it make sense to start on the downwind so that we can essentially set the pace for the rest of the maneuver?

Whew! Now that I've explained the background behind the argument, take a break, get something to drink, and allow yourself to wrap your brain around those two schools of thought for just a moment.

Now, there are always going to be those stubborn monkeys out there that have been taught or still teach one way or another and that's fine. Here is where I get to tell you how I personally teach the maneuver and in just a minute or two I will explain the explanation behind my opening statement.

For the sole purpose of teaching a steep spiral so that the student can "improve pilot techniques for airspeed control, wind drift control, planning, orientation, and division of attention," I teach the downwind entry. The student can initially set the steepest angle of bank necessary and set the pace for the rest of the maneuver.  Upon successful completion of the maneuver the student knows what a steep spiral is and how to execute one.

Regardless of whether you have learned or if you teach the upwind or downwind entry, one of the absolute most safest things you can do, in addition to continuing to fly the airplane, is to put the landing gear down. In a training scenario, the absolute last place you want to be is power at idle, getting closer to the ground, only to experience a real engine failure and completely forget that the gear is up. With the gear down that is just simply one less thing you have to worry about.

Let us now step out of the training "box" for just a second and briefly apply this to real world scenarios.

When will a pilot really ever use a steep spiral outside of demonstrating one for a checkride? Well, here are a couple of scenarios. Perhaps you are on top of a scattered to broken cloud layer, you find a spot where you can maintain VFR minimums, and steep spiral your way down below. Or, even more practically, you have a single engine failure and you are flying an airplane that has a glide ratio equivalent to that of a rock. In this scenario you could steep spiral your way down to a safe landing area.

In an engine failure scenario you won't really have a choice as to whether or not you are upwind or downwind, hence my original answer to the question. Whether or not you are upwind or downwind at this point is irrelevant. You lost the engine and you still need to fly the airplane. The absolute safest thing to do if you are flying a light complex airplane is to above all continue to fly the aircraft and put the landing gear down. The absolute last place you want to be is power at idle, approaching your landing area, and either 1. at the last second discover that you can't put the gear down due to a landing gear malfunction leaving you very little time to troubleshoot that among everything else going on, or 2. completely forget that the gear is up. Both of which would hopefully result in the most remarkable gear up landing anyone has ever seen where normally a safe landing could have been made with the gear extended.

Whether or not you have learned or taught that the upwind or downwind entry is the way to go, in the end the absolute safest thing to do is initially to select the landing gear down during the entry. Keep in mind however that if you are in a real emergency situation and in your best judgment you logically determine it best to keep the gear up to meet the needs of that particular emergency, then by all means leave the gear up. You as PIC have the authority to do so.

Fly Safe.