FWIW, my subconscious mental dialog in the pattern is "I will make my turns as steep and tight as I need to fly the pattern I need, but I will not pull back on the stick to maintain the altitude and sink rate I want. Pitch is turn rate, power is sink rate." One gets there by degrees, with experience. The bank angle limits are like training wheels, and they come off with lots of practice both at altitude and down low. If you want to leave them in place your whole career, by all means do. Just watch for the cross-control stall if you overshoot a turn - don't skid.
Please....I have to speak up. This is bad advice and a bad mental approach to flying, no matter what aircraft one is flying. From a CFI standpoint, there is really on one realistic approach to flying traffic pattern work in general, and during power-off emergencies in specific.
It's true, Bill, that stall AOA is reached more quickly (in terms of decreasing airspeed) when--in a bank--the aircraft is held in level flight. When the vertical component of lift is reduced by sacrificing altitude to perform the turn, the critical AOA will be exceeded at a higher airspeed than during a level turn. Thus that ad hoc energy exchange would allow for a greater bank angle to be tolerated.
And it's all
absolutely irrelevant, ladies and gentlemen.
A preponderance of GA accidents occur during low-altitude (traffic pattern, that is) maneuvering. Stall-spin scenarios are all too common, and we have to look at the causes.
The hypothesis that one can bank "as steep and tight as I need..." is woefully difficult to actually fly. The cause is that pesky math...the increase in stall speed in level flight with the addition of bank increases on a non-linear basis. An aircraft banking at 30 degrees will stall at just over 7% higher airspeed than in level flight. That same aircraft, flying at 45 degrees bank, will stall 19% faster. At 60 degrees of bank (easily and quickly attainable in a nice flying machine such as an RV), one can expect a whopping 40% increase in stall speed, e.g. from 55 knots to 77 knots.
The problem is that one cannot quickly do the mental math (Vstall accelerated = √G) while maneuvering in the pattern. Heck, I can't often do that math sitting at my desk!
The point is that we shouldn't make plans to do trade off altitude to be able to "pull harder" on the stick to make a turn successful. It's impossible to calculate just how hard to pull and exactly how much altitude one can sacrifice to make that pull "work" while performing an engine out recovery to a runway. Telling yourself to just 'feel the aircraft' is asking for trouble.
The reason? Simple...RVs are amazing aircraft, but--as a general rule--they do not provide much warning prior to the actual stall. Once it happens, the wing and/or nose drops and one must relax the back pressure (e.g. reduce the AOA) to get it flying again. While an AOA indicator will provide guidance on the subject, it is highly unlikely that one would have the cognitive capability during this stressful time to either monitor that gauge or even listen to a warning tone.
Recovery from that stall is simple...but it takes a little altitude, typically. And turning base to final in an engine out scenario is one place where altitude is at a premium. Please...consider the following advice.
1. Fly your traffic pattern (when practical) with the mindset that you can lose an engine at any time.
2. If you do lose that engine, maintain aircraft control. Slow to your best glide speed, attempt a fix if time allows (depending on aircraft...carb heat on, mixture full rich, fuel pump on, pump throttle)
3. Select a spot to land, then
4. Fly the aircraft to that spot--and
don't exceed 30 degrees of bank to do so!
If that bank angle constraint won't get you to the runway, simply find the best landing spot ahead or close to your present heading. Even a controlled flare into trees at 55 knots is preferable to losing control and entering an incipient spin from 300 feet. One can live from the outcome of the first scenario...and many have died performing the latter.
Many, many of us are not around to discuss this issue because of low-altitude stall-spin accidents. These were pilots who were trained just like you and me--yet they made a critically poor decision at the worst possible moment. And you have the chance to think it through in the comfort of your own home and computer screen. Having a "plan" before this engine out scenario is critical. Flying an aircraft during that engine out situation is NOT the time to become creative in terms of aggressive turns and approaching critical AOA.
Fly the plane. Keep your airspeed under control. Accept no more than 30 degrees of bank.
It'll work!