Best plane for coordinated turn practice (if any)?

Unfortunately gliders don’t have that luxury!

Slips to landing are very common in powered, light aircraft. They’re not unsafe when done correctly. It can take the form of a forward slip to increase drag or a sideslip to counter a crosswind. Aerodynamically, they are both the same from the point of view of the aircraft and neither is inherently dangerous in and of itself.

Sideslipping to touchdown is preferred to touching down in a crab for most light aircraft. Sometimes pilots take the admonishment of never cross-controlling a little too far and end up side-loading the aircraft when they touch down, which isn’t good, especially in a taildragger.

Skids, on the other hand, are much more dangerous in the pattern.

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Good point, I was conflating skids and slips in my previous repy. (The power of sleep deprivation :man_facepalming:)

And Boeing 767s when they run out of fuel :wink:

I remember seeing a heated discussion about skidding in traffic patterns, it was triggered by one guy saying he skidded round all the turns because his wife didn’t like it when the plane banked. It was shortly followed by everyone telling him how much of a bad and dangerous thing was was to do.

Possibly the most dangerous is the famous “I’ve started turning too late on base to final so I’m going to jam the rudder in to turn quicker”. Which not only doesn’t work, but is an incredibly dangerous thing to do.

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I find the flight characteristics of the Maul M7-235 to be very good for simulation of coordinated flight. Lead with rudder on entry and exit of turns. Not too much rudder to get you into trouble. Great for slips to steepen the approach angle.

AND this plane is great for improving your cross wind landing and TO at near max demonstrated. So far it is my favorite bush plane in 2024 mainly because the Xcubs have not been sorted and the Draco is soo over the top with power it is too easy to get in and out of places.