Definition
A ground reference maneuver in which the airplane is flown in a circular path of unchanging radius around a fixed point on the ground, requiring the pilot to continuously vary bank angle to compensate for the changing effect of wind on the airplane's ground track.
Plain English
Flying the airplane in a perfect circle around a chosen spot on the ground, keeping the same distance from that spot the whole way around. Because wind pushes the airplane more on some parts of the circle than others, the pilot has to keep adjusting how steeply the airplane is banked to hold that perfect circle.
Context Anchor
Used during ground reference maneuver training, especially in the Airplane Flying Handbook section on turns around a point.
Derivation
Radius comes from a Latin word meaning a spoke or ray from a center. That helps here because the airplane’s path is judged by its distance from the center point, like the distance from the hub of a wheel to its rim.
Why Pilots Care
Develops precise wind-drift correction and coordinated flight at low altitude, skills that transfer directly to traffic-pattern work, emergency landings, and safe maneuvering near the ground.
Analogy
Like pedaling a bicycle around a cone on a windy day—you lean more into the wind side so the circle stays the same size instead of being blown into an oval.
Grounding Statement
Picture one point on the ground as the center of a circle, and the airplane’s ground path as the circle drawn around it.
Intuition Check
The goal is not to hold the same bank angle all the way around. The goal is to hold the same distance from the ground point, so the bank and wind correction may need to change during the turn.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor demonstrated a constant radius turn around a single ground-based reference point by picking a silo and flying a steady circle around it, steepening the bank when the airplane was on the downwind side.
Example Sentence 2
With a direct crosswind, the pilot steepened the bank on the upwind side to hold the same distance from the reference point throughout the constant radius turn.