Definition
A turn flown at a moderate angle of bank, typically between approximately 20° and 45°, in which the airplane neither tends to roll out of the bank on its own nor to steepen the bank without pilot input.
Plain English
A turn with a moderate amount of wing tilt — not shallow, not steep. Once you set the bank, the airplane tends to stay there until you change it.
Context Anchor
Used when flying the legs and turns of a standard airport traffic pattern, especially when turning from one pattern leg to the next.
Derivation
“Bank” in aviation means the sideways tilt of the airplane, from the older idea of a sloped bank or raised edge. “Medium” means middle range, so a medium-bank turn is a turn with a middle amount of wing tilt.
Why Pilots Care
Provides consistent turn radius and spacing in the pattern without excessive load factor or altitude loss, supporting safe, predictable traffic flow.
Intuition Check
Do not read “bank” as a money bank or riverbank here. In this term, bank means how much the airplane’s wings are tilted during the turn.
Example Sentence 1
Turning from downwind to base, the pilot rolled into a medium-bank turn and held the bank steady until established on base leg.
Example Sentence 2
A medium-bank turn keeps the airplane at the proper distance from the runway while changing from downwind to base heading.