Definition
A turn in which the aircraft is banked at an angle of less than approximately 20 degrees from the horizontal. At these small bank angles, the horizontal component of lift is small, so the rate of turn is low and the radius of turn is large.
Plain English
A gentle turn where the wings are only tipped slightly. Because the wings are barely tilted, the aircraft turns slowly and sweeps a wide arc.
Context Anchor
You will see this term in basic flight training when learning how much to tilt the wings during turns.
Derivation
Shallow comes from Old English sceald, meaning not deep. Applied to a banked turn, it describes a small tilt of the wings — a turn that is not deeply banked.
Why Pilots Care
Shallow banked turns preserve altitude and airspeed with little effort, keep passengers comfortable, and reduce the risk of over-banking in light turbulence or during instrument flight.
Intuition Check
Shallow does not mean the airplane is low or close to the ground. Here it means the wings are tilted only a small amount.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor demonstrated a shallow banked turn to show how gently the aircraft changes heading at low bank angles.
Example Sentence 2
In the traffic pattern, all turns were kept as shallow banked turns to maintain a stable descent rate.