Yep, like I said, if you are down around a couple of thousand feet, other issues will probably be more urgent. But, if you have an airport within glide range, this will help you get there, even if you do not have a visual fix on it, yet. I am figuring that if the glide screen is pre-readied, it may actually reduce the mental load when the load already is suddenly rather large. Just use the procedure Ed recited.
But, on the other hand, I have never tried it. Never lost an engine. I did, however, get hemmed in by weather once, and needed a way out. Just pushing my "nearest" button gave me a good landing alternative that I could trust even though I could not, immediately, pick out the field. Reduced the pucker-factor tremendously. By coincidence, had my engine given out, the same airport would have been within glide range. Dave W -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Burkhead Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 2:53 PM To: ety Subject: RE: [ercoupe-tech] Coupe glide ratio Dan wrote: > I still that sounds like a lot to accomplish while picking a spot, > checking mags, carb heat, mixture, fuel, checking wind direction, > notifying someone on the ground, and, oh yes, flying the airplane. > I've had two engine failures and didn't need a gps screen to add to > my workload. Dan, You've certainly got your priorities straight. Here are a couple of situations in which Dave's glide screen could be useful: 1. You're cruising up high and you get a fan failure. You pull carb heat and establish best duration glide speed then hit the "nearest airport" button on the GPS and select it as the destination. Then, you hit the button to flip to the glide screen and see if you can get there. If so, you turn toward that airport. If not, then you are privileged to look below for the next best landing spot. If you are cruising low, then your option list is shorter. When I've been cruising up high in much of the country, I've found I could usually glide to the nearest airport with no power. My policy was to keep my finger on my location on the map. I usually kept another finger on the location of the nearest airport. Once every 3-5 minutes, I'd double cross-check my position against landmarks, move my location finger and decide on the new nearest airport. If the fan had stopped, I'd have been turning toward that nearest airport even while dropping the nose to best glide ratio speed. (This is a legacy of my second flight <http://ercoupe.org/Fly-in%20Reports/Gas-line-ice.htm> in my Coupe when the fan did stop.) 2. When over dangerous terrain, determine if you have glide to get away from the dangerous terrain to a landing spot. This is done while the fan is till keeping you (mostly) cool. Ed
