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At 07:39 PM 12/5/02 -0600, Sydney Cohen wrote: >DON'T drop into the low lift/high drag airspeeds. Any CFI should be >alarmed by that technique to lose altitude. If you encounter even the >slightest amount of wind shear you are in big trouble. On short final, sure. But if you are high and hot on short final (in any airplane) you should maybe go around. Screwing around with slips or configuration changes at that point is just asking for trouble. On long final, there is nothing wrong with dipping down to 72 MPH or so and letting her sink to the glide slope. Shove the nose down decisively well above the point where you want the sink to arrest and carry on. It's better to get a high approach sorted out on long final anyway, so that you can concentrate on the important things (like the hideous wind shear at N40) at that point. > There are two approved methods to lose altitude if you find you are too > high on final: Approved? By whom? I'm just curious as to who the approving authority is here. > 1. Do slight S turns on final while keeping the power at idle. The > turning forces bleed off lots of altitude while the airspeed still stays > high enough to get you out of trouble. I contend that this is the same thing as generating sink with lower airspeed. You're taking energy out of the plane. The turns at low speed alter your lift vector such that it causes you to (guess what?) sink. I further contend that S-turns on final generate their own control issues...such as not being lined up with the runway and/or not understanding just how much crab to crank in to deal with any cross-wind, because you haven't been flying the extended centerline. They will also similarly alarm your young CFI, who will remind you that if you are low and slow and turning, you will surely spin and die in a fiery inferno in the multi-purpose room of an elementary school during rehearsals for the Christmas pageant which elementary school coincidentally has the only nuclear powered heating system in the country, located beneath the multipurpose room and which will then melt down causing the entire area to have to be evacuated for the next 1200 years. >2. Lower your side windows and hold your left arm out with the palm of >your hand flat against the airflow. Have your passenger do the same with >his/her right arm. The extra drag reduces your airspeed so you lower the >nose enough to keep the airspeed up (I use 75 mph on final) and then you >lose altitude quickly without getting fast. Bring your arms back in when >you are around 50' above the runway. You may look funny to folks >watching, but it really works. Your arms act as flaps. Ercoupe flaps work, and are a fine short-final technique (I don't use them on long final. One problem I've had when using them is the actuating mechanism when using full flaps. First the passenger doesn't believe what I want him or her to do. Then it is rather difficult to get them to understand that you want that arm pulled in RIGHT NOW. Especially when they are moving their hand up and down in the slipstream while making airplane noises in the intercom. I believe it is most correct to say that whatever goofy method you use to compensate for not having flaps and/or rudder pedals and the fact that you've misjudged your final approach altitude in the up direction, don't lose control of the plane, and don't get yourself into a box you can't get out of...such as 50 feet above the ground and behind the power curve. Greg ========================================================================== ==== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
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