Doran Jaffas wrote: > I have flown several low drag / clean aircraft without flaps and > never had any unnerving problems with landing.
Then you may not have tried to get a KR to stick to the ground when trying to get into a short strip! > My personal opinion banded on some experience is to fly the airplane > as intended. Get comfortable with the SLOWER SPEEDS and then determine > what > / if anything else one needs or wants to add. I put 1130 hours on N56ML and did over 2800 landings, most of them at the absolutely bottom of the speed envelope, putting it very close to the end of the runway (and occasionally a little short of it) so I could stop it ASAP...and that's using barn-door flaps! And yes, I usually slipped it fully all the way down with my huge rudder, and straightened it out maybe a second or two before touchdown. I'm familiar with that, but I still used my flaps almost EVERY landing. The few times I didn't use them (just to stay proficient), I felt like I was landing downwind! > THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH IN AERODYNAMICS. Yes, but there are some "no-brainer" compromises! > All aircraft have speeds that work best as they are intended. Whether > a larger engine or a set of drag inducing flaps or belly board one MUST > ALWAYS REALIZE THE CHANGE will affect something else. I'm almost finished putting a 1/4" thick speed brake on the belly of N891JF, and the total installation, including actuator, will weigh a little more than three pounds. That's a trade I'll take. The point of flaps is to both provide more lift, yielding a slower landing speed, and drag, to help you slow it down on descent and while landing. A belly board doesn't give you the lift, but the drag is vital during landing, especially during ground effect, not to mention improved visibility over the nose, which improves safety. Almost everybody who has flaps or a belly board loves them. But if you don't want to trouble yourself with that compromise, nobody will beat you up for it... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
