Larry Flesner wrote: > With 500+ hours I could not tell you what my actual touch down speed >is. The last time I look at the ASI on approach is when I cross the >numbers.
I pretty much do the same, but also make an effort to gather data such as this to pass on to others, as questions like this come up often. I can't afford to pay much attention to the GPS on my short and narrow runway, but on a calm day when I'm doing touch and goes at somewhere like KFYM that's a lot more forgiving, I'll watch the GPS and take my time waiting for it to gently settle. So much of what I read on the web regarding KR landing and stall speeds is physically impossible, and I do my best to report very accurate information without any wishful thinking added in. A case in point is as Larry pointed out, a case of air speed indicator error at the low end, which is fairly common. Jim Faughn wrote the definitive work on landing a KR, but he mentions seeing speeds as low as 40 mph at touchdown. Now that I've pulled the panel out and replaced it with something semi-"calibratable", verfied against GPS on a calm day (at altitude), I can clarify that 40 mph is an Indicated Airspeed, not a True Airspeed. To be fair, GPS didn't exist when he wrote that, so error is understandable. Having said that, no discussion on landings is complete without a read of Jim's excellent work at http://jfaughn.com/other/kr/uniquepartsofmykr/kr_landing.html. I'm not sure I'd change a word of it today except for the low speed part. But there's certainly no doubt that he was a lot better at landing N891JF than I am! On that topic, my wonder-wife read my mind and bought a GoPro-like Sony HDR-AS100V Action Cam for me for Christmas, which I'm in the process of mounting in N891JF, which should help nail down some performance numbers while the camera looks at the iEFIS and iFly720 during the landing. The camera even has it's own GPS built in, with a speed display option. I look forward to the information I can gain from this, as well as the critique of my landings and other antics. And maybe I'll capture a few more sunsets... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com http://www.n56ml.com
