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That is good info for everyone.
However, in my 235, 120 MPH is the best glide
speed. That equates to 104 knots. I do not want to be going any
faster in event of an off field landing, and most likely, I will leave the
gear up in that situation. On a runway, I would use the gear, but unless
it is a long runway, I will also keep the speed not in excess. Any speed
above about 80 MPH results is a bounced landing and significant nose
high attitude with the chance of dragging the rudder, and wasted runway behind
me.
Also, a thought in reference to when to drop the gear. 7 to 10
seconds is fine if the plane still has electrical. But if the dump valve
has to be used, that will not be enough time to get the gear down, especially if
the pilot has to crab the plane one or two directions to lock each or both mains
in place. The pilot is going to be a "busy beaver" in the last 30 seconds
of flight.
Gary Edwards
LNC2
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, January 23, 2010 12:20
PM
Subject: [LML] Airspeed sensing switch
/Auto gear extension / Engine out gear down Issue!
Terrence,
Mine is the same as yours only no auto gear
down. Only a warning light and horn for low speed and gear up.
I
would seriously consider changing your set up for the following reason.
This is a bit of a long winded response but it brings up a vitally
important point for the group.
Gear and flaps down too
early with a dead engine will have disasterous consequences every
time.
With loss of power, gear and flaps should stay up keeping
speed above 120 kts IAS until the last seconds before landing. My gear
down is a count to 7. Everyone should know how many seconds it takes to
get it down and locked as you will only have one shot to get it right in
an emergency. You wont' be able to do that with your gear set
up.
Many Lancair drivers (myself included until recently) have no
idea that these how bad these airplanes glide dragging the gear with a
windmilling propeller.
That is a deadly mistake. Dragging gear
and flaps, you need a steep nose down attitude to keep the airspeed at a
safe speed. Unfortunately, in that regime you can not flair the
airplane. When you try to flair without a little power these airplanes
just slow down and hit the ground. The situation is much worse if you
are heavy.
This is very important for every Lancair driver to
understand,
With a dead engine if
the gear and flaps are down too early (anything sooner than 10 seconds
before ground contact) the incident will most likely have a tragic
outcome. This is absolutely true.
I don't mean to preach
but I believe we would still have some good friends with us if we all
understood this better. We recently had a fatal crash at my field where
an experienced instructor died in a 210 in a similar circumstance which
got me thinking about this.
The ONLY way to get down safely on your wheels in our airplanes is to
keep and extra 15 or 20 KTS of energy (over a typical approach) all the
way to ground effect and then drop the gear and flaps and bleed off
speed and touch down. That extra energy is used quickly extending the
wheels and you will need to be touching down when it is gone or you are
toast.
This applies to me as much as anyone else..
Randy
Snarr
N694RS
--- On Fri, 1/22/10, Terrence O'Neill
<troneill@charter.net> wrote:
From:
Terrence O'Neill <troneill@charter.net>
Subject: [LML] Re:
Airspeed sensing switch needed
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Date:
Friday, January 22, 2010, 3:08 PM
Thanks for the info, Randy.
I have my airspeed sensing switch set a 90 knots, in the gear-up
circuit, so that no matter where the gear switch is, it can't raise
the gear unless the airspeed is greater than 90 knots.
Same on landing. I fi forget to put the gear switch to
down, the gear will come down anyway at 90 knots.
The only downside (no pun intended) is that should I want to make
a gear-su forced landing, I couldn't... and have considered adding a
bypass into the circuit.
Any thoughts on that/
Terrence
L235/320 N211AL
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