I teach lots of power pilots, some airline and corporate jet
types, to fly gliders and they most often seem to have a problem judging glide
angles in the beginning.
Just a thought – if we all spend our flying careers flying
3 to 5 degree power on glideslopes, possibly the only way we could get the
perception of the angles required for a power off landing would be to get out
there and do them with a qualified instructor until we are proficient and then
practice frequently to retain that proficiency. I don’t believe it’s
the lack of speed that gets pilots into trouble but the inability to see the
safe decent angle referenced to the desired touchdown point. You can carry
20kts extra but if you judge the angle incorrectly you’ll use it all up
trying to reach the runway from too low an altitude.
As for carrying extra speed, who said you always get to land at
an airport on a runway. When the engine quits you get what fate serves you and
that hopefully will include at least a nice farm field. Carrying more speed
(energy) than necessary could make the difference between a survivable impact
and one that does not turn out so well.
Rick Lafford, CFIG
RV-6 N146RV
“I’m still learning from all the stuff that hasn’t
quite killed me.”
From: Lancair Mailing
List [mailto:lml@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of randy snarr
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 11:40 AM
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Subject: [LML] Re: Engine out gear down Issue/The procedure! This was a
wake up call for me..
|
Bill,
I am also doing my testing at 4500 ft elevation which is going to be
different than near sea level where you live.
But, what could be the harm in 10-15 extra knots in the last moments of a
dead stick landing?
We all know you can bleed that off before touch down. Better 10 knots too
much than 1 knot not enough. I have yet to hear of anyone that has landed
deadstick too fast and run off the end of the runway in an LNC2 or any other
airplane for that matter. Everyone is short. Everyone! That means everyone is
making the same mistake to varying degrees which is the point I am trying to
make.
The fatals are all in the not enough knots category usually turning over
close to the ground...
Usually Short...
This is obviously pure speculation but I believe 100 % of the low altitude
stall spin victims (some of which were experienced pilots) would gladly take
the extra 10- 15kts reserve energy and keep it as long as possible if they
had a second chance to perform the maneuver.
This is true in my airplane and my friend in the Legacy has proved this point
in his. It took him 5 or 6 attempts to finally get the procedure down right.
Even with his experience, he was shocked that such an aggressive move (
diving for the 1st third of the runway,15 knots extra speed and very late
with the gear and flaps/ bleed the speed to touch down) was needed to get the
airplane down successfuly. He has no doubt he would have badly
over estimated his ability to make the runway and would have certainly landed
tragically in the not enough knots group. I believe several of our friends
have tragically discovered this when they attempted it for the first time for
real.
I am no expert and I don't claim to be one in real life or on TV. My parting
thought is to do what the other high performance drivers do (TBM, Pilatus
ect) 1500 foot patterns, a little extra energy to land because airspeed
energy leaves our craft (especially dead stick and dirty) DRAMATICALLY more
than manyt of us realize.
Myself included...
IMHO
Randy Snarr
N694RS
235/320
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