Slow flight

[Tomo]

How many of you practice, or do slow flight? As in, slow right down to basically just above stall and potter around, doing turns and what not.

 

Great to ensure you are doing balanced flight!

 

Reason I ask, is because some people you talk to, freak out if you slow down to much.

 

It's heaps better practicing up high, then 6ft off the ground when landing.

 

Please ensure you have height when playing around, and do your HASEL checks in case you do something wrong.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Yeah Tomo i try to do it a fair bit even in my very slow lazair. i can get it right down to about 18 mph and still have reasonable control. same when i flew the thrusters a lot. Taught the same in heavier aircraft as well. very important to learn the capabilities in this regime of what you are flying.

 

When i was at airventure watching arriving aircraft it was obvious that many did not know how to fly slow and even more did not know how to manouver at just above stall speeds. there were a lot of different types arriving and a KR2 ended up way to close to a slower aircraft, they slowed up and did a couple of shallow S turns still getting closer to the aircraft in front then it snapped and hit the ground nose down partially inverted. could see it coming at least 10 15 seconds before it happened. As we lose airports and the circuits get more crowded slow flight dirtied up manouvering should be a big part of training. no matter what you fly. one day you may have a power failure and have to get into somewhere tight and knowing just how far to push your aircraft in slow flight will probably mean the difference between walking away or getting carried away from the scene.

 

just my bit.

 

ozzie

 

 

[Exadios]

I practice slow flight (one or two knots above stall) every time I thermal. However, there is no requirement to do a HASLL. But the pilot should be competent in recovering from a spin - i.e. should have done about 30, or more, spin recoveries.

 

 

[Tomo]

Spot on Ossie, exactly what I was thinking, it's amazing how many people don't want to, or can't handle it. And the turning circle difference! My instructor got me to do a lot of slow stuff above stall, it not only is a good thing to know, it helps you understand your aircraft better when landing. Control response is a lot slower, and you need much bigger imputs for the same thing then if you were faster...

 

Exadias: Indeed, when gliding that's what you do often, and yes HASSEL checks aren't really an issue, I just said it as a precautionary point for others if they are going to practice it for the first time.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Tomo try this and screw the regs. go get some height shut down and stop the prop and slow up and start manouvering practise some flares clean and dirty you will be amazed at how much difference there is in control authority especially in the elevator between having power and deadstick.

 

 

[Guest Howard Hughes]

In the US, slow flight at less than 5 knots above the stall is part of both the PPL and CPL curriculum's!

 

 

[shags_j]

Every now and then when I am on my own in the training area I refresh myself on it a bit. Usually err on the side of caution though and stay a bit over stall...

 

 

[Relfy]

When I teach people to fly model a/c I often get two planes and set both of them up on a high final and get both to have a 'slow' race, maintaining altitude and heading. It gets the pilots used to the mushier controls and wakes up their throttle response thumb. After about ten runs, I find they improve their landing approaches a lot from this experience.

 

 

[XP503]

There was a great article by Jim Davis in a recent Australian Flying mag about flight below the stall, It's worth a read and the suggested aerial excersice is fun too, similar to a wing-over.

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Slow flight = Great fun! Did my BFR yesterday (after a 15 yr break) and did some slow flight as part of that. Jab170, no flap, full back trim, full back stick, stall warning going continuously at about 55Kts indicated as we turned first one way, then the other ....

 

 

[Guest rocketdriver]

Tomo try this and screw the regs. go get some height shut down and stop the prop and slow up and start manouvering practise some flares clean and dirty you will be amazed at how much difference there is in control authority especially in the elevator between having power and deadstick.

Hi Ozzie

FWIW.... I agree that it is good to know your aircraft and its control authority in every sort of situation, but I would be a bit concerned about "screwing the regs" ...

 

Why? Because if things go wrong, I believe you would probably find that any and all insurance would be invalidated leaving you exposed to all sorts of litigation and costs, to the extent that you could be bankrupted ..... and grounded!! thumb_down

 

Accidents are, by their very nature, unexpected, otherwise they would be called "deliberates" or something, and deliberately shutting the engine down in flight brings you to a situation where you will be on the ground in a few minutes if the thing doesn't restart. Fine in a motor glider which has a big glide ratio and airbrakes for approach control, and you have been trained for outlandings as a regular thing, but not so smart otherwise. IMHO.

 

I find a good rule of thumb to be, "Never do anything where a single mistake could lead to disaster". I always try to think things through and make sure that, as far as I can foresee, I need to have at least two things go wrong before I am on the edge of being in trouble .....

 

Regards

 

RD

 

 

[Peiler]

I've got to agree that the Jim Davis article was excellent - gave some very sound thoughts and views on how to improve the slow flight aspect, and also remove the 'fear factor' surrounding it.