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Flying slow, on the bad side of the L/D curve


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Speedbrakes on gliders are wonderful things the Jab doesn't have. You can get away with anything on a glider, I have seen guys rocking in their seats to stay in the air for the last k or so, with no energy left. OR you can come over the fence at 1500 ft and still only use 300m of runway . ( no kidding....  one overcast day some of the slightly bored guys decided to do an unauthorized competition, of who could be highest over the fence and still stop at the piecart.)

The Jabiru is a lot harder to land, you need to have the speed and altitude sort of correct for most of the circuit. So, rf guy, your postings are quite correct . Actually the Jabiru is harder to land than a Pawnee or a Chipmunk, both of which have better shock absorbing u/c's.

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Most good instructors will tell you that a good landing begins with the setup on downwind, getting the speed and descent rate right, keeping your turns right making sure your inside wing is well above stall so that when lined up on final you have your aiming point right and continue to adjust speed and descent rate to grease on at your aiming point.

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I always thought a ‘good landing’ is one where the pilot and passenger(s) can walk away after landing; and a ‘very good landing’ is one where the aeroplane can take-off again after the landing.

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  • 1 month later...

Well guys I am a bit slow to post about this thread and the video of the pilot who stalled his STOL Aircraft.

 

To give the pilot a little bit of credit, it seemed he was starting to stop the rotation by the use of the correct rudder input as the wing hit the ground.  

 

But, I am surprised no one on the forum has commented why the wing drop happen, besides the obvious, that the wing was stalling.

 

What I see was pilot error, not because he was flying to slow, but you can see the pilot used right rudder as either the right wing started drop or this made the right wing drop and stall as the pilot used right rudder for a split second. That's all it takes to make a wing drop on the stall. The pilot should have instinctively used left rudder as the right wing started to drop.    

 

If you can't see the rudder, look at the video on full screen and watch the rudder input just before or as the right wing drops. 

 

If you are going to fly on the stall like this, go up and practice, practice and practice again your rudder control on the stall with an appropriately trained instructor and aircraft. They will teaching you how to picking up your stalling wing and then the other wing as it starts to stall and then the other wing as it starts to stall again and so on.

 

Practice this with height until you can use the correct rudder input and control instinctively the aircraft's roll from its stalling wings and doing this without using any ailerons inputs, which just stalls the wing even further.    

 

With this manoeuvre is called a "Falling Leaf" and it trains you to step on the correct rudder input instinctively with timing as the wing starts to drop, not has dropped.   

 

Jim188

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There was a stol plane crash near here and the reason was that a "sudden" tail wind dropped the airspeed below stalling.

This can happen when there are thermals around, or in this case, a sea-breeze at shallow levels.

I agree about the rudder, but loss of airspeed is worse.

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2 hours ago, facthunter said:

If you have no stall margin then you have no stall margin. (NO room for something unexpected).. If you fly like that, one day it will bite you. It's only a matter of time. Nev

Totally agree Nev. Margins apply to all aspects of life (especially activities that involve transportation of humans exceeding walking pace) Hence the phrase 'Living on the edge'

Edited by kiwiaviator
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Yep, you to guys are so right if you continually push the envelope with no understanding or training of how things can bit you. This is why I was so surprised to read this pilot was the selling agent for the aircraft type and then seeing what his control inputs were to this wing drop. 

 

He's one lucky guy and everyone should lean and have a good look at the rudder work and if you don't understand what you are looking for, you better not be a STOL pilot until you do understand what you are looking for. 

 

 

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