Flightjock30 said:
I am just wondering if it is safe to apply a high degree of flaps while executing a turn to final at low speeds? I never heard anything about it being dangerous until today when a fellow pilot I know said it could cause a spin due to the assymmetry of simultaneously banking and extending all that drag out on the wing at approach speed. Just curious.
dude the only thing that causes a spin is a stall. No stall, no spin. Obviously we have stalls in training and no spin, thats because (not the MIT Aerodynamic explanation) the "ball is is the middle".
However, to spin you need to stall. And to stall you need to exceed the critical angle of attack. Stall is NOT dependent on power setting, "nose on horizon", IAS, etc. Your CFI can get deeper. In simple terms, STALL is a "wing concept" and independent of airspeed, engine/lack of engine, etc.
http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/topics/stall_spin.html
"low speeds" needs to be looked at in the POH. I recall a "stall speed vrs. bank angle" chart in the Cessna POH's. Take a look at that. Take the worse case scenario you might typically be in and make a mental note to "dont be slower than XXX when I am in a steep bank".
remember this is 1-G ops. The plane stalls at XX when it weights YY. If it weighs 2-YY's then the stall speed is ZZZ. Hence accelerated stall practice.
however, to expand on your question, might as well start flying like the professionals, which requires "stabilized approach" to exist prior to landing. According to the FAA, one component of this is to be in (per the POH) "landing configuration). This means no "extend flaps on short base" or similar stuff. I understand you are in a C-150 or C-152, and we can do things in that all day long you would never do in a Falcon 2000, however, might as well get into the habit.
I recommend (per POH) "flaps set", "approach speed/V-ref on target", "belts secured", "landing clearance pending/obtained", "correct runway confirmed", all to be done while you are still at least 2+ miles out for your type of ops.
Yes, yes, before I get flamed, this is not hard unchangeable rules. When you hit 500 TT, then 1000 TT, then 3000TT , etc, etc, you will adopt your own risk tolerances for yourself
Sounds like what he was trying to say was that if you get an asymmetric flap condition while extending the flaps and rolling into a bank, you may not notice it in time to recover when you are low to the ground.
this term, while it does happen, is one of flight school, part 141 school, hangar talk lore. I have never personally seen this on a high wing Cessna, altho I have
heard of them happening. I have never seen one tho.
I recommend return to basic aerodynamics and stall/spin concepts first.
another rule of thumb, dont force a plane to fly and dont force one to land. The plane will safely fly when its ready (V-R) and safely land when its ready (V-REF at 50 feet). It also needs XXX feet to safely do the above in. Yank it off early, land hot, "make it" stop in shorter than required field, and you will get away with it most of the time. However, make it a habit and it will bite you.
And don't try to abort a takeoff and hit the brakes on a flying airplane (past V-R). Its flying now. Don't try to force a plane to land if it's flying either (above V-REF). He11 yeah its floating, its still flying.
Oh yeah, gear UP once you are off the ground and airborne. Forget VSI-positive rate gibberish. Loose an engine while waiting on VSI and forget the gear and you may never get that magical positive VSI due to the down gear.
GEAR UP once you are airborne flying. You wouldn't be flying if you weren't positive rate.
Too many pilots these days simply drive airplanes, they dont fly them.