Glide Speed - Flaps Up v. Down

[Lead Sled]

Going back to what Goose Eggs said about polar curves...

Normally the penalty for flying faster (with in reason) than the appropriate glide speed is less than flying slower. You should always follow the POH in matters like this; but when there's a discrepancy, it's probably better to err on the high side.

When it comes to an actual off-airport landing, the critical factor is to fly the airplane to a stop. You'll probably want to make the initial touchdown as slow as you can - consistant with aircraft controllability. Remember, if you double the touchdown speed, you multiply the kinetic energy four times. The survivability of a crash is a function of how quickly the kinetic energy is dissipated. If you’re lucky you’ll have a flat smooth surface, but throw in some rocks, trees, etc. and you quickly see why survivability, off-field, can be a big question.

Back to polar curves...

All glider pilots are familiar with them. I've said this before, if I were King of the Universe I would make glider time mandatory for all pilots. The "feel" that you develop when learning to fly sailplanes will help you in all of the fixed-wing flying that you do. The confidence that you develop in the ability to handle an engine failure will be in valuable.

'Sled

 

[Xavier]

I fly the 152 and my instructor says pitch for 60. He has never said anything about pitching for 65, but I don't use the checklist but every once and a while because he put a bit hint on memorizing the checklist rather than having to bust out the checklist every time even on practice, and he always told me 60, and that is also what it says on the book I study for it.

 

[MTpilot]

what they mean is...

They want you to pitch for best glide at first (65) of course you don't put in flaps until you've got your field made, then once you have full flaps they want you to pitch for 60 because the airplane will handle fine at that speed with flaps, also you will hit the barn, ditch, fence, irrigators, trees, rocks, water or whatever going slower. The idea is to get minimum safe airspeed before you touchdown, so that you can survive your poorly planned approach. Make Sense?