mdoerr wrote:
In some places this would be called a wide circuit. When I was towing gliders, there was about a minute or less from dropping the cable to touchdown. As the runway was only 520m there was no way to drop and land afterwards. So you had to fly a very very short circuit (good thing we are not talking electronics).
I’ve done glider towing too, and you can’t compare how towplane landings are done with any “normal” traffic circuit, be it narrow or wide.
alioth wrote:
….with the wheels down, every retract I’ve flown tends to have the glide profile of a safe with the door open.
I laughed. Thanks.
Howard
EuroFlyer wrote:
The reason people keep fiddling wirh flaps while still on the runway is because when you learn touch and goes you need to retract flaps on the runway to take off again. It is one of the many bad habits that registers in the brain from PPL training days.I did it yesterday again and got a shitstorm by my IRI and rightly so ;)
its also on some airplane’s flight manual – PA28-200 manual says: “As the airplane slows down, the nose should be eased down and the brakes applied. There will be less chance of skidding the tires if the flaps are retraced before applying the brakes.” Anyway, the guy i rent it from suggests that I always use full flaps for braking to reduce the brake wear ..
Airborne_Again wrote:
I’ve done glider towing too, and you can’t compare how towplane landings are done with any “normal” traffic circuit, be it narrow or wide.
Me too 
Towing too much, and you don’t have the patience to fly a normal circuit pattern any more. At many places there is not enough room for circuits either. At hour “off field” airport (Øian), there is steep rising terrain on all sides except from NW, the strip is 16/34. At 16 you just enter final at any suitable point, no problem, but 34 is another matter. No matter what you do, you will be at treetop height, and a normal circuit is not possible. Downwind is done almost straight above the strip, then you have to improvise a 180 degree turn (above the treetops), and enter final (again at treetop height). Perfect for a Cub type, slightly more demanding for a Cessna type, but really no problem once you forget about normal patterns. It’s also possible to fly up the whole valley, turn on the planes above, then slid down the valley as a long final.
Here is a video from the cockpit of a Widerøe dash 8 on a normal visual approach to Honningsvåg. You can start at about 3:50 for the base and “final”
Some circuits in Switzerland are very tight indeed.
And I made one even tighter when approaching a noise sensitive airfield (well, they all are) and aimed to stay away from the village by going base before it shortening the final significantly… worked but when my then right seater (another of my Mooney pilot flock) commented after landing that it was quite a sporty approach I realized I should have gone around that village….
Howard wrote:
Howard 17-Jun-18 10:48 #22
I laughed. Thanks.
You might also like this, which I spotted in another place a while back :-)
alioth wrote:
You might also like this, which I spotted in another place a while back :-)
Excellent, and very true of the PA28R-180 and particularly the PA28R-200. Not so of PA28R-201.
Reminds me the last time I did power-off approaches in a -200 at Auburn Muni (CA), and seeing VSI in excess of -1000 fpm on final. Can’t say I was very fond of that airplane.
Aviathor wrote:
and seeing VSI in excess of -1000 fpm
Any retractable, wouldn’t you keep the gear retracted and pull the prop full backward ?
Should give you VSIs around 700-900.
If i lower the gear and leave the prop in cruise, the Bonanza has a VSI of 1500fpm. Not good, and not POH.
It all depends on where the desired landing field is. Not all engine out situations require maximum range.
…and at some point the gear needs to come down and the prop should go to fine pitch just in case…
And the -200 has a very high descent rate even with gear up.
