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Cross wind and flaps

huv wrote:

“And of course a high performance wing like the SR2x’s needs a much higher AOA when you land it without flaps.”

Yes, exactly.

Nonsense. It only means you have to keep it floating to get the speed down to something you are comfortable with. The wing is optimized for cruising at high speed at high wing loading (relatively speaking), and is good for nothing else.

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

LeSving wrote:

It only means you have to keep it floating to get the speed down to something you are comfortable with

And while the speed bleeds off, the nose rises, and the tail gets close to the ground.

The stall happens at a more nose-up attitude with flaps up than with flaps down – that’s why tailstrikes are often related to flaps-up landings.

huv
EKRK, Denmark

I think this is about definitions and semantics.

Yes, you can let it float to get the speed down, but if you want to touch down at stall speed, or close to it, you will have a higher angle of attack than with flaps. And that’s the reason why many high performance airplanes suffer a tailstrike at no flap landings if the pilot is not very careful.

From the FAA Pilot Training Handbook:
With the flaps retracted and the power reduced for
landing, the airplane is slightly less stable in the pitch
and roll axes. Without flaps, the airplane will tend to
float considerably during roundout. The pilot should
avoid the temptation to force the airplane onto the run-
way at an excessively high speed. Neither should the
pilot flare excessively, because without flaps this
might cause the tail to strike the runway

Last Edited by Flyer59 at 10 Jul 15:52

huv wrote:

I guess your question explains the common misconception.

I guess so. Even though I certainly understand the difference between power (required) and thrust (drag), it is not intuitive for me to apply that knowledge.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

huv wrote:

And while the speed bleeds off, the nose rises, and the tail gets close to the ground.

The stall happens at a more nose-up attitude with flaps up than with flaps down – that’s why tailstrikes are often related to flaps-up landings.

You can do the same with a C-172, and it’s done all the time. The tie down hook in the tail hits the ground and is pushed into the fuselage. In any tail wheel aircraft, you can also land it on the tail wheel first by overdoing the flare. It is a simple matter of landing at the right speed. It is nothing special about the Cirrus, it’s just that it has higher wing loading, and the speed at touch down is much faster than in a Cub.

Another thing is that lots of aircraft have a skid in the tail, so it’s not a problem.

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway
55 Posts
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