At 09:49 AM 7/6/04 -0500, you wrote: > >You forgot option 3: if you are turning base to final, you probably dont have enough altitude to recover so bend over and kiss your a@% goodbye. > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Richard, You are right. If you exceed the A of A at which the wing stalls, and you are close to the ground while landing, you probably don't have enough altitude to recover but I think you missed my point. My point, and the two options, are to keep you from reaching the stall A of A - flying out of the situation with the aircraft under control, and living to tell about it. Generally, the aircraft we fly don't have a lot of excess power. They usually can not accelerate the aircraft to the speed needed to complete the turn we want and/or the airframe can not handle the lift generated at the higher speed we need. Again, this assumes we keep the wing below the stall A of A so we can maintain contol. Rolling wings level is the quickest option we have to generate the lift we need to check our rate of decent while keeping the wing below the stall A of A and keeping us from making dust clouds. That's why I consider it the best option when terrain permits. If terrain doesn't permit, you can only hope you have enough altitude so you can lower the nose and go to full power to get the necessary airspeed to complete the turn without reaching the stall A of A and/or the airframe failing ( wings coming off ! ) Accidents are usually the result of someone running out of options or not using all the options they had available. Thus the common phrases after an accident: " Man, there was nothing more I could do" or " Man, if I had just .............". It's usually the second one that we hear the most. Larry Flesner
