-----Original Message----- From: Mark Langford Sent: Saturday, 11 March 2006 2:33 PM
One thing I did test pretty carefully was glide ratio. Bottom line from 8000' to 6000' is that I got 16.0:1 at 97 mph, which makes me feel pretty good, considering how draggy my plane is at this point. That's an average of 533'/min, so that tells me that I can climb out of the airport and probably make it back if the engine croaks on climbout, since my climb rate is an average of 750'/min from 800' to 5800' with full fuel at 90 mph IAS (which is very close to TAS at low altitudes). -----End Original Message----- Mark Don't forget the extra drag and lower glide ratio in your turn back to the strip. My test at a strip with plenty of fields to land in if it gets messy (engine won't go full power) has been: At 400 feet simulate engine out by closing the throttle and pulling carbie heat and fuel boost pump on. Nose down to maintain 85kts, 40+ degree banked turn to the left and by the time I have got about 200 degrees of the turn done (remember you have to "S" back on to the strip) I'm down to about 20 feet over the ploughed field next to the strip in ground effect. By the time I get to the boundary fence speed was back to 80kts, straightening up on the strip at 70kts for a successful downwind landing (Prior, I have done several downwind landings and take offs for practice, at one loooong strip I fly from regularly I do a downwind take off 90% of the time to save taxiing forever). I tried this test at 300 feet and there is no way back to the strip. At 400 feet if there were trees I would not try to turn back because I need the ground effect. At 500 feet it is comfortable, but trees, fence hight and strip width might influence me to not return to the strip. I tried different turn radius (angles of bank) and about 40 degrees gets me closest to the strip with energy and height to work with. I practice my emergency procedures a lot. I'm a glider pilot and relatively new to power. I'm convinced my engine is going to fail, it just a matter of when. I practice all my emergency procedures at altitude before I practice near the ground and if I get to 70kts and I'm not perfectly lined up to land then I go full power. PLEASE NOTE: ALL TURNS CLOSE TO THE GROUND MUST BE BALANCED TO AVOID SPINING (I'm told they should always be balanced :-). On the subject of angle of bank in a turn there is an argument for less angle to reduce the height loss. But this is not always the case as the distance covered to return to the strip is greater as the turn radius of the turn is more. For each aircraft there is an optimum angle of bank where the drag from the turn verses the turn radius getts you closest to the strip, from my limited experience the differes greatly. Like Mark is also trying, Nearly all my landings are a "power off" approach from next to the numbers. I live with side slips. That's my 2 cents worth for today, instead of doing work :-) Regards Barry Kruyssen Cairns, Australia k...@bigpond.com http://www.users.bigpond.com/kr2/kr2.htm
