As a former long time PIK owner, I am partial to flaps-only. They are
great, and flexible, and facilitate lower energy landings. Fun like a
tailwheel.

But I've landed in extremely gusty/wind shear conditions on several
occassions. That is, with T-storms over or on the airport (stupid?
Yes.) Flying with spoilers and flaps saved the day. Upon reflection if
given a choice between the 2, it would have to be spoilers. In those
admittedly extreme conditions, airspeed excursions are not entirely in
one's control and spoilers-only are better than flaps-only no matter the
level of pilot proficiency.

I would just add that flap-only techniques appear to be very aircraft
specific. The Pik will float in ground effect all day long with 90
degrees cranked in. If you wait until ground contact to start
retracting them, you will not be able to meet a 10 foot spot standard.
Not applicable to similar types.

Mauledriver, aka Foureyes, aka Bill Watson
....I guess you can figure out why I now fly a Maule - Composite
construction, reflex flaps, no racing class, a tailwheel to enforce
proficiency and an engine to land where the Tstorms aren't....

Jack wrote:
and that is the main problem with flaps. Once you have them out and

your energy is down, there's little recourse. With spoilers, you can
always slap them closed and return to high performance configuration.

Flaps are great but spoilers are better.

This is the mentality we are talking about. The "spoilers are better"
mentality. What I see wrong with this is the energy shouldn't be blead
off until flair, just like spoilers. The flaps can be dumped if the
airspeed is still there, just like spoilers. The float will be minimal
if the flaps are cranked in as they should be. If you're using 45
degrees... yep... it's gonna float all the way down the runway. The
flaps should be pulled to max during flair if they're not there
already, and should be dumped only at ground contact to facilitate
aileron control for the rest of the landing run - which should be short
if you used the flaps and slowed during flair. Better than spoilers?
Not in my opinion. Spoilers better than flaps? No to that one as well.

Again, I would stress that either one can be used effectively, with the
flaps having a short field advantage for outlandings.


Both is best. You'll get no argument from anyone on that one.


Jack Womack