At 21:36 19 August 2005, Bob Whelan wrote:

Having flown an HP-14 for 195 hours and a much-weenier-flapped
Zuni for
several thousand, all of it out west, and having in
both been concerned
about getting sucked into strong cloud streets, here's
what I did:

1) immediately slowed down (to some speed below which
full flaps could
easily/safely be put down);
2) put down full flaps;
3) changed course to the nearest cloud edge.
4) gave thanks I was flying a flapped ship!

Low stress, structurally safe. Even if one was so
foolish/bold/situationally-unaware as to go into the
cloud immediately upon
the pull-up to slow down, who among us canNOT simply
provide a stick input
until the stall, prior to losing control in the cloud?
If a pilot can do
that, s/he can put down the flaps after the speed bleeds
down. (Individual
mileage may vary. Not approved by the Insurance Institute
of America or the
American Bar Association.)





It would be a lot easier with airbrakes - just open
them.