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Old September 15th 06, 03:42 PM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Mxsmanic
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Default Flaps on take-off and landing

Tom Young writes:

Hm... Slow flight is accompanied by soft-feeling controls and less control
authority (i.e. you have to put in more input to get the aircraft to
respond, not less). By the same token, you have to put in more control to
stop the plane from rolling (or whatever) once started, so that might be
what is giving you that impression. Dunno.


That sounds like it. I just described it poorly. It feels mushy.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'envelope of safe maneuvering.' You
can't go as fast with flaps extended, because something might break, but you
can fly slower, because of the additional lift.


By envelope I mean the area of safety between two extremes, e.g., the
"coffin corner" of some aircraft represents a very tiny envelope,
since more than a slight movement in any direction may result in
irrecoverable instability.

I'll have to take your word for it -- I've never flown a big airplane, real
or simulated. In smaller airplanes where the propwash flows over the control
surfaces, your elevator and rudder are more responsive at higher RPMs.


I'm surprised that propwash would matter, since the airflow from the
prop should stay in roughly the same place no matter what the attitude
of the aircraft. That is, it would be like putting a big fan on a
sailboat to drive it forward.

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