On Thu, 3 Jan 2008 07:18:27 -0800, C J Campbell
wrote:

On 2008-01-01 18:26:04 -0800, "Mortimer Schnerd, RN"
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com said:

Barry wrote:
My examiner called the no flap landing an emergency procedure.

From the Pilot/Controller Glossary:

EMERGENCY- A distress or an urgency condition.

DISTRESS- A condition of being threatened by serious and/or imminent danger
and of requiring immediate assistance.

URGENCY- A condition of being concerned about safety and of requiring timely
but not immediate assistance; a potential distress condition.

So I would say that the inability to extend flaps would be considered an
emergency only if it puts you in serious or imminent danger, or causes you to
be concerned about safety.


I would call it no more than an annoyance unless I have to stuff the airplane
into a really short strip. Emergency? That examiner has to be kidding.

He calls it an emergency because that is where a flap failure is in the
PTS. It is in the "Emergency Procedures" section. I doubt very much
that the examiner thinks it is really an emergency.
As was said earlier, no flaps can be a bit of an inconvenience, or
normal, but a split flap condition can really add excitement to your
day. :-)) They had an AD out for Bonanzas, Debonairs, and Barons for
this. Then someone managed to convince the FAA that even a split flap
condition in these is not an emergency although it might push the
adrenalin up there a bit. All of these planes have enough aileron
authority to overcome the split flap condition so they dropped the AD.

Roger (K8RI)

OTOH, people do manage to turn non-emergencies into emergencies. Every
now and then you hear of someone who smashes up a perfectly flyable
airplane simply because they managed to spear a June bug with the pitot
tube, or a door popped open in flight, or something minor like that.