Bob Whelan wrote:
"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message

Wallace Berry wrote:


So, I'd have to say that all the bad things I've been told about landing
flaps on gliders and V-tails are definitely untrue with respect to the
HP-16.

If you believe that, perhaps you haven't been told "all the bad things".
For example, I've had HP pilots tell me getting sucked up into a cloud
can be "awkward" to deal with when all you've got is flaps.

My first and only flight in an HP went like Mr. Berry's; even so, I hope
anyone beginning to fly a flaps only glider gets thorough checkout,
because there are ways to go wrong.


No offense, Eric, but speaking from the vantage point of one with all his

1-26 glide-ratio time in flaps-only ships (C-70, HP-14, Zuni), the more
powerful the flaps, the _less_ 'exciting' it need be if you allow yourself
to get sucked into a cloud.

The situations described to me were the difficulty of avoiding the cloud
entry in the first place. A pilot can open his spoilers at 90 knots and
begin descending immediately, but deploying the flaps at 90 knots first
increases your altitude, making it much harder to stay out of the cloud.
If you do lose control in a cloud, lots of drag is an advantage.

The main point I hoped to make is landings aren't the only way spoilers
and glide path flap operation differs, and one good landing isn't enough
to know the pitfalls, even for landings. I think everyone agrees the HP
series is a great ship to make off-field landings in the hands of a good
pilot.
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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA