Hi, I've never been in these emergency situations, but have had a few
scenarios where it has come close enough to get me thinking what would I
do if the scenario was a touch worse (and, well, of course, how to avoid
getting that close in the first place). One thing I'd like opinions on
is the use of flaps. I don't see much talk of this in the POH. Now I
do mean to go up to altitude and practice some of this stuff, to see
what the airplane does, but would like to hear what the folks on this
group think about actions in these two dicey situations...

This is for C172R, with electric flaps going out to 30 deg..., if that
matters.


1 - Nice mostly stabilized approach, just a little steeper than the 3
deg VASI glideslope, 70K, 20 deg flaps, landing not assured yet, aiming
for the numbers since it is a shorter runway. Downdraft, windshear,
whatever makes me sink faster, so I push in the throttle... and the damn
engine sputters and quits.
Planned reaction: Intense focus on the airspeed, keep it as close to
60K, and _immediately_ retract flaps _but only_ to 10 degrees. Keep the
airspeed on 60K, expecting a need for back pressure due to the
now-retracted flaps. Then, 3-5 seconds later, divert attention first to
where ya gonna land, then second to why did the motor quit.
Rationale: the 10deg flaps will keep the slow flight without a stall,
and less drag than 20deg. Retracting from 20deg to 10deg will not
increase the stall speed much, and the only sink will be from the need
for more back pressure (anticipated). The goal here is to reduce drag
to increase options, ASAP.
If I was a little further out and wanted to stretch the glide more, I
think I'd accelerate to ~65K, and then pull all the flaps in as a last
step. With plans to dump them back out if the landing will be a crash,
i.e. won't make the runway.

2- Normal departure, 55K rotate, accelerate to Vy (~80K) when climbing
out of ground effect. For some reason, it's climbing like a dog, and
not sure going to clear obstructions.
First reaction: Slow down, just a bit, say 70 knots bringing one closer
to Vx to steepen the slope.
Second reaction (if that isn't going to be clearly sufficient): Dump 10
deg only of flaps, and slow right down to Vx, using the momentum to
climb up.
Rationale; I've always been taught that Vx climbs should be with 10deg
flaps to keep the stall further away. I don't see confirmation of this
in the POH (although the short-field obstructed takeoff is done with
10deg of course).

T