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Old February 17th 21, 05:21 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Eric Greenwell[_4_]
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Default The Yellow Triangle

Hank Nixon wrote on 2/17/2021 6:08 AM:
On Tuesday, February 16, 2021 at 9:04:14 PM UTC-5, wrote:

....
T

In my experience, the minimum approach speeds given in the POH and labelled with the yellow triangle are pretty spot on where they need to be. My ASW-20B (48 kts) was perfect. My ASW-27 (54 kts) could be 50-52. Not really a big deal. These are recommended minimums. Like any other glider pilot I have had occasion to fly much faster approaches, appropriate to conditions. Best practices are scenario dependent.

I typically fly 65 in the pattern in a glass ship (unless I need to loiter), I choose whatever speed I need to for my approach. In light conditions, it's usually right on the yellow triangle. I fly in the land of small-ish agricultural fields. It just makes sense to be good at this.

If you want to assess your margin, put the ship in landing configuration at altitude and do a slow deceleration to full stall. You might be surprised.

T8

I'm with Evan on this.
The modern ships, with more powerful brakes than the old days, and many with flaps, allow adding some margin with the ability to shed
the excess energy fairly quickly when needed. Not so much on the older ships where speed control is important.
Going into a field, all things being equal, I will be at the yellow triangle coming over the border to the field.
It is important that this be a decision and not habit because we revert to habit in stress situations and that can lead to excess energy going into a tight space.
My observation is that more ships get broken due to too much energy in field landings than too little.
Flame suit on.
UH


A long time ago, the Brits had the rule "it's better to hit the far hedge slowly than the near
hedge quickly". I wonder if they still find that rule useful.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1