In article ,
says...

Back when I was MUCH younger I flew A3-B Skywarriors.
(http://www.soaridaho.com/Naval_Pictu..._12-Aug-64.jpg)
It had aerodynamically actuated slats. They slid in and out using rollers
on a track. When sitting on the deck gravity would cause them to extend.
At normal cruising flight speeds the air resistance would push them in.
They popped out at high angles of attack. The system worked pretty well;
however, heaven forbid that one of them got stuck in while the other
extended!

Wayne
http://tinyurl.com/N990-6F



The Socata Rallye is a French SEP aircraft which also features moveable
and automatic retracting slats. The design started in the 60's and
soldiered on to quite recentely. There are still Rallyes (now renamed
Kolibri's) made in Poland.

However most Rallye's get old and notably the movable slats cause lots
of maintenance problems. In Europe one can find Rallye -officially
airworthy- in quantity for no money. They will however suck money
afterwards...

http://www.flyrallye.com/Rallye_FAQs/rallye_faqs.html

I think that STOL is overrated, most pilots don't need it. Bush piloting
is good when there is bush. Very few bush to be found in Europ, landing
a bush plane on a 2000 ft grass field is a bit overkill.

When STOL-airborn you suddenly are confronted with a slow aircraft
guzzeling gas. Here we pay AvGas 2.3-2.7 EUr per liter (10 to 15US$ per
USG. For that price we want to move quite a bit faster than we drive a
car :-)

Greetings,


Tom De Moor