My first hour in a complex aircraft, the Beech V35B

On Thu, 26 Feb 2004 07:26:42 -0500, "Dennis O'Connor"
wrote:

Pete, ya did good....
Just a few parenthetical comments to stir the pot... you said the stall
warning horn went off 1 second before touch down and the owner said you were
slow... When would he recommend that you get the stall warning horn to go
off - after touch down? rhetorical question

Full stall landings are what you should be doing... With the wheels 6 inches
off, the nose should be up and the horn sounding when touchdown occurs...
The slower the speed at touchdown the lower the incident of landing
accidents...Now, this does not mean you should drag it onto the field with
the horn blatting from a quarter mile out and drop it from 6 feet up; but

Dennis, you just reminded me of a spot landing contest in which I took
part some years ago.

One of the planes was a Cherokee 6 and the guy had it loaded. He had
three of his buddies in there that must have put it near gross.

He dragged it in, chopped the throttle and dumped the flaps.
That sucker dropped like some one had pulled the rug out from under
it. Man what a sound. It wounded like about half a dozen garbage cans
full of beer cans were dropped on the runway.

We couldn't find any damage, but I have never seen a plane hit that
hard before with out blood being spilled.

get the plane established level with the runway and the throttle closed,
then keep it off, and keep it off, and keep it off, until the yoke is
against your chest and the horn is blatting before the wheels touch... Your
tires will thank you, the brake pads will thank you, and your pocketbook
will thank you... What the passengers think is not your problem...

Actually the Bo likes to do this. If you are't "too high" the horn
will sound and then it will just "settle" instead of drop. I've done
it from three feet up (I didn't say that) and it was just a "thump",
rather than a bang.

It's very gentle when the stall breaks if you are in ground effect,
unlike what it does on approach stalls when not in ground effect.
:-))

With a bit of practice he should be able to land and turn off in
roughly 1500 feet without using the brakes. (not on a hot day with
high density altitude though).


No, this will not result in those perfect greasers that make passengers and
many pilots think you are Lindy reincarnated, but perfect greasers are not
perfect landings... I can make a perfect greaser at Vso + 30, every time
or nearly so... Does that make it a perfect landing? assuming I don't
blow a tire, or melt the brakes to avoid going off the end

So, what's the rule, Vso + 5, then 5 additional knots for each child, and 10
for the little wifey, and another 5 just to be sure? -and the FBO has to
use a cannon to shoot me down before I end up in the next county -

The majority want to be able to glide in and that is a good 10 to 15
knots faster than the "desired" speed according to the POH.


Let me relate an incident from ~15 years ago, coming in to my home field in
my Super Viking.... End of a long day, including bouncing through the
thermals for some 600 miles, and I was pooped... Fatigue let me get a bit
fast (about 7 or 8 knots) on approach and as I set up the flare and began to
wait for the stall horn I went sailing past a pair of the locals waiting to
take the runway... I was embarrassed because I knew I was fast long runway,
not a problem and I knew they were judging my landing... The following
Saturday I am in the pilots lounge and they came in and began to regale
everyone with my "perfect greaser"... They were drooling with compliments,
"jeez, you went past with the wheels 3" off the ground for half the runway
and just greased it on. I shoulda hadda movie camera." They were sincere
and they thought it was a compliment... Most of the hangers on in the
lounge also were giving me thumbs up, etc... Except for one old A&P from the
tail dragger era who simply gave me a long look over his glasses as he took
a sip of his coffee... I didn't let on that I was embarrassed about it,
though I could feel my ears get a bit red...

OK, this has been fun and should bring the experts out of their sandbag
bunkers... For getting checked out in your Vee Tailed Doktor Killer, you
follow exactly what your instructor wants you to do... Just keep my comments
in the back of your head and after it is signed off to you, then do some
systematic testing by slowing up by 2 knots each time until you find that
speed that is the best compromise in getting the stall horn before
touching...

All this from a guy who fly's a twin and used to fly a Viking...er ...
Super Viking. :-)) Although the Bo will float with excess speed
you really have to work at it cuz the durn things slow down so quickly
once the gear and full flaps are out. Although the demonstrated
cross wind is only 12 knots or so some of them will handle up to a 25
knot cross wind if the pilot is capable.

The only thing I'd add, it compare your landing distances to the POH.
The Bo is one plane where you should be able to match the POH on
landing distance without being an unpteen thousand hour pilot. If the
instructor has you using twice as much distance to stop I'd ask him
why (politely and maintaining a PC decorum)

As Dennis says, Bo pilots as a whole tend to land much faster than
necessary. Think of it this way, compare the landing distances for a
172 and then look at the figures for the Bo. I think you'll be
surprised. Last summer I had a 172 come in behind me and try to make
the first turn off on 06 (terminal building). I easily made the turn
off while he went on by in cloud of tire smoke.

OK, one more thing... They tend to be a bit unforgiving with full
stalls until you get used to them. Then you can put one in a stall and
hold it there. Even think about touching an aileron and you
definitely will get a chance to practice unusual attitude recovery.
snicker. In stalls they are strictly a rudder only airplane.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com


denny

"Peter R." wrote in With the ownership
formalities almost complete, today was the first day
of my transition to a complex aircraft, a '73 Beech Bonanza V35B.