Flaps on take-off and landing

Johnson Bar


You can also use the flaps to "jump over" a fence or ditch
that you see at the last moment before a forced landing if
they are up for the glide.

But the flaps move the center of lift aft on the wing and
you need back elevator pressure to force the main gear
(trike) or tailwheel on the ground to prevent weather vaning
and skidding the wheels under braking. The flaps will tend
to lift the lift the tail and you need to follow through on
the flare to lever the balance point on the main gear.

A tailwheel airplane will use some forward elevator for a
wheel landing, but when the tail comes down [or is lowered]
you still need the stick full aft. Of course during taxi
you must use the ailerons and elevator to control for cross
and tailwinds.


"Cubdriver" usenet AT danford.net wrote in message
...
| On Thu, 14 Sep 2006 07:55:05 +0200, Mxsmanic

| wrote:
|
| Similarly, I retract the
| flaps completely as soon as I'm completely on the runway
for landing,
| so that the wind doesn't push me around. Is this the
correct way to
| do it?
|
| The first plane with flaps that I flew was a PA-18 Super
Cub. When I
| reached for the flap lever (it has a name, but I forget),
what I got
| was a rocket from my instructor in the back seat. "Don't
touch
| anything till you stop rolling!" Of course the PA-18 is a
taildragger
| and more sensitive to a pilot's inattention.
|
| A year later I took Damian Delgaizo's bush-flying course
in Andover
| NJ. The plane was an Aviat Husky with a similar flap
lever, and we
| made much greater use of it. The splendid trick was to fly
over a
| cornfield (whatever) in ground effect, then dump the flaps
as soon as
| the mains crossed the threshold of the (grass) field, so
that the
| Husky stopped within 250 feet.
|