Flaps on take-off and landing

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Peter Duniho writes:

Not enough distinguishing features to make them useful landmarks.

But they are more likely to lead somewhere, aren't they? If you know
that you're above Interstate X, you could just follow it to wherever X
leads.

Though, that said, they can still be quite useful if you are in an
area with only a few roads, or you already have a pretty good idea of
where you are, or you cross-reference a road or railroad or similar
feature with some more distinctive feature.

How do you look out the window? It seems that the instrument panel is
pretty imposing in most aircraft, and often the nose of the plane
extends well beyond it, so it doesn't look like you'd be able to see
the ground straight ahead. Do you just glance out the side windows,
or what?


No more so than the hood of a car extends beyond the front window. You
can't see the ground immediately in front of you, but you can see the
ground in front of you. The instrument panel is only imposing when you are
not a pilot. After a while, it is no more imposing than the "instrument
panel" in your car. Even when you are on an IFR flight, if the weather
conditions are VMC, you've got to look out of the window. You also have to
be able to see in front of you to taxi to the runway. And unless you, the
aircraft, and the runway are all CAT III rated, you've got to be able to
see in front of you to land.

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

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