Crab, slips, and crossed controls

"Amine" wrote in message
...
Hey,

Some of you may have heard of Air Canada 143 [http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=dfJIpA2gv1g] which ran out of fuel in mid air and had to make
an .

Oh, the Gimli Glider...

The
pilot's makeshift technique was to engage a sideslip to decelerate the
aircraft (which by then had no flaps, and only minimal hydraulics).

Ok, I wouldn't describe it as a "emergency descent at velocities way above
the normal limits" - they were trying to glide into a former airport for a
landing. Since they didn't have any flaps, they had to come in faster than
usual and the pilot used a slip to control the glide angle (not decelerate)
since he didn't have flaps / spoilers / power to work with.
Nothing makeshift about that.


Now I thought that sideslips (and crabs--whatever the difference
between the two is...) were only to be used to handle crosswinds. I
didn't read anywhere that they could be used to bleed excessive speed,
although it makes sense from an aerodynamics perspective. Anyone out
there used sideslips for anything other than crosswind approaches?

It was used in this case to control the glide angle - a typical thing to do
in aircraft without flaps and sometimes a handy tool if you do have flaps.
I used to fly a Cessna 120 which didn't have flaps - I would slip in to a
landing more often than not.

But a very aggessive side slip tend to be uncomfortable for passengers.

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
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