Testing your glide. Are people doing this?

Whenever there is somebody holding on the apron, waiting for me to land when
I'm on downwind, I simulate an engine out. Generally these folk would have
plenty of time to takeoff ahead of me, but maybe they're students or just in
no real rush, but I hate to make them wait any longer than necessary. As
soon as I hear them call that they're going to wait for me to land, I pull
the power.

mike regish

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:4Wtmb.25865$HS4.93467@attbi_s01...
Folks should go out and practice this a bunch. Early in the morning
high
above
the airport, they should simulate a glide onto the runway, to get a feel
for
the descent rate, speed, angle, etc. etc.

Now that we monitor Unicom at all hours, I can tell you that it is VERY
rare
to hear someone practicing any "engine out" procedures over our airport.
Even though we have a very active bunch of flight instructors, we almost
never hear anyone announce this extremely important routine.

Now, perhaps they are taking students to a smaller, less busy airport
nearby -- but I doubt it. I think it's just one of those things that new
pilots do with their instructors over rural areas, and then rarely
practice
again. And they almost never do it over an airport.

I know I haven't done the "engine out" routine for a looong time -- but I
plan to at our next opportunity. Thanks for the reminder, Montblack!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

mike regish wrote:

Whenever there is somebody holding on the apron, waiting for me to land when
I'm on downwind, I simulate an engine out. Generally these folk would have
plenty of time to takeoff ahead of me, but maybe they're students or just in
no real rush, but I hate to make them wait any longer than necessary. As
soon as I hear them call that they're going to wait for me to land, I pull
the power.

In my aircraft, this results in a faster approach. Is this the case with yours?

George Patterson
You can dress a hog in a tuxedo, but he still wants to roll in the mud.

(harper) wrote in
ink.net:

snip
You ever taxi a taildragger down a road on a
rope behind a car? Kind of fun.

Must have generated some GREAT looks from the other guys on the highway
towing boats and U-Haul trailers!

"ShawnD2112" wrote in
:

snip

To get back to my original post, which I hadn't realized was causing so
much followon conversation, my point was that most of the activity I
see at our local airport involves people taking off, going away to land
somewhere else, and then coming back. Two flights, two landings, lots
of cruise in the middle. And they usually take the longest and widest
runway unless the wind is dramatically favoring one of the other
shorter ones (onto which a local pilot regularly puts a KingAir!).

snip

I think there are several types of pilots. Some pilots learn to fly with
the intent of obtaining a career in aviation. Others learn to fly with
intentions like what I believe you described in your earlier post - to
learn to control the machine like a racecar. Yet others learn to fly as a
means of transporting themselves further, faster.

I happen to be one of the latter. And so since I got my PPL, it is true
that MUCH of my flying involves takeoff, cruise, and landing. But I would
tend to agree with the poster who said that piloting skill is directly
proportional to frequency. Many pilots fly infrequently and their skills
suffer. Others fly more frequently, and will find "excuses" to fly even if
the flight is not within the scope of their original intentions. (ie: If I
find that I haven't flown in a couple of weeks, I will hop over to the
airport and spend an hour practicing maneuvers or T&Gs.)

But I think some pilots get into a comfort zone, think their skills are OK,
and don't do much practice again until their next BFR, if at all...

Of course, I have no actual evidence of this.. Just personal opinion based
on stories I have been told by instructors, FBO owners, and others that I
have talked to... You know, the stuff urban legend is made of!

Judah wrote:
(harper) wrote in
ink.net:

snip

You ever taxi a taildragger down a road on a
rope behind a car? Kind of fun.

Buddy of mine has welded up a hitch that attaches to the tailwheel.
Hook up the hitch, take off the wings and you can go as fast as you want
down the road.

Newps wrote:

Buddy of mine has welded up a hitch that attaches to the tailwheel.

I built the same sort of thing for my Maule. Hooks to the tailwheel spring and
my trailer hitch.

George Patterson
You can dress a hog in a tuxedo, but he still wants to roll in the mud.

Good thing to do after you have verified your glide (I found the book
numbers on my 172 quite close) is to go to your typical altitude and pick
out a landmark and appropriate distance away. Hold your arm out, put the
tip of your thumb on the horizon, and note where the landmark falls. With
some correction for wind, you now know that you can glide to anything
within
that radius.

Well, Roger, on a flight to Pella, IA (yep, home of the window manufacturer)
today, I practiced some slow flight and turns around a point, for the first
time in ages.

Not only was it educational for myself and my two young passengers (my son
and his school buddy), but it was fun, too. We were able to do several
turns around a huge fire out in rural Iowa, which gave the kids something to
oooh and aaah about. Seeing a dozen fire trucks from the air is always a
good thing for a couple of 13 year old boys to yack about at school
tomorrow... ;-)

Thanks for the reminder that all of our flights shouldn't be
"droning-to-brunch" flights...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In rec.aviation.owning Happy Dog wrote:
: "Real world" is with the engine out. Prop stopped or creating drag by
: windmilling.

... as was done on my 4th lesson for my PPL with my instructor.
Not only stopped the engine, but made me slow down to actually stop the
prop. Freaked me out, but he said it was to "prove the airplane doesn't
stop flying when the engine quits." Of course I knew that already, but it
was cool nonetheless. Very (ominously) quiet, too.

-Cory



--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
************************************************** ***********************

That is the problem practicing emergency procedures in the airplane, you can
make a real emergency out of a pretend one.

Mike
MU-2


"Happy Dog" wrote in message
. ..
"Montblack"


"Real world" is with the engine out. Prop stopped or creating drag by
windmilling. (Little low? Just use a slightly more aggressive engine
warming.)Which makes me wonder: What if someone, trying this (and it
doesn't sound completely crazy), couldn't restart the engine? (And had a
less than perfect landing...) Is it just the same as a glider making an
off
field landing accident?

le moo

Do you mean faster airspeed or faster pattern? Airspeed wise, from where I
usually do them on downwind, which is usually abeam the numbers (I know,
it's easy from there) I don't really need to trim to Vbg. I usually trim to
75 mph, which is my normal approach speed. There is no Vbg published for my
plane, but short wingers who have tested (or tried to) have figured Vbg is
somewhere between 75 and 85 mph. This seems about right to me. Since I'm
usually alone when I do these, I use the lower speed-75-so it works out to
about the same airspeed as a normal approach. Actually, when I'm alone after
burning off some fuel

As for time in the pattern, I usually end up losing a lot of altitude pretty
quickly in the turn folllowed by a pretty healthy slip all the way to the
ground, so my time in the pattern is greatly reduced. I will also, depending
on the wind, either land long so I can get right off the runway at the last
taxiway or, if there is enough wind that I don't have to lay on the brakes
too heavy, land short so I can get off the first taxiway.

mike regish

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


mike regish wrote:

Whenever there is somebody holding on the apron, waiting for me to land
when
I'm on downwind, I simulate an engine out. Generally these folk would
have
plenty of time to takeoff ahead of me, but maybe they're students or
just in
no real rush, but I hate to make them wait any longer than necessary. As
soon as I hear them call that they're going to wait for me to land, I
pull
the power.

In my aircraft, this results in a faster approach. Is this the case with
yours?

George Patterson
You can dress a hog in a tuxedo, but he still wants to roll in the
mud.