PING! Mike Rapoport

If the plane was that nose high on a normal descent you would be at full
power already with little of no power to arrest the descent. As you go
slower and lower your options decrease. I suppose it would be different if
there were a 450hp turbine up front :-).. When you are down around 50mph,
very small changes in airspeed result in large changes in vertical speed and
the the only way to reduce your (downward) vertical speed is to push the
nose over and accellerate. Since we are talking about flying in and around
mountains, there is always some variation in wind.

In theory you are right but, in the real world I an unwilling to risk
totalling the airplane because the wind decreased 5kts at 100agl.

Mike
MU-2


"jsmith" wrote in message
news
Why do you need to flare?
Will this work?
Hold a nose high pitch attitude with power to control the descent rate
(and keep from stalling). Allow the tailwheel to contact first and the
mains will follow as you reduce power. You should be able to fly below 50
mph indicated.

Thanks Mike.
Us/We "flatlanders" have a tendency not to think about such
considerations. :-))

Mike Rapoport wrote:
In theory you are right but, in the real world I an unwilling to risk
totalling the airplane because the wind decreased 5kts at 100agl.

jsmith wrote:
Thanks Mike.
Us/We "flatlanders" have a tendency not to think about such
considerations. :-))

Maule pilots do, flat land or not.

George Patterson
Whosoever bloweth not his own horn, the same shall remain unblown.

I can get my 65hp Champ down to 45 mph no wind, with power and the nose
high. I thought the Courier with all it's high lift devices and
horsepower per weight would do better.

George Patterson wrote:
jsmith wrote:

Thanks Mike.
Us/We "flatlanders" have a tendency not to think about such
considerations. :-))


Maule pilots do, flat land or not.

George Patterson
Whosoever bloweth not his own horn, the same shall remain unblown.

The Courier can get down to 28mph in level flight at sea level at max
continous power. This minimium speed goes up with density altitude because
power goes down. The problem with using these extremely low speeds for
approach and landing is that there is no way to slow the descent except by
lowering the nose, so once you get close to the ground, you are a passenger.
My approaches at 50mph use about 12" of MP so I still have a meaningful
amound of power left if I need it. There is also the issue of taking off
again.

As I said earlier, the Couriers capibilities are like layers on an onion. I
am still in the first few layers. The JAARS pilots that demonstrate Helios
at OSH and elsewhere can do amazing things with the airplane but they have
thousands of hours flying Helios in and out of very challenging places.

Mike
MU-2
H295

"jsmith" wrote in message
...
I can get my 65hp Champ down to 45 mph no wind, with power and the nose
high. I thought the Courier with all it's high lift devices and horsepower
per weight would do better.

George Patterson wrote:
jsmith wrote:

Thanks Mike.
Us/We "flatlanders" have a tendency not to think about such
considerations. :-))


Maule pilots do, flat land or not.

George Patterson
Whosoever bloweth not his own horn, the same shall remain unblown.

Is there a Vietnam Veterans Courier Pilots group?
That's a source of information you might tap into.
Does JAARS offer Courier pilot training courses?

jsmith wrote:
I can get my 65hp Champ down to 45 mph no wind, with power and the nose
high. I thought the Courier with all it's high lift devices and
horsepower per weight would do better.

George Patterson wrote:

jsmith wrote:

Thanks Mike.
Us/We "flatlanders" have a tendency not to think about such
considerations. :-))



Maule pilots do, flat land or not.

George Patterson
Whosoever bloweth not his own horn, the same shall remain unblown.

"jsmith" wrote in message
...
Is there a Vietnam Veterans Courier Pilots group?
That's a source of information you might tap into.
Does JAARS offer Courier pilot training courses?


No and no. It isn't really a training issueanway. Anybody can see what
needs to be done (land slower) and how to do it, it is just a matter of
getting comfortable and proficient at the low speed end of the envelope. It
is the same as bush pilots in AK flying final at 1.1Vso plus or minus one
knot. It just takes a lot of time and practice to get to that level of
precision and you have to approach the limits slowly since a being a few
knots fast or slow could result in a crash.. The fact that there are a lot
of crashes in these types of operations demonstrates this.

Mike
MU-2

Mike,

Do you have a website? I sure would like to read some of your experiences with the Courier. I've read all about them and seen a lot of photos but only saw one in person once. Even so, it's one of my favorite planes.

We're moving to Montana this year so I'll be taking some mountain lessons. I'll bet even if I found a Courier for rent, it would cose a jillion dollars per hour. I'm not rated for anything close to it anyway. Some day!

I'd also like to hear about how your skills and confidence progress with it.

Thanks