Flaps VS Airbrakes/Spoilers

On Aug 15, 2:57*pm, Walt Connelly Walt.Connelly.
wrote:
Well about half of the posts re flaps only gliders made me feel positive
about the possibility of finding a glider with flaps only, and the other
half made me feel just the opposite. *I guess you could dump flaps on
final rather quickly if your speed was above stall for all ranges of the
flaps as they came up but the purpose of flaps is to create more lift
allowing for a lower approach speed or am I mistaken? *Apparently beyond
a certain point the flaps cease to provide lift and are only a drag
device. *It would make sense that a quick move from the drag area back
to the maximum deflection for lift could be accomplished quickly with
little problem.

I guess the best option is for a glider with both flaps and
spoilers/airbrakes but I don't think there are a lot of those out there.
Sometimes too many opinions from too many people are a bad thing.

Walt

--
Walt Connelly

I have been flying a Laister LP-15 Nugget for about three years now
and I love the glider as well as the flap system. On the Nugget, the
flaps are super simple, working more like spoilers in terms of
function. One caution on flapped ships is that some are too complex
and make things tougher while landing. I'm sure that once a pilot is
dialed into what ever he or she is flying it becomes second nature
though.

Get a Kestrel and have both... (and a drag chute for good measure)

On 2011/08/16 3:00 PM, Blake Seese wrote:
On Aug 15, 2:57 pm, Walt ConnellyWalt.Connelly.
wrote:
Well about half of the posts re flaps only gliders made me feel positive
about the possibility of finding a glider with flaps only, and the other
half made me feel just the opposite. I guess you could dump flaps on
final rather quickly if your speed was above stall for all ranges of the
flaps as they came up but the purpose of flaps is to create more lift
allowing for a lower approach speed or am I mistaken? Apparently beyond
a certain point the flaps cease to provide lift and are only a drag
device. It would make sense that a quick move from the drag area back
to the maximum deflection for lift could be accomplished quickly with
little problem.

I guess the best option is for a glider with both flaps and
spoilers/airbrakes but I don't think there are a lot of those out there.
Sometimes too many opinions from too many people are a bad thing.

Walt

--
Walt Connelly

I have been flying a Laister LP-15 Nugget for about three years now
and I love the glider as well as the flap system. On the Nugget, the
flaps are super simple, working more like spoilers in terms of
function. One caution on flapped ships is that some are too complex
and make things tougher while landing. I'm sure that once a pilot is
dialed into what ever he or she is flying it becomes second nature
though.

--
Bruce Greeff
T59D #1771 & Std Cirrus #57

On Aug 15, 4:57*pm, Walt Connelly Walt.Connelly.
wrote:
Well about half of the posts re flaps only gliders made me feel positive
about the possibility of finding a glider with flaps only, and the other
half made me feel just the opposite. *I guess you could dump flaps on
final rather quickly if your speed was above stall for all ranges of the
flaps as they came up but the purpose of flaps is to create more lift
allowing for a lower approach speed or am I mistaken? *Apparently beyond
a certain point the flaps cease to provide lift and are only a drag
device. *It would make sense that a quick move from the drag area back
to the maximum deflection for lift could be accomplished quickly with
little problem.

I guess the best option is for a glider with both flaps and
spoilers/airbrakes but I don't think there are a lot of those out there.
Sometimes too many opinions from too many people are a bad thing.

Walt

--
Walt Connelly

My personal favorite get the glider down right now device is a drogue
chute. My Open Cirrus had one in the bottom of the rudder, and the
one time I really needed it on a landout, it worked like a charm. I
practiced with it once and deployed it from 800 FT over the numbers at
SPA, the glider was on the ground and stopped between the vasi's. You
have to put the nose over rather smartly to keep the chute from
pulling the glider into a stall, but man it brings it down in a hurry.

The Open Cirrus I used to own is up for sale again, so for a nominal
fee, you too can have a drouge chute equiped glider.


SF