C182 Stabilized Approach

I am a CFII and I own a C-182Q (fixed gear). I teach, and fly, as follows:

1) slow and trim to 90 knots abeam the numbers (about 15 inches/prop
forward).
2) 1 "notch" of flaps will slow you to 80 with little, if any, trimming.
3) Turning base and adding another "notch" will slow you to 70 knots, again,
with little, if any, trimming.
4) Turn final and add the 3rd "notch" to slow you to 60-65 knots...again,
will little, if any trimming.

The book says "normal approach" is 60-70 KIAS, so this works quite
well....consistently. Of course, you will be gradually throttling back and
making small trim corrections (if necessary).

I stress CONSISTENCY. Do the same thing, the same way, EVERY TIME (making
minor corrections/adjustments as necessary for wind, turbulence, etc.) and
you'll likely get consistently good landings.

Here's a tip: Add just a teensy bit of power on the round out to help raise
that heavy 182 nose and you'll grease it on.

PB


following this procedure"Tom Fleischman"
wrote in message
rthlink.net...
In article , III
wrote:

I know this question pertains to aircraft and piloting in general, but
I'm wondering what C-182 pilots do.

I'm sold on the benefits of a stabilized approach.

I consider a stabilized approach to mean that power, flaps, and trim
are set right after turning final (assuming a standard pattern) and
then aren't adjusted until starting the roundout and flare. I like to
land with the flaps fully extended. If I turn final in a Skylane and
extend the flaps to 40 degrees, it takes a lot of power to make it to
the threshold (given a 1/2 mile final, which is not unheard of at our
busy airport), so a stabilized approach requires a lot of power to
drag the plane in.

I've taken to turning final with two notches of flaps out, leaving the
power at about 1700 RPM, and then adding more flaps as needed to
follow a path to the threshold and finally adding the remaining flaps
on very-short final. That's not a stabilized approach. It works, but I
know I could be doing better.

I could stabilize the approach using two notches of flaps, but I'd
rather use them all. I could use all the flaps on the entire trip down
final, but I'd rather not drag the plane along.

My CFI uses incremental flaps, my partner advises using two notches
and then maybe kicking them all in at the end (although I don't know
what he does when he's alone), and a more-experienced pilot friend
(but not in 182's) just commented that I should be flying a stabilized
approach.

So, what do other Skylane pilots do?

I don't fly a Skylane very often, but I do fly a 180HP Arrow and a
Beech Debonair on a regular basis.

In the Arrow I use 1 notch of flaps when I drop the gear abeam the
numbers, then 2nd notch after turning final. Prop goes full and trim
for 100 MPH and adjust throttle for a 450FPM descent, keeping 2 notches
of flaps all the way, milk the power out over the fence and land. I
hardly ever use the 3rd notch unless its a very short field. This
normally results in a well stabilized approach all the way down.

In the Deb I drop the gear on downwind with approach flaps of about 15
degrees. The MP goes to 15-17" on final, prop full, trim 90 kts, and
flaps don't go full until short final. With flaps full the power comes
out and then flare. The approach is stabilized until the configuration
change and then it's time to begin the flare.

Here's a good article by John Deakin on Stabilized approaches:

http://www.avweb.com/news/columns/182047-1.html