Flying Slow
by Philip Greenspun; revised April 2005
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Objective
This is a local flight from Bedford to the practice area and back.
The student becomes proficient with slow flight and power-off stalls
and improves his or her ability to fly a traffic pattern and set up
for landing. Power-on stalls are explicitly excluded from this lesson
to avoid interference.
The student learns that the aircraft can be flown and controlled at a
wide range of airspeeds but that required rudder and yoke/stick
pressures will change. During the discussions the student is reminded
that while this little trainer aircraft with two people on board might
recover from a stall by itself, a fully loaded 4- or 6-place airplane
will not be as forgiving. Also the possibility of a properly flown
plane becoming stalled due to wind shear is mentioned.
Elements
- aerodynamics and stall review
- configuring the airplane for landing
- slow flight
- stalls and recovery
- approach and landing
- touch and goes
Content
- preflight review of aerodynamics and stalls, magnetic compass errors
- passenger briefing and pilot briefing
- takeoff, turn toward practice area, climb, level out at 2500
- straight and level at 2500'
- 360-degree clearing turn
- reconfigure the plane for landing
- slow down to 10 knots above stall and turn to headings using
magnetic compass and directional gyro (DG), climb and descend 200'
- slow down to 5 knots above stall and repeat maneuvers
- reduce power to typical approach setting and attempt to hold altitude
- recover from stall simply by relaxing back-pressure and note altitude loss
- configure for best-climb, climb up to 3000'
- configure for landing, attempt to hold 3000', stall and recover
with power, note altitude loss
- get ATIS, call Bedford tower, prepare to enter the Bedford traffic
pattern
- two touch-and-goes then a full-stop landing
Schedule
- 0-15 minutes: planning in the lounge
- 15-30: pre-flight and getting settled in the airplane
- 30-45: taxiing out and running up
- 45-90: the flight
- 90-105: park and secure airplane
- 105-120: evaluation and discussion
Total time: 2:00
Equipment
- New York Sectional
- Fuel strainer
- headsets
- clipboard
- pen
- scratch paper
- print-outs of the following tasks:
Instructor Actions
The instructor helps with landing flares as necessary.
Student Actions
The student does all radio communications and manipulation of the
flight controls.
Completion Standards
Holding altitude during slow flight within 150 feet; heading within 20
degrees; airspeeds within 10 knots.
Evaluation
Reading Assignment
FAR Subchapter A "Definitions". FAR 61 Subpart C. FAR Part 91.