Amen to Bill Kenedy. You make a good point. All
Lancair pilots need to practice and do training on non-powered flight to a
landing and very few do it. The results are fatalities on a regular basis.
If you have not pulled the power on your Lancair and glided it
down to a landing and you don’t practice this regularily you are an
accident waiting to happen.
Remember, you need best glide speed (the book says 135 knots on
a Legacy which is pretty close), and you need to fly the airplane and get the
gear down land it and that’s it. Don’t worry about anything
else! Practice it on a nice long runway if you like.
Oh, and pull the prop out. This is critical. The glide
ratio on the Legacy is about doubled with the prop pulled out. The Legacy
actually glides pretty well like this – handles nicely and has a decent
glide ratio and hence decent range without any power. You have plenty of
time to decide where to land in an emergency. (You have all practiced and
tested all this stuff right?)
Dave t.
Legacy 523x
From: Lancair Mailing
List [mailto:lml@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Bill Kennedy
Sent: Friday, 05-16-2008 14:23
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Subject: [LML] Re: Turn back to the Airport after engine failure
You're
right, the turn won't be successful started at 200' AGL. From 500' AGL (with
fixed pitch prop and engine running in idle) you have enough time/energy to
line up on the runway for a normal landing. My priorities are airspeed,
continuous monitor; coordination, double check a couple of times; bank angle,
comfortable, no burble (approx 60); watch for roll-out/reversal point; check
configuration for landing.
My guess is that most of the stall-spin events are caused, not by attempting to
return to the departure runway, but by not allowing the aircraft to glide. Even
"landing straight ahead" is going to result in a stall-spin, if the
pilot won't let the plane glide. Even timid pilots can practice the transition
from high-power climb to low/no power glide without risk.
To:
lml@lancaironline.net
Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 08:20:13 -0400
From: Sky2high@aol.com
Subject: [LML] Turn back to the Airport after engine failure
Attached is an EXCEL spreadsheet to calculate data about
turns - just fill in the colored entry with the airspeed in Kts.
Using Dom's scenario: At 100 Kts and a 60 degree banked turn, the
turn rate is about 18 degrees per second or about 10 seconds to do a
180. If your prop was left in coarse pitch, the rate of descent is about
1500 fpm (100 KIAS is good enough since our Lancairs best glide is about 105,
depending). In 10 seconds it will have descended 250 feet, 50 feet
below the surface of the planet - Oh, and it will still be 500 feet off
the runway centerline but the wreckage will be easy to find since it will be so
close to the airport.
Bill, your training may kill you by creating false
hopes. Of course, you do practice with the engine turned off, don't you?
Prop in coarse pitch?
In a message dated 5/15/2008 1:27:58 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
domcrain@tpg.com.au writes:
OK Bill – You’re on the
take-off R/W length 1000 metres (3280’). You’re at say,
200’ passing 100 KIAS Gear is UP, Flaps retracted – engine dead
cuts. Where to?
I think your scenario is fine if
you have a significant amount of breathing gas under, but then – can you
still make the airfield?
Your scenario is seriously
debatable, I believe.
Cheers mate
Dom
VH-CZJ
-----Original Message-----
From: Lancair Mailing List [mailto:lml@lancaironline.net] On Behalf
Of Bill Kennedy
Sent: Thursday, 15 May 2008 8:39 AM
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Subject: [LML] Re: Crash, fueling nozzles and training
I practice these simulated
engine failure turns from time to time. I'd far rather land on or parallel to
the runway than in the whatever off the ends of the runway. There is a big
difference between a maximum performance turn at 100 KIAS and a 60 degree bank
turn. My experience suggests that the turn rate is so fast at max performance,
that timing the rollout becomes a problem. Max performance puts you on the edge
of a stall, so brain overload is a problem too. However, a 60 degree bank
produces a very brisk turn rate without overtaxing my brain. I can still hold
my 100KIAS and time my rollout perfectly.
To reiterate:
1. Max performance turns at low altitude suck.
2. 60 degree bank turns are easy if you maintain your airspeed.
3. Practice, or don't plan to do it for real. The key things are to maintain
your airspeed and keep the ball in the middle.
Almost all say they'd land "straight ahead". Almost all attempt to
return to the airport when it actually happens. The one's who don't practice
often die.