Thread: Suggested Pattern

Pattern from Flight Design USA

I gentleman I have been flying with picked his CT up, (won't say where) they taught him to land at 50 knots with the stick all the way back and no throttle. He was making hard landings and bouncing. I told him to try to coming in at around 55 knots and level the plane instead of flaring and leave some rpm in. Then let the plane settle to the runway. Now he makes great landings. This procedure really work well. It also gives you a little more flight control authority.

Hi Roger,

On Sunday, I finally took delivery of my CTSW G-RILA and had three hours conversion instruction with a semi-retired Monarch Airlines pilot who now is their chief consultant training captain and flies a Dimona in his spare time. He was the UK's CTSW demo pilot as well.

Well, I was so excited and it felt great sitting in the left hand seat of my very own new aeroplane! We took off and climbed out where he showed me again how slow and how fast the CT will fly at. He also threw the plane up to >80 degrees on one wing tip and then in (it seemed) less than a second we were up on the other wing tip! Great stuff!!

When we came to do some landings, he said that I was to aim for <90 kts on the downwind leg gradually slowing to get 65 kts on the base leg and going from -12 to 0 to -15 deg flap. On finals, I was to select -30 deg and then -40 deg flap and to maintain the resultant approach picture with 55 kts airspeed. I was instructed to only chop the power as I rounded-out and then to hold off with gradually increasing back stick. He added that all my landings should be at -40 deg flap unless there was a high crosswind factor.

My first landings were a nightmare!! The speed control and maintaining the approach picture were soon mastered but the round-out and flare got me every time!! I was totally unprepared for the CTs responsiveness and found it hard not to overcontrol and balloon!! Also, I found that the CTs rudder pedals required quite a firm push to kick off drift. They were much firmer than anything else that I've flown. I found that although I thought I was pushing the pedal, I wasn't actually pushing it enough!

After 3 hours, I still hadn't bent the 'plane or myself and John said that I just needed to do some work on polishing up my round-outs. I was a bit apprehensive when he left but decided to take my CT to another airfield to see some friends. Later in the day, the conditions had settled somewhat and I took off. I approached the new airfield in the same manner as instructed and had an absolute greaser of a landing - on -40 deg flap!! The relief was incredible as I was wondering if I'd ever get the hang of it and had been worrying about the forthcoming landing throughout the whole flight!

I would still like to practice some other landing configurations but will get used to -40 deg first and then get John to come up with me again.

By the way, my new David Clark X11 headsets are fantastic. They are so quiet and extremely comfortable. In fact, the best compliment I can say about them is that after 4 hours non-stop stressful flying, I didn't even know I had them on!!

Paul
G-RILA

Hi Paul,

Sounds like your doing good. Does this mean we won't hear from you for a while because you will always be flying and gone. LOL

I personally think you should have started with 0-15 degree flaps, as the hardest thing as you found out was the finer control movements( i.e. ballooning) at the bottom with 30-40 degree flaps. That being said, now that you are doing good with 40 degrees then you will find 0-15 a piece of cake and much easier to always grease those landings. This is also the settings you'll use in bad crosswinds (0-15). Sounds like your having a good time and to me that is all that matters. So long as we can use the plane again after the last landing then everythings good. LOL
I usually land with 0-15 degree flaps on my everyday landings, just makes life easy at the bottom. No real flare, only need to level off and let it settle gently to the ground. Any time you use more flaps i.e. 30-40, which is not a problem, but it just takes more finesse to arrest the vertical desent and be prepared for a quicker loss in airspeed. The 30-40 degree flaps always demand more attention and are less forgiving if you aren't doing things just right. I have always felt that this landing configuration is harder on a new pilot or someone in a plane for the first time, stressful as I think you said. A lot of people tend to leave full flaps for the short field type work where slow is really benificial.
Please do not stop what you are doing, just have fun. Let me know what you think about using the 0-15 degree flap setting when you get the chance.
The other thing I think all pilots should do is pick a spot on the runway and strive to put the main gear down within 20' of that spot every time. Then do it in all flap configurations. Then if an emergency or a short field comes up, then no problem, the plane is reusable again.

Hope to meet you one day, fly safe.

Guys, please excuse my dumb question here but firstly in my old CTsw (2005 model) I always landed at 15deg flap. Now reading a lot of posts here about the 30 or 40deg I wonder when you would ever really use it.

I mean ok there were the odd times that you could count on 1 hand that I switched over to 30 to lose some height as she floated in on final and I preferred not to do a go around (most times I did though) but then I could have also side slipped as well yto lose the height, but I went back to 15 at short final with a trickle of power. Also with not using 40 in crosswind I am really wondering when you would use 40 or even 30 for that matter.

Just curious!!!

Hi Ian,

I am with you on flap use.

Hi Ian,

I am with you on flap use.

Originally Posted by Gorilla

My first landings were a nightmare!! The speed control and maintaining the approach picture were soon mastered but the round-out and flare got me every time!! I was totally unprepared for the CTs responsiveness and found it hard not to overcontrol and balloon!!

Same here - it's more sensitive than the Thorpedo in the flare and is closer to the Evektor. I'm getting there, although slowly...

Doug

Originally Posted by Ian

I am really wondering when you would use 40 or even 30 for that matter.

Ian,

You would want to use 30 or 40 when you want to minimize the amount of runway or field you use on your landing. (short field work)

There is a but.

It is only going to get you a shorter field landing if you are good enough at it. A good job at 15 and I can make the 1st turn off 9 out of 10 times. A poor job at 30 or 40 and I might use a lot more runway.

Hi Guys,

I think the whole reason why I have been made to "cut my teeth" from the outset at -40 flap is because in the UK, we really look on the CTSW as a microlight and embrace all that a microlight can achieve which is to be able to land at very small farm strips and airfields! Indeed, it is probably not the norm here to see a CTSW living at an airport with a 3,000 yard concrete runway.

As Roger said in an earlier post, having mastered -40 degree flap landings (not yet though !!!), the other configurations should be a breeze! I'll let you know!

Also, during our training on this side of the pond, we are constantly instructed to look around for the next emergency landing field and to always be prepared for the (non-certified) donkey to stop turning. We are drilled over and over into making practice dead-stick landings into small fields where a go-around is not an option.

I guess that when short-field techniques are drilled into a student from day 1 and new CTSW owners are thrust into the dreaded -40 degree flap config as soon as they sit in their aircraft, then an engine-out landing into a small field should present no dramas. I hope I never have to report on that one!!!

Paul
G-RILA