Thread: Slipping to lose altitude

I know many of you use slips to quickly lose altitude for landing.

My question is: Can you slip at all flap settings including 30 and 40 and how much does it improve it's decent rate?

some designs prohibit slipping with flaps but i don't believe this is true with the ct.

the ct's flaps and flaperons work so well that i only slip infrequently.

i slip for one of 2 reasons. 1) i want to descend steeply but i also want to keep my airspeed up. 2) on landing approach and i already have flaps but i am too high, in this case i will slip for as long as it takes to get back to glide slope.

Tom Dunham checked me out in my CTSW and we slipped the hell out of it with all flap settings with no problem. The book has no restrictions that I am aware of. I slip for the same reasons CT does.

If you lose power halfway or so on the downwind leg of the pattern, a hard sideslip can take you right to the numbers.

In agreement with John and 'CT' and we teach it for those reasons. All flap setting and FULL slip.....

Originally Posted by Tony Miller & Lerose

In agreement with John and 'CT' and we teach it for those reasons. All flap setting and FULL slip.....

The airplane looses altitude quickly in this configuration. Full slip is essential - max rudder and stick as necessary.

Doug

Thanks for the info, guys!

Jim, a question regarding your side slip dead stick landing technique:

If you lose power halfway or so on the downwind leg of the pattern, a hard sideslip can take you right to the numbers.

I'm trying to visualize your technique. When you say "down to the numbers" I see the plane low and close to the runway threshold but but still headed downwind. Do you also blend in a sweeping 180 turn while slipping in order that you end up pointing upwind and aligned with the runway with the only thing left to do being to drop down and onto the runway at the end of this procedure?

Dick

Do you also blend in a sweeping 180 turn while slipping in order that you end up pointing upwind and aligned with the runway

Exactly. I've practiced this several times and have found it surprizingly easy to position the plane at 30' and over the numbers.

Jim, the flight examiner who gave me my check ride pulled power and had me do a emergency "engine out" simulated landing. I picked out a spot in a field where I wanted to set down, trimmed to "best glide" and did basically a normal pattern landing. He said that my technique was acceptable but he then gave me a short lesson on how he would do this. He trimmed for best glide and did a circling decent, using larger and smaller turns, spiralling down to the ground, timing his decent and positioning the plane so that we ended up at the spot he picked out on the ground. This technique allowed us to visually evaluate our intended landing site while decending to avoid power lines, trees, etc. Would the side slip "engine out" procedure be a better procedure than this circling procedure? Or, are there situations where each type of landing would be best?

Dick