We were flying a C 152 at 3,000' agl in our local general
flying area. It was a beautiful day and for a change the
wind wasn't blowing in the "windy city". So
far the PPL renewal had gone fantastically and the applicant
and myself were in high spirits. There is nothing like
a flawless flight test to brighten my day. It was now
time for the "simulated engine failure" part
of the test and I reached out and slowly reduced power
to idle. The pilot, let us call him Peter, sprang into
action and began running through a carefully rehearsed
procedure. He converted the excess speed into height and
trimmed, he quickly ran through the immediate action drills
of checking that the mixture was set correctly, the fuel
was correctly set to "both" and he applied the
carburetor heat. He then chose a nearby airfield as his
landing site and continued with fault finding, passenger
briefing, and a Mayday call. So far so good.
It was as we started turning onto final approach that
things began to go wrong. We were a bit high so he selected
10û of flap. Looking good. We were still a bit on
the high side so he selected another notch of flap, giving
us 20û. Bang on! As we approached short final he
selected the last notch of flap, giving us the full 30û.
For a moment it looked as though we might get away with
it but then it became obvious that we were going to under-shoot.
Peter began to raise the nose of the aircraft to try and
stretch the glide, with disastrous results. The aircraft
just began to sink even more quickly and when it became
obvious that there was no way we were going to make the
field, I asked him to apply full power and initiate the
go-around.
This was going to be such a magnificent example of a
simulated forced landing that I was genuinely disappointed
when it didn't work out. How could Peter have saved the
day here? Easy! After selecting full flap, when it became
obvious that we were not going to make the field, all
he had to do was retract the flap to 20û, simultaneously
raising the nose of the aircraft in order to maintain
the correct glide speed. Bearing in mind that changing
the flap selection from 20û to 30û increases
the drag significantly but makes very little difference
to the lift produced by the wing, it can be appreciated
that in the foregoing scenario reducing the flap setting
by one notch would probably have made the difference we
were looking for. Now before I hear howls of protest allow
me to explain.
I am well aware that most training manuals advise against
retracting the flap, even by 10û, when near to the
ground. There is good reason for this. Even when reducing
the flap setting from 30û to 20û there will
initially be some loss of lift and you will briefly get
that sinking feeling. However, it will be very brief,
and in the foregoing scenario it would almost certainly
have saved the day. With larger aircraft that have more
inertia you have to be a bit more careful as they take
a bit longer to stabilise into a newly selected configuration,
but in an aircraft as light as a C 152 this is not one
of our concerns. I have found that on a blustery day when
the wind speed is constantly varying from 10 kts to 25
kts, I am able to fly a constant angle of approach by
constantly adjusting the flap setting to suit the rate
of descent that I require. If the aircraft is sinking
too fast, raise the flap in stages whilst simultaneously
raising the nose of the aircraft to maintain the correct
speed. If the wind speed suddenly increases and the rate
of descent not only reduces but, in fact, the aircraft
starts climbing, then open the barn doors, i.e. throw
out all the flap that you have. Immediately. This is where
the old C 150's were great with their 40û of flap.
After selecting 40û of flap all you had to do was
look straight down for your landing site. I have often
wondered why Cessna ever did away with those useful 40û.
Something to do with the go-around not always going as
planned, I believe.
The same mind-set can also be successfully used when turning
onto final approach and you find that you are way too
high. Even if you already have full flap, do something.
I have often watched pilots sit there on final approach
with full flap, being way too high, and just do nothing.
If it were a real forced landing it appears that they
would just be resigned to their fate. Try breaking off
the final approach and repositioning. Try S-turns. Try
sideslipping. I even sometimes jokingly tell people to
try a loop if they have to. My point though is "do
something".
Remember too, that before touchdown it would be a good
idea to switch off the fuel and the master. Just be sure
though that you have finished selecting flap as required
before finally shutting off the master. You will need
the electrical circuits to be operational in order to
operate the flaps.
If the propeller is standing still and you have a whole
lot of unwelcome silence in the cockpit, you have only
one chance to put that aircraft down in a way that offers
the least amount of danger to yourself and your passengers.
Get some dual often. You owe it to your passengers.
