bob turner
Registered User
Dave says a new thread is in order - I agree. One of my favorite subjects.
We have well-marked pavement, with arrows every 200 feet on takeoff. These new GPS units are uncannily accurate. I'll look for my data, but on hard surface with almost everything held more or less constant, I get better performance with a STOL Cessna 180 through 100 feet with flaps up, tail wheel only an inch off the runway, then pull back at about 50mph. The worst performance was with flaps 20, rotate to level attitude, then pull as soon as level. Most spectacular, and most scary, was flaps 20, three-point, climb at 60 indicated. I wonder if I could have survived a sudden engine stop at 50 feet.
My performance engineering school said that best climb is attained at minimum drag, and Piper and Cessna modify that by allowing climb at speeds below clean stall with flaps extended. For the Cub and Cessna, I think best performance off of hard surface is flaps up. Soft surface and water is a different situation.
I know we have done this before, but I think flaps are over-used on climbout. Most pilots think extended flaps increase climb rate.
We have well-marked pavement, with arrows every 200 feet on takeoff. These new GPS units are uncannily accurate. I'll look for my data, but on hard surface with almost everything held more or less constant, I get better performance with a STOL Cessna 180 through 100 feet with flaps up, tail wheel only an inch off the runway, then pull back at about 50mph. The worst performance was with flaps 20, rotate to level attitude, then pull as soon as level. Most spectacular, and most scary, was flaps 20, three-point, climb at 60 indicated. I wonder if I could have survived a sudden engine stop at 50 feet.
My performance engineering school said that best climb is attained at minimum drag, and Piper and Cessna modify that by allowing climb at speeds below clean stall with flaps extended. For the Cub and Cessna, I think best performance off of hard surface is flaps up. Soft surface and water is a different situation.
I know we have done this before, but I think flaps are over-used on climbout. Most pilots think extended flaps increase climb rate.