Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site terak.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!godot!harvard!seismo!hao!noao!terak!dennis
From: dennis@terak.UUCP (Dennis Kodimer)
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: Re: Re: Flap Flap
Message-ID: <408@terak.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 27-Feb-85 19:42:54 EST
Article-I.D.: terak.408
Posted: Wed Feb 27 19:42:54 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 6-Mar-85 04:17:30 EST
References: <235@tekred.UUCP> <380@terak.UUCP> <1034@phoenix.UUCP>
Organization: Terak Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Lines: 38

> 
> Do sailplane pilots use their speed brakes this way ?
> 
Indeed they do.

I was taught (and used to apply before I got married and couldn't
afford it) two methods to settle a sailplane in reuseable shape.

First is power style holding airspeed with attitude and prefering slip
to spoilers or flaps.  (Ever heard of a slip sticking on final?).

Second is Kamakaze style... Turn final at 300+ AGL and point the nose
30 feet ahead of your intended berth and hold it there.  As you slide
out of the sky like a roller coaster (sailplanes are notorious for
low low drag) use airbrakes (spoilers) to keep around 60 knots IAS.
And lastly, be sure you're not too fascinated by the sight of the
airstrip expanding before you with one spot still, to forget to flare.

This has the advantage of the pilot knowing his glide slope will reach
the runway.  What it really does is translate the problem from glide
slope management into energy dispersal.

It can be heart stopping, though, to enter final too high and then find
that spoilers on some craft (especially those ubiquitous Switzer 2-33s)
make more noise than decelleration.  This leads to method 2a (unknown to
most power folks and outlawed at most profitable sailports) called
`circling on final'.

I'll bet a few landings in a sailplane for some folk would eschew their
low-and-plenty-of-power approaches.  You rarely get to go around.

-- 
Quite sincerely,		...still waiting for the electrician,
	Dennis Kodimer			or someone like him. 
	
uucp:	 ...{decvax,hao,ihnp4,seismo}!noao!terak!dennis
phone:	 602 998 4800
us mail: Terak Corporation, 14151 N 76th street, Scottsdale, AZ 85260