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6 Answers

Airplane Landing Speed

Asked by: 5341 views FAA Regulations

Generally speaking, what criteria is used by airplane manufacturers to determine the landing speed (final approach speed) in the POH? Or does the FAA aircraft certification department provide the criteria/formula of which airplane manufacturers must follow?

Example: POH lists normal landing speed (final approach speed) of 90 KIAS. How did the flight engineer/test pilot determine 90 KIAS?

 

Thank you for the feedback.

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6 Answers



  1. Andy Carroll on Feb 15, 2014

    ‘generally speaking’ it factors into the design process of the entire airframe. Work backwards from thinking about the mass of the aircraft, the stall speed of the wing, the length of airfields youd like the aircraft to be able to land at, the performance charactertics of the brakes, air brakes, reverse thrust specifications of the engines etc.

    Throw those all into the mix during the design process and you end up with a wing that has a stall speed low enough, that once the aircraft is on the ground, the brakes & reverse thrust can stop the aircraft with a safe margin of error. A sufficient margin of safety has to be factored in, such that wheels up landing is safe, as is emergency landing without power (which means no reverse thrust)

    All that plays into landing speed.

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  2. Dan Chitty on Feb 15, 2014

    Andy,

    Thank you for the insight. Often 1.3 Vso is used to calculate a general landing speed for light airplanes. Any reason why 1.3 Vso was selected by FAA? In other words, what makes using a multiplier of 1.3 of Vso the industry standard?

    Thank you again.

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  3. John D Collins on Feb 15, 2014

    Sec. 23.73

    Reference landing approach speed.

    (a) For normal, utility, and acrobatic category reciprocating engine-powered airplanes of 6,000 pounds or less maximum weight, the reference landing approach speed, VREF, may not be less than the greater of VMC, determined in Sec. 23.149(b) with the wing flaps in the most extended takeoff position, and 1.3 VS1.
    (b) For normal, utility, and acrobatic category turbine powered airplanes of 6,000 pounds or less maximum weight, turboprops of more than 6,000 pounds maximum weight, and reciprocating engine-powered airplanes of more than 6,000 pounds maximum weight, the reference landing approach speed, VREF, may not be less than the greater of VMC, determined in Sec. 23.149(c), and 1.3 VS1.

    (c) For normal, utility, and acrobatic category jets of more than 6,000 pounds maximum weight and commuter category airplanes, the reference landing approach speed, VREF, may not be less than the greater of 1.05 VMC, determined in Sec. 23.149(c), and 1.3 VS1.

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  4. Mark Kolber on Feb 15, 2014

    Best compromise (oooh! I said a 21st Century dirty word!) between a good buffer above stall speed and a speed that will give a tendency to float.

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  5. Dan Chitty on Feb 15, 2014

    Thank you all for the feedback.

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  6. Julio Hernandez on Nov 10, 2015

    Does FINAL APPROACH SPEED VREF + wind additive apply to turbo prop aircrafts? For example a Dornier 228 turbo prop.

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