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2 Answers

Slow Flight

Asked by: 4268 views General Aviation, Student Pilot

Greetings,

I am going for my checkride very soon, and i recently went for a flight with a different instructor. When we got to slow flight I did what my other two instructors taught me which is this:

  1. Slow airplane down and add full flaps.
  2. Continue slowing airplane down to about 40 mph, he said i should hear the stall horn but not stall. Pitch for airspeed and power for altitude.
  3. When it came to turning in slow flight he said use the rudder pedals and minimal aileron movement.

The second instructor said not to do that, he said do this:

  1. Slow airplane down and add full flaps.
  2. Continue slowing to the bottom of the white arc, and then pitch for airspeed and power for altitude.
  3. When it came to turns, he had me doing 30 degree bank turns. 

 

I was taught the first method by two different instructors, and the other one said to do the second method. This is confusing me, which do i really use? I was able to do both of them successfully. Which one do DPEs expect to be preformed?

 

Thanks,

 

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2 Answers



  1. Jim F. on May 15, 2016

    (For this response, since you didn’t state, I’m assuming you’re referring to the private pilot practical test in an SEL airplane.)

    I’ve always heard it done in your first configuration, and never the second. That being said, the examiner doesn’t (or at least shouldn’t) test to what instructors teach, rather they test to what the PTS says. https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/test_standards/#pilots If you look in the PTS, Section 1, Chapter VIII, Task A on page 56 for maneuvering during slow flight, it states, “The applicant establishes and maintains an airspeed at which any further increase in angle of attack, increase in load factor, or reduction in power, would result in an immediate stall.”

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  2. Kris Kortokrax on May 16, 2016

    The first two instructors have the right idea. The only thing I might take exception with is the comment concerning ailerons use. You should be making coordinated turns. In slow flight, you will most likely be holding right rudder to counteract the left turning tendencies. You will also likely be holding some left aileron to keep from rolling to the right due to the right rudder input.

    You then use whatever aileron deflection is necessary to induce a slow rolling motion to establish a shallow bank angle (I use about 10 degrees). Due to the slow speed, the rate of turn with 10 degrees is more than sufficient and the power increase required to offset the loss in vertical lift component is not too great.

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