Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

3 Answers

In IAP, When to add flaps for C172?

Asked by: 1884 views Instrument Rating

For IR Check-ride, I was practicing approaches.

I usually used 80-90 KIAS as an approach speed, and then landed with no flap landing.

 

In my case, if the DPE doesn't mind, I prefer to land with App speed at 80-90 kts, and no-flap landing.

 

What if the DPE makes me to land at 30 degree flaps landing at 65kts approach speed??

At which point should I decrease airspeed from 89-90 to 65kts?? after hood-off position? or at the FAF or IF?

 

Really curious about it.

 

 

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

3 Answers



  1. Brian on Apr 05, 2020

    As a quick answer, If you’re going to use flaps I would recommend they be set in the landing configuration and that the airplane is on speed by the FAF. If you’re doing an approach that requires a timer (for the MAP) you’ll want a consistent airspeed, not to mention that an on-speed, stable airplane is much easier to land consistently well.

    In a longer answer, I’ll recommend that you practice in various flap configurations if you have enough time before your checkride. Breaking out of the clouds at 200′ and trying to lower the flaps after isn’t ideal, especially if performance for the airplane/runway is tight. Lowering the flaps on an ILS glidepath can help you see the affect that lowering flaps can have on the descent profile of your airplane and thus can help you build expectations and practiced responses in order to compensate.

    If you do NOT have enough time to practice like that then continue at 90 knots. It would probably be a good idea to bring up with the DPE during the oral exam that this is your plan and do the landing performance calculation with them in order to show that you’ve factored this in.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. KDS on Apr 05, 2020

    Allow me to add this to your thought process.

    There is indeed a best speed for each aircraft. However, if you’re in IMC, particularly nasty IMC, there are going to be a lot of other people waiting to get in on that same approach. Also, if you’re flying something that is so slow that you could be a bottleneck, you are also flying something that does not need a heck of a lot of landing runway. So coming in hot should not be a problem (of course, consider runway length before you attempt it).

    So, if someone does all of their practice approaches in VMC at a slower speed and then is later in IMC with a controller asking you keep make best forward speed, they are trying to do something they have not done much of at the worst possible time to be doing something they are not comfortable doing.

    However, having said all that, I will also add that what you might do for real world flying and what the standards for the test are or what the examiner thinks the standards for the test are do not always line up.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Mark Kolber on Apr 06, 2020

    You are asking a question regarding optional technique, not requirement.

    To illustrate, I have flow about 30 different make/models id singles. I use flaps during an approach in 3.5 (the .5 is where I use them only in shorter fields). The feast are all no flaps until after breaking out. Strictly a matter of personal preference based on the characteristics of the airplane and the ease of reconfiguring and slowing for landing.

    My CFII tried in vain to get me to use flaps in a 172 during my training for the rating.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.