![]() ![]() One point in all this is to know the airplane you’re flying. It’s a proverbial one-speed airplane: take off at 60 or so, climb at 60 or so and approach at 60 or so. It does most things somewhat…elegantly, but high speed isn’t one of them. The only other airplane I fly regularly is an Aeronca Champ. If the airplane is heavy and there’s plenty of runway-which usually happens at larger airports where they want me to keep up my speed anyway-I’ll cross the threshold a little faster, maybe 75-80 KIAS, and bleed it off before touchdown, to save the tires and brakes for another day. For a short-field attempt, I’ll aim for 65-67 KIAS over the fence. For a normal, mid-weight landing, I want to be at 70 KIAS and decelerating as I cross over the “fence,” 250 or so feet short of the runway threshold. A third-and the method I use-is to simply memorize them.įor example, I know my Debonair’s published best engine-out glide speed is 105 KIAS. ![]() Another might be to somehow mark the airspeed indicator with the additional speeds we want. Short of pawing through the POH all the time, and appearing unprepared, one answer is to develop your own placard or list of target airspeeds for various operations. How to keep track of the unmarked speeds we may need from time to time? But best glide isn’t, nor is the best speed for a short-field landing. With all these important unmarked airspeeds, how can we keep track of them? Some, like VLOand VA, probably are on the aforementioned placard. It’s the speed you want to fly when the engine quits and you’re now flying a glider in search of a landing area. ![]() Perhaps the most important unmarked airspeed is that for a single-engine airplane’s best glide. The former is kinda/sorta on the ASI, but the latter isn’t. Depending on our mission, we may want to run as close to the top of the green arc as we can for higher cruise speeds or loaf down around the best endurance speed, at which drag and fuel consumption are minimized, along with forward progress. The best speeds for a cruise climb, for example, or a short-field landing aren’t there. Some other speeds we may want to use also aren’t marked on the airspeed indicator. A G1000 airspeed tape also is depicted below right, above the round-dial airspeed indicator. The same colors and markings are used, as outlined in the sidebar below. Modern “glass” panels, like the Garmin G1000 integrated flight deck, also use color-coding to remind the pilot of important speeds and ranges. They should be available via a placard affixed on or near the instrument panel, however. However, important airspeeds we use in everyday flying-like the landing gear operating airspeed, VLO, or design maneuvering speed VA-aren’t depicted. UnmarkedĪ traditional round-dial airspeed indicator, like the one pictured below, includes various color-coded markings to help us remember how to fly. Ultimately, though, the airspeed we want to fly often is dictated by the power settings we use. Among other factors, the airspeed we want to fly depends on our operational objective, which can be as simple as getting to our destination as quickly as possible. When climbing right after takeoff, choosing the best angle of climb speed gets us over the trees at the far end of the runway while the best rate gives us a greater altitude gain over time. Depending on the airplane and the day’s mission, we may also use it to ensure we’re at or below an appropriate speed before penetrating turbulence or conducting various maneuvers.Īirspeed also is important when we’re trying to get the best performance out of an aircraft. It’s used on takeoff to gauge when to apply backpressure for liftoff, it’s used when landing to ensure we’re neither too slow or too fast, and we use it in cruise to help verify performance (and establish bragging rights). One of the most important bits of information pilots can glean from our instrument panels is airspeed. ![]()
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