REFLECTOR: Speed Brake

[Greg Poole]

Top story DM Rob!  

Obviously has a HUGE downside to it! ;^)

Can't wait to try it for myself.

Greg in Sydney.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: robajohnson at comcast.net 
  To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 8:58 AM
  Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Speed Brake


  Got caught up at work a little so let me tell a story about RG's and speed brakes...

  I've told this story before but we get new folks all the time...

  For years I have always done descents from high altitudes very gradually without throttling back. I always figured I worked pretty hard to get up on that hill I might as well get the energy back by going real fast. Even in the old 172, from 10,000 foot I would set up a 200 fpm descent at cruise power from 60, 70 miles out or so and add 15 mph to my airspeed for 40 minutes or so. 

  So when I first started flying the Velo X-country and cruising at the higher altitudes I had to adjust that distance out some AND I could get a real nice speed bump by putting the nose down ever so slightly. 

  Then one day I was coming home from Saint Louis. Center had cleared me to 4000 feet and put me on the localizer 20 miles out. As I got closer and switched to tower they held me at 4000- and they held me and they held me and they held me. I was at the outer marker still at 4000 when I finally asked if they were going to let me down. They had a jet on the localizer as well but he was at the glide slope intercept altitude of 2200 foot. As soon as he passed under me I could start down.

  I was a wee bit miffed. Once again I have to take back seat to a kerosene burner! Errrgh! Turned out they did me a big favor though! 

  So finally about 3.5 miles from the runway the tower cleared me to descend and land. In this nice slick airplane that high and that close I thought "fat chance". So I popped the gear and the speed brake and pulled the power back to 17 inches and pushed the prop all the way in. I also kept the speed up since that increases your drag too.  

  I managed to get about a 4,000 fpm sink rate going! It was stunning! I have never been in such a nose down attitude for more than a few seconds and with the droop nose of the Velocity the ground was really filling the windshield! It was unnerving so I kept really checking all the instruments and looking around. I was in perfect control, nowhere near the Vle or the speed brake limit and we were going DOWN. This was FUN! 

  Not only did I make it down to the runway I intercepted the glide slope before I hit the middle marker! Once I hit the glide slope I pulled the speed brake in pitched up for my normal 90 knots approach speed,  got the VSI back to it's normal 500 fpm descent and made a normal landing! not only was it fun but it was easy! I mentally added that trick to my tool bag for the next time and did not think of it much more.

  A few months later I was coming home to Dallas again. The ATIS said it was hot as hell and the wind was howling (technical terms). Fairly normal summer day in Dallas. I was doing my normal slow descent from way out. As I passed through 5,000 foot or so still maybe 15 minutes out I started to hit the heat and turbulence from our lovely weather. I was tightening up the seat belt and getting ready for the rough hot ride to come. With a mental sigh I thought about what a nice ride it had been at altitude and how I really hated to come down into the heat and bumps. Then it hit me! Do what the controller MADE you do a few months ago! Stay high in smooth, cool air until you are close! 5,000 foot on a 5 mile final? NO PROBLEM! 

  Total time in hot bumpy air- Less than a minute. Less than two minutes from cool smooth air to shutdown in the hanger! 

  That process became my SOP from that point forward in hot weather traffic permitting. Remember to close your vents before the final "plunge" and you keep the cool air in the cabin until you open the doors after shutdown!! 

  I still do that in my 210 but I can only get about 2-2,500 FPM descent without speed brakes! (gear down, flaps 10, prop high then pitch for 120 kias to keep the drag up (gear and flap limits are 140 kias)) Fun, easy, smooth and cool! In fact, at my home base of McKinney (TKI) when they see some one on the radar at 10,000 feet 10 miles out reporting "inbound, full stop" they KNOW it's me! :-) 

  Dm Rob



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