REFLECTOR: Velocity video

[Dave Philipsen]

John Dibble wrote:
>  My stall speed is 60 kn and I have found no problems being at 60 kn 
> on short final/round out.  After round out I let it sink down, holding 
> it a ft or less off the ground.  At 55 kn, the mains slowly sink and 
> gently touch down with no pilot input while the canard keeps flying 
> (guess that is a deep stall, but not a problem when you're close to 
> the ground).  Then I nudge the stick forward to get the nose coming 
> down and it is real easy to lower it gently to the ground....  
Wow, my canard stalls at around 65 knots when I'm up in the air.  Maybe 
that number comes down a bit when in ground effect.  Is that what you're 
implying?  Sounds like you are saying that you could fly final with the 
canard bobbing and by the time you get down close to the ground it would 
stop bobbing because of ground effect. 

Do you have the throttle cut to idle before you touch down?

> I will caution when in LEVEL flight, not to trim the pitch for hands 
> off at a speed of less than 80 kn as that could result in a deep 
> stall.  However when in the flare, trimming at slower speeds is OK, 
> since you want the mains to stall first.
> Keep in mind that I fly an SERG.  The XLs may behave differently. 
I thought the danger of deep stall was pretty much eliminated some years 
ago with some changes made to the shape of the main wings.  Is it really 
still possible to deep stall in slow flight?  If so, is it recoverable?
>
> John
>
Dave Philipsen
Velocity STD-FG
N83DP