REFLECTOR: Brake authority

[Pat Shea]

Al,

My landing/stop distances seem comparable to yours. On
a normal landing, if i turned my motor off and didn't
use any brakes, i'd go right through he fence at the
end of my 3,200' runway...

I can definitely stop shorter. Here's how:

Final at 85KIAS, short final at 80KIAS, mains touch at
75KIAS, very little flare (not a carrier landing, but
a definite plunk just past the numbers), on the brakes
and off in 2,000' (no wind). Not pretty but doable. I
typically only fly a slow approach when it's calm and
I want to stop short. Flying slow is more comfortable
when it's calm. When there's a material headwind/xwind
component, I keep the speed up on approach and let the
wind slow me down once on the ground.

I concur with Larry - 10KIAS makes a big difference.
My canard stalls at 60KIAS with just me, 65KIAS with
two people up front.

I have my ground idle set to about 500 RPMs (Lyc
IO-540 with two mags) which is pretty much as slow as
it will run. On approach and after touchdown it turns
over happily with the throttle closed. I could
probably safely turn it down another 100RPMs - I just
wouldn't be able to close the throttle all the way on
the ground.

Pat 

--- Laurence Coen <lwcoen at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Al,
> 
> I agree that the plane handles nicer at 90 KIAS on
> approach and that's what I use but my aiming point
> is about 300 ft or more short of the threshold.  I
> finish up with a gradual round-out to cross the
> threshold at 80 KIAS and touch mains at 70 KIAS.  My
> canard stalls at 60 KIAS single pilot (add 5 for two
> up front).  Since the energy necessary to stop is a
> function of speed squared, an extra 10 KIAS is a big
> deal.  



 
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