Timeline for Why does power help us maintain altitude in slow flight?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
4 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 17, 2021 at 16:08 | comment | added | Robert DiGiovanni | It is very important to know that your "energy state" is V$^2$, at 90 knots you have plenty of it, at 65 knots not as much. Adding throttle (thrust) takes time to build speed (pitching down greatly helps), but if you get "caught short" low and slow you have neither the time or the altitude to recover. An unenexpected downdraft once had me skimming across the corn tops 1/4 mile short of the runway (I added power before climbing a bit). | |
| Jan 17, 2021 at 15:58 | comment | added | Robert DiGiovanni | @leha007 "2900 to 3000 feet" is a minor adjustment, in a landing pattern, slow, it is much safer to control altitude with throttle. Look at the graphs below, what might happen if you pitch up 200 feet AGL and start slowing down more? Not worth the risk. | |
| Jan 17, 2021 at 14:54 | comment | added | leha007 | Yes thats true, but when we are cruising 90 kts, and want to climb from 2900 to 3000 feet, we don’t add power, even though it will indeed make us climb, we would just pitch up... So not sure “airplane wants to fly trimmed airspeed” is the best explanation for this. | |
| Jan 17, 2021 at 6:27 | history | answered | Robert DiGiovanni | CC BY-SA 4.0 |