DISCLAIMER: This is not a request to get rid of auto retract. While not very realistic, I do understand that it does serve its purpose for simplifying HTC's job, and them not having to open a whole new can of worms (namely overspeed damage ). Plus it is the same way across the board, so its an even playing field and should NOT be removed.I'm sure we've all had moments when flaps managed to autoretract at a 'potentially bad time' and lost us a fight. I seem to have had my fair share of moments, specifically since Ive been flying the P38.
For the benefit of those unfamiliar to the 38, its got 3 notches of combat flaps, which are of immense importance to utilising the 38 properly in a knife fight. The last two notches needn't concern our discussion here.
Firstly, all 3 notches have the same Vmo limit, which I find strange.
Would appreciate it if someone could enlighten me why they share the same Vmo. Granted they are fowlers, but todays jets use fowlers too and theres a significant difference in Vmo for each notch up,1,5 etc.Anyways, that's irrelevant, moving onto the topic at hand.
From personal testing, I gather that the flaps start autoretracting (from notch 3) at 270mph. Fairly high up, I admit, but they are combat flaps.
Again from my tests, its apparent that theres no way the flaps will autoretract from notch 3 to notch2 or notch1 and stop. They always go full up,
EVEN IF THE OVERSPEED CONDITION HAS CEASED TO EXIST AS THEY APPROACH NOTCH2 OR NOTCH1In my tests, I had dropped from 270 to 180 mph, as the flaps crossed notch1 and they still retracted to full up.
This is particularly nasty in situations where on the downwad part of the loop (insert any other appropriate ACM nomenclature here) you just manage to exceed Vmo of 270mph for a sec, and then on your way up, even when below 270mph, the flaps keep retracting.
So my wishlist to HTC is:
TO ALTER THE WAY AUTORETRACT WORKS, BY CHECKING FOR AN OVERSPEED CONDITION EXISTING AT EACH NOTCH AND RETRACTING TO THE NEXT NOTCH, WHERE A SECOND CHECK FOR OVERSPEED WOULD BE PERFORMED. You may flame when ready, Quigley!