Rudder induced drag

[Sandman]

In the last few months, I've discovered that the quickest way to slow down for landing is to simply use the rudder and cross control the ailerons to keep the nose pointed somewhat in the direction I want to go.

It seems to me that I'm gaming the game by using the rudder as a brake.

Or... is this realistic?

[Thrawn]

Yes it is realistic.  It's called a forward slip.  I use it in RL if my approach is to high.  You're actually using the side of your fuselage as the break, by putting it into the wind you are causing alot of drag.

[Sandman]

I get it. It's not the rudder that's inducing the drag, it's the fuselage.

I feel better now.

[2Late4U]

You mean there are other ways to slow down???  I almost always use a heafty dose of slide slip to slow down and land.

[Thrawn]

I ususally use left rudder and roll right, but you can do the oposite.  Use the airlerons to control drift.  Be careful though, you can drop like a rock.  Make sure you keep up airspeed with pitch, as per usual.

[Sandman]

Well... before I discovered this, I used to simply do a series of break turns.

[Toad]

Yeah, this slows you down.

But...

You shouldn't really have to do this to land and almost all of us do it routinely.

Seems to me, these planes just don't slow down on approach the way they should. Just my humble opinon.

[mrfish]

i fly the 109 half in a forward slip almost all the time due to compression probs.

i also fly the 109 wearing a half-slip but that's another issue...

[CJ]

I use it routinely because I tend to come into the pattern way fast and high.  This would happen with almost any airplane that's reasonably clean.  I've found that when I get full flaps in, in most planes, the thing comes down like a rock once you get it slowed to around 110-120 IAS.    But, as Toad said, this is just my opinion  With this game i like to come in fast and kill my speed right at the end, to save time.  Not exactly a stabilized approach, but it keeps your vulnerable time to a minimum.


On a side note, I rode along with a guy in a M20R who wanted to show me how fast he could do an approach.  Started about 4 miles out and 2000 feet over pattern altitude.  He wanted to prove that he didnt need spoilers also.  As a result, I stared in horror as the cylinder head temperature plummeted, as he was diving with power off at about 190 kts toward the downwind.  He probably took 200 hours off of that engine.  Well, what else would you expect from a brand new CFII?

[Kratzer]

Yeah, mrfish - whenever I dive a 109, I cross the controls to control my speed.  But I wear pants when I do it.

[Toad]

CJ. I'm betting it wasn't his airplane, correct?

[Zigrat]

the game is kionda wierd in this regard. inducing sideslip without a corresponding change in angle of attack to maintain 1g of lift should result in only altitude loss but no change in velocity.

[VWE001]

The Ar-234 is a beotch to slow down, but if you drop full flaps and gear while in a full slip she will come down almost like a helicopter at around 110 mph.  

[Biggles]

I use slide slip (rudder as a kind of brake) a lot, but also use another method on a regular basis. Learned about it in the book "Stick & Rudder". It doesn't really have a name, so I call it "Mush/stall glidepath control". Maybe it's better described as a "falling leaf" approach. It's different from sideslips in that you maintain runway heading, while in sideslip you usually approach at an oblique angle, and have to recover (align with runway) in time to touch down correctly.

Here's how it works. You're approaching the runway with too much alt. First, get lined up with the runway, then kill the throttle and pull the nose back until your airspeed drops to the point at which you can lower the flaps and gear. Lower them, as usual. Now, keep enough back pressure to allow the airspeed to continue bleeding off, relaxing it slightly when you're just about at stall speed for the configuration you're in. You'll hear the stall warning for the rest of the landing. While keeping aligned on runway heading, maintain near-stall speed (constant back pressure). If you sense a stall break coming, push forward just barely enough to prevent the break. You will be in extreme, controlled slow-flight, with the aircraft descending very fast, with minimum ground speed. It's almost like riding an elevator down. Keep looking forward, making small heading corrections as necessary. When you feel that you're getting very close to where you should be thinking about flaring out, push the nose forward slightly, both to arrest the rapid rate of descent (add a touch of power, if necessary) and to see where you are in relation to the runway threshhold. From here, land the plane as you usually do.

Once you learn how to do this, it's kind of fun, and probably looks pretty cool to anybody watching what you're doing. Still, 80% of the time I use side-slip.

[funkedup]

Toad remember minimum drag speed on these planes is pretty low.  You have to get below that speed to get them to slow down nicely.  If you slow down in level flight before descending it really helps.