Aero-Tips!
A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard
this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer
statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of
"there are no old, bold pilots.") It's part of what makes aviation
so exciting for all of us... just when you think you've seen it
all, along comes a scenario you've never imagined.
Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner,
master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us
-- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators, and as
representatives of the flying community. Some of them, you may have
heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we
might never have considered before, or something that didn't
"stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for
the practical test.
It is our unabashed goal that "Aero-Tips" will help our readers
become better, safer pilots -- as well as introducing our
ground-bound readers to the concepts and principles that keep those
strange aluminum-and-composite contraptions in the air... and allow
them to soar magnificently through it.
Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you
through the Aero-News Network. Suggestions for future Aero-Tips are
always welcome, as are additions or discussion of each day's tips.
Remember... when it comes to being good pilots, we're all in this
together.
Aero-Tips 02.08.06
"Positive rate, gear up." What pilot doesn’t want to
command an airplane with retractable landing gear? What advantages
does gear retraction bring? And what’s the down side?
For a Few Knots More
The first installation of retractable landing gear dates to the
early 1920 Dayton-Wright Racer. Early wind tunnel studies showed
that retracting the landing gear on those early, very
strut-intensive airplanes could reduce an airplane’s overall
drag by up to 50%. Soon retractable gear (RG) design became
synonymous with high-speed flight.
In more modern airplane designs are aerodynamically clean enough
that "sucking up the gear" creates a much less impressive
performance gain. Look at airplanes that have essentially identical
fixed and RG gear versions -- the Piper Archer and Arrow, Cessna
Skyhawk and 172RG (above), Piper Cherokee Six and Lance, etc. --
and you’ll find that retracting the landing gear results, on
average, in only a 10 to 15 knot increase in maximum cruise speed.
In many cases the RG variant also includes a horsepower advantage
over the fixed-gear version, so the value of retracting the gear is
even less pronounced.
Recent designs by Cirrus and Columbia (below) make it clear
advances in streamlining permit fixed-gear airplanes to perform at
heretofore RG-only airspeeds.
The Downside
The most obvious downside to RGs is the cost of insurance.
Insuring an RG airplane costs up to half again the fixed gear
variant. If you’re new to the model or RG airplanes as a
class, the cost of insurance will be even greater -- if it’s
available to you at all.
Why? The rate of landing gear-related mishaps (gear up landings,
gear collapse on the ground, and mechanical problems) is abysmal.
Read the Landing Gear-Related Mishaps (LGRMs) section of www.thomapsturner.com.
Nearly half of all reported accidents in RG airplanes are LGRMs,
and the U.S. insurance industry pays over $1 million every month in
LGRM claims. No wonder it’s so hard to get insurance when
you’re new to RG airplanes, and why when you can get coverage
it’s so expensive.
Aero-tip of the day: Recognize the very high
rate of landing gear-related mishaps in retractable-gear airplanes.
If you fly an RG airplane, actively work to avoid those
mishaps.