Yak 50 deadstick landing UK video

Know-nothing question: Isn't it quite usual to have the prop spinning after an engine failure? Isn't there a procedure for those instances, feathering the prop?

 

Engine failure,ie. loss of ignition or fuel would not seize the crankshaft and sometimes it is possible to get a windmilling prop. If the engine has seized due to oil depletion the prop will also be stopped...and hopefully feathered.

 

The prop control works on oil pressure in most planes. So, in order to manually change the prop setting, you need oil pressure. You also need oil pressure to keep the prop from moving itself to its default position. (I defer to the vast experience of Bob Parks though, in case I am mis-stating anything here.)

Don't know about the prop on a Yak-50, but on a Cessna 182, the loss of oil pressure will cause the prop to change pitch to the "High RPM setting" (the opposite of feathered). Because it is a single engine, the idea is that the pilot would rather have a working prop than a feathered one while the engine is still running for a few minutes on reduced oil pressure.

My understanding is that most multi-engine airplanes are the opposite. A loss of oil pressure causes the prop to feather since you can fly on the remaining engine and you don't want the drag on the dead engine side.

I would assume in my 182, if I lost all oil pressure and the engine seized, the prop would stop spinning and would be in the unfeathered High RPM position.

But, if my engine stopped because I ran out of full, I assume the prop would continue to windmill and give me enough oil pressure so that I could manually set it to the Low RPM setting (near feathered - a 182 prop doesn't fully feather ever).

 

Thanks, folks.

 

I hope you never run out of full.

 

LOL. Or "fuel".

 

The yak driver posted at another forum:

The uk gov report says it was maintenance. I wouldn't call the landing textbook but that's REEEEAL easy to say from my chair. ;-)

 

I learned to scrub off speed by using the forward slip or the side slip. Nothing that I flew had flaps and the slip was used many times to dump into a short field or to clear a tree line. I guess they don't teach slips anymore.

 

+1...

I think they still teach it.

 

I was taught how to slip, but still feels uncomfortable and unnatural looking out the side window on final.
I do recall on my pp oral the FAA examiner asking me if the prop would continue to turn on an engine out emergency. Not sure about radials, but in Cessnas the answer is yes.

 

So this explains his choice of fields to land in,
"Field sizes... take a look c/o google maps. Its wet & boggy and short fields aplenty and I'm from the area so elected to head west. Its certainly not flat.
Large field unfortunately had big holes in it recently made by a JCB. The final field was upslope, left to fallow so better drained.
It was impossible to walk on the big field due to the mud sticking to everything so in hindsight very lucky it was the smaller final field... stone wall was 1.5ft high, fence posts a little higher."

There is a lot a person cannot see in a video.

 

Piper Arrow, threw connecting rod 2200 feet over chesapeake bay , sank like a brick , I still remember the prop still turning when the smoke cleared enough to see out of the windscreen crashed into a black mud bog , all souls on board survived . I was worst with luggage in tail hitting me in the back of my neck, 4 surgeries later , I am pretty healthy today , however I won't fly in single engine or any small jets .

 

Yep, me too, but just a little. To quote an old friend:
"It is far better to run off the end of the runway at 10 miles an hour than to hit the sea wall at a hundred."
- Ed Hoit

I liked that advice so much I wrote it in the cover of one of my old log books and had him sign it.

 

Pardon the naive aviator, but what's a forward slip?

 

Left aileron, right rudder, and a bit of forward stick. Or the opposite ; right aileron, left rudder and a bit of forward stick. Side slip is accomplished without forward stick and is a bit more dicey. At least that is what I learned and practiced. They are a lot fun to do to get into a short field and I usually made a slightly higher final and slipped down to the spot and kicked it straight before touch down. Not necessary on a big wide long runway but fun to get down before you get to the numbers.

 

heh, making Bob's post a bit more readable for the masses:

Forward slip allows you to drop altitude quickly by flying the plane in a not too aerodynamically efficient manner. (like sideways ;-) This is used if you need to drop into a short field or if you have tall obstruction at the foot of the landing area.

I flew with a 30 year bush pilot one time and I swear he could land the plane sideways using no more than 12 feet of grass. Or that's what it felt like.

 

Here's a short video of a bush pilot doing about a 12 foot landing and then, after a complete stop, a 20 foot take-off.
Amazing plane and piloting skills.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPSElw8qEsI[/ame]

 

Gotcha. I guess I always thought I was doing a side slip when it was actually a forward slip. Never had a chance to do it for "fun", but it was a great way to double your VSI in the 34 when you needed to get down.

 

Good Lord, he landed in less then the length of the plane! Amazing.

(I understand the wind and the hill etc... but still)

 

I think that I'd cry in any situation remotely close to that.

 

Ample power and thrust, powerful flap system, vortex generators on the forward upper surface of the wing, and good piloting. The most astonishing example of that came when I saw the Boeing 367-80 hovering at 75 Kts. when they were testing the blown flap system to be used in the C-17 competition. The titanium and steel flaps and support structures are still on the airplane as it sits in the Smithsonian. 2200 pounds of lead ballast is also in the nose to keep the CG in the right location.

 

McBuff, I must apologize for a less than adequate answer to your question regarding the forward slip. I slipped into my old flying days when I enjoyed flying around the countryside and dropping into pastures or short little strips and I was picturing the process of doing so.
The slip is a maneuver that increases the rate of descent without appreciably increasing the air speed by virtue of cocking the airplane sideways and lowering the lift by presenting the wing in such a way that it appears thinner to the air flowing over it. The fuselage increases drag by being flown sideways and the airplane drops in a much steeper angle and much slower airspeed than if it was being flown in a normal nose down approach aligned to the runway heading. I'm certain that one could delve into the vector analysis of how this works but I'm too old and too tired to get into it.
I realize that I " slipped " into the the practical end of the explanation instead describing what a forward slip was. Going from a left slip to a right slip and keeping the airplane following a line is darn good coordination exercise much like rolling on a point.
Hope this helps.

 

^^ Bob, I hadn't thought about the angle of the wing's airfoil to the relative wind while in a forward slip. What you say makes sense.

As a low time pilot, I am very focused on maintaining airspeed while in a forward slip (by, like you say, pointing the nose down some).

Being so cross-controlled, while close to the ground, makes me dread a stall all the more.