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By agfoxx
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1717907
I don't know why I keep posting these and, essentially, asking for a kicking.
I think it's because I like to learn, and writing about my mistakes helps me - and, possibly, other people.
So today was a very thermic day. I bounced about the skies for about an hour, and, after an extremely bumpy ride, I was really glad to see all the familiar landmarks as I approached my home airfield.
I flew a normal circuit, lined up on final, "hold it off, hold it off, stall warner chirping, that's good, hold it off, nearly there - WOW! What the F was that?"
I felt an almighty kick up the backside and suddenly found myself about 30 ft up in the air, with the stall warner still chiping away and flaps 20.
Obviously a thermal had just broken free right underneath me and took me with it.
"Go around - full power. Nose down, fly it, fly it" - but, as I was holding the nose down, with full power in and at barely 55 knots, I could also see myself getting blown off to left side of the runway - by either a gust, or by that same thermal displacing air around it.
Normally there would have been much more right rudder at this sort of power setting, but aggressive ruddering at those speeds? Not sure.
So now I was at barely 60 knots, about 30 ft in the air, well off to one side of the runway, with flaps 20, and generally very un-pretty.
Flaps up, I thought, as she speeded up, - but in haste I went past the 10 deg detent and took the flaps up altogether. Luckily, by that point I was already at about 65 knots and pretty high up, so almost sorted, - which meant that the effect of that particular faux pas was minimal, if any.
But if I'd done that nearer to the ground, things might have been different.
I did sort myself out, and I am here to tell the tale. The next landing was perfectly fine, - textbook.
My takeaways:
- Good decision to go around
- Better flap control needed
- These things can happen - a flight isn't over until it's over.
- The C172 is pretty hard to crash.
Any more feedback?
kingbing liked this
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1717916
No criticism of action in those conditions you do what you can. I was most of the way down a coupled ILS approach yesterday when the autopilot wound the nose up and then gave up. There was a good bit of untidy flying after that but I flew it onto the tarmac no hold off.....
#1717980
sounds like you’ve just described the normal thought process of any pilot in minute detail, that’s all.

I call the first 2 detents “flap” and the last one “drag flap”, (on a PA28), a go around for me is,

Full Power (carb heat cold if it was hot)
Drag flap away if it’s in use
300’ rest of the flap away - slowly

I’ve never flown a 172 (have flown 150, 152, PA28)

My only observation is there is no need to get rid of flap early/quickly if it’s not drag flap, you’ll climb ok with it.

Go arounds are relaxed affairs. (or should be), I usually say the word “nope”, then actually say “full power, drag flap away” then just fly the numbers for a bit, tell someone what I’m doing at some point, and then say “shall we try again”.

sounds like you rushed to get rid of the flap? I’m presuming flaps20 isn’t drag flap? (for landings only) on a 172?

In the spirit of sharing,

What I did recently was dump ALL the flap accidentally on a super cub when going around during a taildragger lesson. THAT lead to a properly exciting few seconds, the instructor can’t reach the flaps, we managed to go around because I didn’t think, I just did what he shouted, was an impressive bit of instructing. Luckily if an instructor shouts at me I just do what he says. I have some more lessons, but it behaves so differently to anything else I’ve flown, tbh, it worried me a little.
#1718103
20 flap is fine in a 172 until you get a bit of height. Generally 30 or 40 is for drag purposes. A full power go around is going to require a good push on the yoke from a trimmed approach, so just concentrate on keeping the airspeed correct for a climb. As for rudder, aim to keep the ball in the middle, with however much rudder that takes.

Try not to hit any trees or anything!
#1718182
Obviously when it is gusty and you have a long runway you just land with no flaps at all and a bit of extra speed, usually touch down is not pretty but at least it happens when you expect it :thumleft:

Maybe there is something you are not probably using? the throttle :mrgreen:

Next time on a gusty day and long runway bring it close to the ground try using power to stay afloat, climb or descend on ground effect with full/partial flaps that give you some power coordination and tells you about the appropriate flap setting on gusty days, you will find that you just need "gun it with power once or twice" when you sink hard, however, the best is to go around when you feel you are firing a machine-gun :lol:

GoAround with full flaps should be be done in calm (unless an FI is sitting around as they like to see some action), just apply full power while pushing stick forward and take flaps up really only when you hit Vfe (or Vy or Vne) and never, never before...
By agfoxx
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1718667
Cessna571 wrote:sounds like you’ve just described the normal thought process of any pilot in minute detail, that’s all.

I call the first 2 detents “flap” and the last one “drag flap”, (on a PA28), a go around for me is,

Full Power (carb heat cold if it was hot)
Drag flap away if it’s in use
300’ rest of the flap away - slowly

I’ve never flown a 172 (have flown 150, 152, PA28)

My only observation is there is no need to get rid of flap early/quickly if it’s not drag flap, you’ll climb ok with it.

Go arounds are relaxed affairs. (or should be), I usually say the word “nope”, then actually say “full power, drag flap away” then just fly the numbers for a bit, tell someone what I’m doing at some point, and then say “shall we try again”.

sounds like you rushed to get rid of the flap? I’m presuming flaps20 isn’t drag flap? (for landings only) on a 172?

In the spirit of sharing,

What I did recently was dump ALL the flap accidentally on a super cub when going around during a taildragger lesson. THAT lead to a properly exciting few seconds, the instructor can’t reach the flaps, we managed to go around because I didn’t think, I just did what he shouted, was an impressive bit of instructing. Luckily if an instructor shouts at me I just do what he says. I have some more lessons, but it behaves so differently to anything else I’ve flown, tbh, it worried me a little.



I'm also doing a SuperCub conversion, and I'm loving every minute of it. I find it so pleasant to fly, - and very reminiscent of the K-13 gliders which were my first aerial mounts :-)
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1718778
Funnily enough had this at Alderney yesterday, just about to touch down when lifted into the air. Piled on the power, gear up, flaps up and uneventful circuit to land off the second approach, but it certainly got my attention :shock:
#1719145
rusty eagle wrote:On final at about 200' in a glider about forty years ago (in Sussex) when a violent air punch down threw dust up from the cockpit floor. Landed without problem but would have been nasty closer to the ground!


I was expecting a better story: close airbreaks, take the thermal, go for another task, then safe landout in another farm 200km down the road...that is the only "go-around" you can have in gliders (tough my best was from 300ft agl near Grantham :lol: ) but anyway you had a happy landing at the ned :thumleft:
#1729220
agfoxx wrote:I felt an almighty kick up the backside and suddenly found myself about 30 ft up in the air

Happened to me once.

Went around, same thing happened again.

Aha, I thought, the thermal is coming off the tarmac runway, so if I try the same thing for a third time I'll get the same answer a third time.

So I didn't. For the third attempt I landed on the parallel grass runway rather than the tarmac, with, as expected, no problem at all.