Keep your speed up, if able.

[ragedracer1977]

Coming into DVT yesterday from HII (Lake Havasu) I requested 25L as its closer to parking.  The pattern was empty, except for one guy on a practice instrument approach.  Controller asked me to keep my speed up so I could beat that guy in and get the runway I wanted.  I was cooking on downwind.  Nearly 180MPH GS.  I pulled power completely out before turning base, started slowing, had gear down before I turned final, and dropped it in right on the numbers.  I didn’t think you could slow a Mooney down that quickly, but you sure can.  I like a challenge now and then, and it was a fun one.  

 

 

[Boilermonkey]

I had a similar scenario arriving into Arnold Palmer the other day.  I had to loose 3000 feet in 8 miles.   Pulled to idle, slowed down to 120mph, dropped the gear, dove down, added a touch of power on the round out, squeaked it in.   Only wish I had remembered to turn on the camera.

[NJMac]

Controller going into Cincinnati Lunkin Sunday eve kept me at 2500, 2000 agl, until a 3 mile final. Had a full deflection slip in, settled right down on the numbers for a beautiful landing. Honesty didn't think it would work out as well as it did. Going back to Dayton, left power in on the descent. 25 squared doing just short of VNE on smooth evening air. A perfect night cap.

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[EricJ]

21 hours ago, ragedracer1977 said:

Coming into DVT yesterday from HII (Lake Havasu) I requested 25L as its closer to parking.  

Ha!   That must have been you flying by us on the way to KHII Sunday morning.   We went out and shot the GPS approach to 14 and watched a Mooney fly by us and land when we turned north to EED.   We landed but just taxied back and came back to DVT.    If that was you, you were cranking, I think Jeff showed you on his tablet at 160kts.   

Edit:  And, yeah, if you pull the power off it slows down in a hurry.

 

Edited August 29, 2018 by EricJ

[ArtVandelay]

But what about the shock cooling?!

[FloridaMan]

I tried to pull the audio, but Key West isn't on LiveATC. I flew the rocket into Key West the other day. There was a King Air 200 that I was going to be sequenced behind; he got relegated to #2. 

"King Air N12345, fly directly to the VOR, you're #2; Mooney, go directly to the numbers"

King Air: Come again? Do you need a speed out of me?

Approach: Negative, he's doing 180 [knots] over the ground, you're fine. 

Pulled power to 55%, popped the speed brakes, dropped gear at 130, reduced power on final and landed with the brakes deployed. 

When I got my M20F, it was cool the first time I got to hear a controller tell me I was gaining on a Bonanza. Now I get a bit flattered when I'm given instructions like "reduce speed to 180"

[steingar]

I recall years ago leaving Yeager field in West Virginia I was asked to expedite the climb of my Cherokee.  I informed the controller that my Cherokee's climb was as expedited as it was ever likely to get.

[Bartman]

Two weeks ago KILM approach kept me high too long. It was super smooth and I just nosed over and kept her in the yellow from 9k down to 3k. As I was approaching 3,000 I was overtaking bugsmasher landing traffic so tower asked me to slow to approach speed and descend from 3000 to 1600. Had to tell them I'll do my best, but hard to go down and slow down at the same time in a Mooney. 

[FloridaMan]

If you absolutely have to drop altitude in a Mooney without speedbrakes, slow down below best glide first and then descend. 

[jaylw314]

8 minutes ago, Antares said:

If you absolutely have to drop altitude in a Mooney without speedbrakes, slow down below best glide first and then descend. 

At least in the M20J, the POH addresses this specifically--best rate of descent is with gear up at Vne and gear down at Vle, and it's about the same, so they recommend gear down at Vle.

Obviously with the the slower Vle in some earlier Mooneys, this may not apply, but if your Vle is 132 KIAS, this probably applies

[NJMac]

So are you saying that that's even greater rate of descent than a forward slip at Vle?

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[Hank]

I've been beld at 4500 msl until less than 4sm from my old base at 567 msl. No option but to swing away and make two minute turns for 540° while descending to 1600 msl TPA, then use the distance back to slow down . . . 

[jaylw314]

1 hour ago, NJMac said:

So are you saying that that's even greater rate of descent than a forward slip at Vle?

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I'm assuming the Mooney test pilots did not test this while in a forward slip, so who knows if that is okay?  If Vle is the maximum safe speed for aerodynamic loads on the landing gear components, is it really a good idea to do a forward slip at that speed?  It's probably ok, but...

But yes, I expect a forward slip at Vle would have to be more than straight flight at Vle.

[kortopates]

At least in the M20J, the POH addresses this specifically--best rate of descent is with gear up at Vne and gear down at Vle, and it's about the same, so they recommend gear down at Vle.

Obviously with the the slower Vle in some earlier Mooneys, this may not apply, but if your Vle is 132 KIAS, this probably applies

Best rate and steepest angle are two different things. Just like Vx vs Vy.[mention=8198]Antares[/mention] is right about slowing down to come down in less distance.

 

Also makes it easy to add in a slip.

 

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[NJMac]

Never thought about any adverse loads from slipping wirh the gear down. Food for thought.

I'm assuming the Mooney test pilots did not test this while in a forward slip, so who knows if that is okay?  If Vle is the maximum safe speed for aerodynamic loads on the landing gear components, is it really a good idea to do a forward slip at that speed?  It's probably ok, but...
But yes, I expect a forward slip at Vle would have to be more than straight flight at Vle.

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[FloridaMan]

When I had my engine failure at 200ft, I was already above 120mph. It was a hot day, gusting crosswinds and I was close to max gross. I had kept her in ground effect until Vy. The exact control input sequence I used was as follows (I wrote everything down immediately post incident to make sure I remembered it all). 

Engine gets quiet, I start descending. Tower asks, "N..... is everything ok?" "I've lost my engine" I immediately realized I had to do something. There was maybe 2000ft of runway ahead of me of the 10,000ft runway that I had used. I knew I couldn't make the runway, but there was a field at the end. I pulled the throttle because I didn't want the engine to come back to life. I stood on the rudder, threw the gear and flaps down and loaded the wing. I pulled back; when I got below 100, I descended as aggressively as possible. The speed kept wanting to come back. Control input was full rudder, full flaps, gear down and back elevator. I look down while over the field and see my speed is still well above 80. Fuck it. I forced the mains into the grass. I thought it would help get rid of energy. I believe an unintended positive was the tall grass helped to spoil airflow over the wing. The next trick up my sleeve was to dig in a wingtip if I had to and ground loop the airplane. I remembered thinking, "shit; is this it?" realizing that I could be in the last seconds of my life. I see the end of the field and the neighborhood and trees approaching and applied the brakes. The plane came to a stop 30 yards short of the tree line. No bent metal. No injuries. Cause was FOD through the #4 cylinder of unknown origin. Mechanic who had just done the work recovered the airplane and refused to give me access to any of the parts that he removed before I came back the next morning. 

[Bartman]

Wow @Antares ! 

I don't remember reading about this but sounds like you did a great job !

[steingar]

My Mooney descends great with the gear and flaps out in a slip.  Don't ask me how I know.

[asaxet]

an ATC request to keep it moving a few weeks ago into KDAL....      Speed brakes came in handy...  fun day...