Short Approach - WOW does this thing glide!

[FlyDave]

Hi all,

I hadn't done a planned short approah in my 201 until today.

On asking for a landing clearance at my home airport I requested short approach. Downwind, slowing from 100 to 90 KIAS abeam the tower I pulled the throttle and prop back with gear still up and no flaps. I got about 1/2 way back to the runway and was still 800' AGL.

Out came the gear - no where near enough drag. So full flaps and still not enough drag. Deploy speed brakes and it looks like I'm getting closer to an apprpriate glide angle. 1/4 mile final I slipped it all the way down to about 1/3 down the runway (4,000') before touching down.

This was a real eye opener and made me realize I need to PRACTICE short approaches and get a feel for putting this thing down within a reasonable amount of runway (or whatever landing surface is presented to me).

If you haven't tried short apprach in your Mooney but did it in a 152/172/Cherokee, go out and do it - the glide ratio of a mooney is supprising and takes some experimenting to put it down where you want to.

Please share your short approach experiences!

[Jeff_S]

Yes, my 201 sure glides a lot better than my Warrior did. During my familiarization flights with the CFI, I was coming into the home drome and Tower asked if I could take a short approach to help with flow, but I declined, even saying something (stupid!) like "negative...new airplane". So of course they ended up giving me a 12 mile downwind...suckers!

But your experience doesn't sound quite familiar to me. If you are at 100 or even 90 KIAS and drop the gear, then flaps, you should start coming down pretty quickly. You didn't say how far past the runway edge you went on downwind, but in that configuration and speed, with the runway under my left wingtip (sight picture) and turning base when the runway end is at a 45° angle, it's a pretty consistent descent back to earth.

Maybe you have reduced drag from an excellent wax job!

[DaV8or]

I've done short approaches a few times with my F. Works out OK. Difference is, I put down gear and flaps on downwind. Sounds like you waited until base to start doing that. I always have my gear down either as soon as I enter downwind or before on the 45. The norm is start flaps abeam the numbers, but in the case of a short approach I start flaps asap and by base have them all in. I'm jealous of your speed brakes. I wish I had them. I'm a big fan of getting the gear down early and entering the pattern slower just for such things like an unexpected short approach.

[Comatose]

I fly into a lot of east coast mountain fields, so I'm getting better at it. Clear the ridge, droplike a rock, short field at the end of it kind of stuff.

The trick is the same as any other mooney landing... speed. 90 knots is best glide speed for me. Don't be there if you don't want to glide. I've found slowing up to about 90 MPH (75 knots) with the gear out, half flaps and idle power comes down pretty well. If that isn't enough, same configuration in a sideslip will drop you in as fast as you could possibly want.

What always gets me when I get bit is coming in too hot and fast. On flat terrain I like to be at pattern altitude by 4 or 5 miles out. That way I have lots of time to get slowed down to the 100mph or so i like to enter the pattern at. If I'm doing the "Damn I'm too fast.. damn now I'm too high... damn now I'm too fast again" dance, might as well go practice some maneuvers somewhere before landing, because I'll be going around anyway.

[Shadrach]

If you really want to to see it come down, slow to 60-65MPH, Idle power and maintain speed with pitch....

If I get a request for a short approach, I will use a slightly nose high cross control on downwind if I need to slow down as well as a steeper than normal turn from base to downwind in order to eat up energy. There are many different types of things to do to slow down Mooneys, depending on if you're solo or with passengers.  At the end of the day, those of us who believe that "shock cooling" is a myth have it a bit easier...

Practicing power off, 180 degree constant turn to landing patterns from abeam the numbers helps proficiency. However, gusting headwinds will surprise you...

[jlunseth]

I have found that the trick to being in a position to do a short approach in my 231 is getting the plane under 100 knots first, and preferably to 90 with gear down.  There is a distinct pitch up in order to maintain level flight at 90, compared to the higher speeds.  This pitch up means that the aircraft is generating more drag, and is nearing the slow flight envelope.  It is pretty easy to throttle back from 90 and do just about any approach you want, using your other tools such as gear, flaps, speedbrakes - although I rarely use the speedbrakes.  One trick is to keep your hand off the throttle until the glideslope starts to come in (maybe one light on the PAPI begins to look a little red).  If you are 90 and throttled fully back, it will fall pretty fast. 

I did a really fun "short" approach a couple of weeks ago.  We flew to Kalispell, MT from the east, and we were on a "direct to" the airport rather than the Victor airway.  The Victor airway over the Rockies from the East takes you to a VOR a good ways south of the airport, so lots of room to lose altitude.  The "direct to" route brings you over the Rockies at 10,000, and if you are landing on Rwy. 2 you are already on a right base.  The field is 7500 ft lower, so a fair amount of altitude to lose in a short period of time.  We deployed the speedbrakes, did a little bit of a downwind, and lost that altitude from the numbers through the downwind and base turn.  We had the gear out on final and a notch of flaps, brought the speedbrakes in, hit the glideslope and went right in.  Lots of fun. 

[bd32322]

since the issue of slipping came up for short approaches, i thought I'd highlight this thread about not doing slips in 231's and later model mooneys

http://mooneyspace.com/index.cfm?mainaction=posts&forumid=1&threadid=630

[Shadrach]

I did not read that in the thread, I saw something about long bodies not slipping well, but I have my doubts. Can someone confirm if this is true???