Airspeed on Downwind Poll

[Schllc]

1 hour ago, N201MKTurbo said:

You need to get out more Southern Comfort.

I fly pretty frequently. Uncontrolled fields are not my preference. 
not bc of atc direction , its bc people more often than not, don’t follow good etiquette, much less the rules. 
I won’t refuse to my go somewhere if it’s not controlled but I prefer the safety. I’ve had more than one bad experience at uncontrolled spaces. 
If you prefer them, more power to you. 
 

[PeteMc]

6 hours ago, Skates97 said:

 

...I followed his instructions, pulled power back, turned base letting the nose drop to keep the wing unloaded, turned final about 3,000 AGL on a 4 mile final, dropped the gear and slipped it all the way down to short final

It was not ideal, but nice to have my CFI show me what could be done with the plane.

I'm curious and I don't get it, why the delay on the gear until final?  Which I'm guessing is why it wasn't pretty.  

Did the CFI actually explain why he had you delay the gear???  Assuming you were not screaming down the DW too fast, if you had dropped the gear and flaps as soon as the tower told you to turn base, gone to idle and squared off the turn to Base and Final it might have been a cleaner. 

Was he a Mooney or a Piper instructor?  The procedure he had you do would have been a no-brainer back when I was flying an Arrow.  But don't get the delay in the gear in a Mooney trying to get down.

[Skates97]

4 hours ago, RLCarter said:

@Hank @Skates97 once the gear is down it’s not much different than the 172. I really like pointing the nose down for a cruise descent at 170~175 indicated, that’s no where close to Cessna 

Yep, if the air is smooth I am usually hanging around 175-180 mph IAS in descent and it is like it is on rails.

27 minutes ago, PeteMc said:

I'm curious and I don't get it, why the delay on the gear until final?  Which I'm guessing is why it wasn't pretty.  

Did the CFI actually explain why he had you delay the gear???  Assuming you were not screaming down the DW too fast, if you had dropped the gear and flaps as soon as the tower told you to turn base, gone to idle and squared off the turn to Base and Final it might have been a cleaner. 

Was he a Mooney or a Piper instructor?  The procedure he had you do would have been a no-brainer back when I was flying an Arrow.  But don't get the delay in the gear in a Mooney trying to get down.

He had lots of time in Mooneys and did commercial training in the one the school had. We didn't know how far out the tower was going to extend us, and with a gear speed of 120 mph and flap speed of 100 mph it takes some time to get slow enough to do it. I never said it wasn't pretty, I said it wasn't ideal. It was clean, it was a forward slip at a constant airspeed and rate of descent all the way down final, but a forward slip doesn't fall in the category of a stabilized approach. I was glad for the experience to learn just what you can do with the plane.

[A64Pilot]

It’s all situation dependent, I now fly a lot into small sometimes short grass strips that are of course not controlled, for those generally you want to be slow and no one is pushing you to maintain best speed. If there is traffic it’s often a Cub or something similar

‘There have been times in large airports that unless I’m in a turbine I have to say “unable”,  they’ll usually vector you around, I’ve never had one tell me to go away, but dropping gear right at max speed and worrying about shock cooling just isn’t worth it in my opinion, but then I’m retired and have watch expenses, the less expensive I can make flying, the more I can fly, and the Mooney is 41 years old. The Cessna is 74 so I back off the limits some

Edited April 10, 2021 by A64Pilot

[Ricky_231]

115-120 kias on downwind (21"), gear down abeam the 1000' marker, power 16", half flaps, 80 kias on base, full flaps, 70 kias crossing the threshold, squeak.

[bradp]

I just want to be at gear extension speed on downwind.  I’ve adopted Vmms for my base to final.  All else is personal preference.  And mixing in with the pattern traffic of course 

[steingar]

I usually drop the gear 3 miles out and have the flaps in as I venter downwind.  I usually fly the downwind at 90mph, base 80, and try and have it as 70 over the numbers.  Don't want to go too fast or I might run over a Skyhawk.

[DXB]

I don't pay close attention to speed while entering on the downwind other than trying not to be in the yellow arc and usually descending at 15-18", 2300 rpm. Once established, I do whatever's necessary to bring it down to 120mph abeam the numbers for my gear speed (and so picked 100kt answer). Often leveling off at pattern altitude at 15" 2300rpm will bring me down to gear speed exactly when I'm abeam the numbers, which is perfect.  Then I descend at about that same speed, dump in full flaps while turning final (or immediately upon turning base if I want a really short approach).

Edited April 13, 2021 by DXB

[cwaters]

I have only about 30hrs in my J so far. I'm always aiming for 120kts on downwind, drop gear and hold altitude to bleed speed and shortly after I'm at the white arc and put out the first set of flaps. From there I turn base and pitch and power for 80-90kts. Final flaps on final and pitch and power for 75-80kts 

[PHFlyer08]

In the J I fly, I try to plan to hit the downwind at a 17” and about 120 mph. Abeam, drop the gear, back an inch, first half of flaps, then back another inch. Works pretty good for me.