When do you retract flaps on landing (poll)

[201er]

I wanna hear from the guys who said they start the retraction in ground effect and how that's been working out? The few times I've experimented with that were not pretty!

[N201MKTurbo]

I sometimes wait weeks to put them back up. I think someone sneaks into my hanger and puts them down when I'm not looking.

[Marauder]

I wanna hear from the guys who said they start the retraction in ground effect and how that's been working out? The few times I've experimented with that were not pretty!

You sound surprised Mike! Although our flaps don't have the most areodynamic effect, removing them in ground effect, would change the handling characteristics. Let me guess, you had to push like a madman on the yoke? I've got to see your experiment list sometime.

[Hank]

I wanna hear from the guys who said they start the retraction in ground effect and how that's been working out? The few times I've experimented with that were not pretty!

I've done this twice. First was landing at a 2000' grass strip at normal airspeed instead of slower. The plane was floating happily along in ground effect about 3' high and the cement factory's gravel pile was looming large. Having read of this, I raised the flaps and the plane sat right down. It was simply to rescue a bad approach when I wasn't confident in a go-around. Don't recall the other time.

This is a good trick to know when you've blown it like I did, but it has no place in routine landings. YMMV and all that.

[Piloto]

I wanna hear from the guys who said they start the retraction in ground effect and how that's been working out? The few times I've experimented with that were not pretty!

Half the time I retract just before touch down, specially on gusty or crosswind conditions. It assures that the mains will touch first thus no bouncing and a firm grip to the runway. When landing on icy runways with crosswinds is a must, otherwise the plane will weathervane and drift out of the runway.Very handy for wavy or uneven runways. The trick for a soft touchdown is to raise the flaps just before ground contact, at about no more than 3ft altitude. If you raise them too high the ground contact may not be soft but firm with no bouncing.

 

José