Great topic, I love to use a forward slip in my Piper Warrior if I find I’m a bit high on final approach. Yes, I could dump full flaps but that changes the trim of the aircraft and pressure on the yoke at a critical phase of flight. Your point that you can put the aircraft into a slip and take it back out more quickly is valid, especially for electric flaps but I think you missed the bigger point that it doesn’t drastically change the trim of the aircraft at such a critical time. Great video!
Agreed. I just got back from doing power off 180s and full slips to touch down in my pa-28. No matter the flap setting, it's a valid technique. Small note. "Dumping the flaps" refers to removing them (say 40⁰ to 0⁰) and dumping lift. Another old school technique where if you are in ground effect and need to put that sucker on the ground right away, you can dump the lift and it will drop to the runway. Johnson bar for the win!
I am a CFI and was "checking out" a guy from the UK in one of our Cherokee's. Doing a checkout, I don't give any instruction really, just observe the pilots flying skills. Every trip around the pattern he would turn base to final at pattern altitude and then do the most beautiful full slip, right to the numbers. Of course, any well-done slip such as he performed, was clear evidence that he knew how to fly and it was a short checkout. I asked why the slips. He said at his home airport its part of their noise abatement and every landing requires a high approach followed by a slip. It was a flight where the CFI became the student. I won't ever forget.
I learned in the US and fly a robin 200 in the uk. And there is a difference in the way we do things obviously. We tend to teach dragging it in under power but I was taught glide was preferable to landing on the neighbours. But in the UK many runways are much shorter, I kept my plane at EGBD for years and that is shorter than an aircraft carrier. But if I'm landing at EGBO where I'm now based I only slip if I'm in a hurry and being in a hurry is not a good thing. My plane is low wing and there is some debate as to whether slipping with full flap is OK, poh doesn't say you can't but doesn't say a lot of things that you definitely can't so I do slip, just not with full rudder smashing.
I used this technique to nail my commercial power off 180’s in a C172. I picked the 1000’ markers on the runway, kept 80kts all the way to the threshold with plenty of energy, then slipped as much as needed to nail the spot. Was able to hit my point every time with this method. I actually startled my DPE because she had never seen anyone else do this in ground effect before.
I bought and learned in a 7ECA Champ back in the 80s. Slips were the only way to get into many places I landed. Had the plane for ten years and then had life changes and got rid of it. Many of my jobs I was flown all over Alaska in many different kinds of planes and helicopters.
Tailwheel instructors are disappearing, so good on you. Keep up the good work. IMHO, the private licence should include several hours of TW instruction to cement proper habits in the primacy of learning.
I soloed a glider at age 14 and then a Supercub at 16, at Sugarbush in VT (1970’s). When I took my private check ride later at Danbury in CT, it was a blustery day. The check pilot didn’t bother with engine-out exercise because of my glider rating. Landing, it was gusty on a tricky approach so I used flaps 10 degrees and slipped for glide path control. The check pilot essentially offered me a job. He said that when I get my commercial and CFI, to call him for a job. I credit my old school instructors at Sugarbush!
In sailplane flying, we still learn side slipping and it can be very useful. Sometimes we have to land on 300 ft long grass strips with an aircraft going probably around 60 knots. There are airbrakes but if you misjudge you can’t go around.
My favorite is when the pattern is light, a beautiful slipping 180-degree turn from downwind to round out. Beats what see everyday by the pilot mills, rectangular patterns flown in a 172 miles and miles from the runway.
Thanks for re-centering in the tools we have GOT to have in an emergency! Private pilot students should have at least 1 lesson in a tailwheel - what a great way to break open new talents. I got my TW after private and wish I had done it sooner!
Have vastly improved my flying skills in microlights after being taught and practicing slipping…and vital for our short soft field grassy strips here in NZ, thanks Joe
Wasn't until I got my tailwheel endorsement from a 74 year old instructor in a Luscombe L8 that I truly "learned" to fly. My skills increased exponentially from my time with him. Really didn't do many slips prior to this, but he really made it click with me. He gave me a true understanding of its purpose and what the aircraft is capable of. I've since got rid of the nose wheel airplane and now own a taildragger!
It really is amazing how much better of a pilot we’ve become once we get into taildraggers. It’s hard to really “need” these skills when we have 6,000ft paved runways with Autopilots, flaps etc.
Very similar story to my own though it was an 8KCAB and I think my instructor has to be in or very near her 80s as she knows many of the NASA engineers my nearly-90yr old grandfather worked with during the space race. Learned more in those few hours than I had in the preceding 60.
Real pilots fly taildraggers! All those others just drive their airplanes. I owned and flew a 1946 Cessna 120 (no flaps ) for many years and could put it down in less than a couple hundred feet.
I fully agree with these suggestions. I had a complete engine failure a couple of years ago in a Cessna 170B (manual flaps) and landed out in a very small field. During the glide and the approach to my landing site, I did not use any flaps at all, only slips while adjusting my glide angle to my landing site. The problem with using flaps except on very short final, is that if you misjudge, removing flaps will cause you to sink quickly and possibly land short of your touchdown spot. Slipping on the other hand allows you to increase and decrease your sink rate without the sudden sinking of removing flaps. When you take the slip out, you immediately start flying again and can put the slip back in if you need to lose a little more height. When I had the field made, I quickly pulled in full flaps just before touchdown to act as speed brakes and decelerate quickly during my roll-out. The secret to a successful forced landing is to make your landing spot and LAND AS SLOW AS POSSIBLE. Speed kills.
AMEN! What also astounds me is how very few GA pilots seem to realise that they are playing a game of energy management. Speed and altitude are interchangeable by pushing or pulling on the control stick. All the while, you are constantly losing energy through drag and simultaneously topping it up through engine power. So if you now find yourself low and slow (so: somewhat low on energy), you add engine power, and use the control stick to distribute this extra energy over speed and altitude. Simple. And if you find yourself high and fast (high on energy), you pull power, and again use the control stick to tell the plane where to get that energy from - altitude or speed. But what if you’ve pulled your throttle to idle and still find yourself with an excess of energy? You need to add drag to lose it. So, your options? 1: Add more flap if you have them. Flaps create a ton of drag. But on final you are likely to be at full flap already. So what else could you do? 2: (And I’ve never heard this one taught): Temporarily add speed. You don’t HAVE to approach at vy all the way. In fact, that is the speed with pretty much the least amount of drag. If you need more drag, just speed up to max flap speed and dump a bunch of energy. After all, drag goes up with the cube of speed, so a 20% increase in speed will create a 73% (1.2^3) increase in drag! Just make sure that you're back at landing speed when time comes to actually put your wheels on the ground. How? Pull your nose back up. At lease you've lost a bunch of energy by now. 3: And indeed, another great tool in the toolbox is to kick your plane sideways and expose a whole bunch of surface area to the wind. In other words: slip. But it’s all about energy management. And why doesn’t anyone seem to learn that any more?
Love doing slips, even as a new student I wanted to land just past the numbers and not have to brake for the first turnoff at my local airport. Been doing tailwheel training and it's getting easier.
I always thought of the slip kinda in the inverse. Instead of using to lose speed, it used to lose altitude without getting fast. Great tool for short approaches which we both seem to favor. But in a real engine out situation, you really cannot be short so you are clean, best glide until assured. That is 15kts higher than stall, AND I likely still have some altitude to lose into this short field. So yeah, I agree with you, use it to lose speed for a short field. I am glad we had this talk.
100% and that's how I use it 99% of the time. Think coming down over trees etc. This is just one example where you "could" use a slip to bleed off airspeed. Think if you had an engine failure and are doing a forced landing in a field and you are fast, you could use this technique to bleed of that airspeed. Hopefully that makes sense.
King of slips strikes again! Definitely have noticed pilots using more runway and never see forward slips utilized at my airport. I also notice more pilots making really wide patterns and long finals like they are flying a 747. when practicing in the pattern it is better to stay closer to the field at such a low altitude.
Yeah that's another issue at my airport as well. Really really large patterns. So much so they end up flying into another airport pattern that's close by
That's a great point. I posted this video on a few Facebook Groups and a lot of the comments where "Well, fly a stable approach first". I understand that's the goal but realistically (especially outside the training environment) that isn't always the case and better to be able to know how to do this if needed.
I do it all the time. I have taken my PPL in Brasil and over there my CFI have pushed me to the limit when I told him I was building an aircraft of my own project. Here in the U.S. no CFI's teach much about sleeps. I love to do it. I approach landing high on purpose just in case I loose power or something and sleep away. Freaking awesome!
Very interesting topic. I learned to fly in 1981 and I was taught forward slips with/without flaps in a C150 during my flight instruction. It is a great tool to have in the toolbox. In later years, I had an electrical failure and could not use any flaps. No big deal for a C152 landing with no flaps, but being able to slip was beneficial.
I just earned my Private Pilot license Thursday evening and I’m at a part 141 school but a part time student because my goal is NOT to get to the airlines quickly. I value you, your time and your videos!
Im a (nosewheel) CFI but I do a lot of J3 flying on the side. I am the primary aircraft checkout CFI at my school and it is incredible how many pilots, all the way up to CFIs and airline pilots have no idea that you can slip in ground effect and that slips can be used to bleed airspeed. Most people I fly with are pretty uncomfortable doing slips in general. I always demonstrate slips in ground effect, as well as flying tighter patterns in the 172s, 182s and Cherokees. Your videos have taught and reinforced many great stick and rudder principles that I do my best to pass on.
I completely agree with you on this. I learned to fly tailwheels in the early 90's out of a 100x2,000 strip with trees all around it. It was critical to be on your airspeed and know how to slip properly in airplanes that didn't have flaps. It can also be extremely handy when the big fan up front quits working and you only have one shot at getting everything correct. Great video! 👍🏼👍🏼
I got my PPL at an airline flight school, very nice school and well organized. But the examiner during the skill test had his own Pitts, he only let me pass the skill test if I went with him for one lesson fordward slips for the forced landing, ended up doing a forward slip, flapless glide in. That lesson was an eye opener, the amount of control you feel during the approach is very nice. It is good that you bring this topic to light
I gotta say, I’ve only been flying for a year so I’m still new, but I went to a part 61 and my instructor is a back country guy so I’ve been taught real stick and rudder skills and a good chunk of my hours are in a j-3. I’m glad I chose the instructor that I did!
Always great topics and beautifully presented Joe. Big slips always look dramatic from the ground accompanied by a rushing air noise. One of the most useful skills any pilot can have.
I started my training in a Luscombe 8a and slips were used on pretty much every landing to see the touch down point and lose altitude without gaining speed. Slipping is still a tool I use almost every day!
nice video, my wife and i recently had a long trip and ended up landing at a 30 feet wide 2000 foot runway overpower lines and trees in c-182 heavy in heavy crosswind, actually made a good landing but had two goarounds before i actually set it down, i also agree to fly has much as possible thanks dan
So true! I love to slip with my rc planes! I even find it less complicated than flaps. I use it instead of flaps even on my full flapped rc airplanes . You can gently and effective control the speed with the slip maneuver. Its a great maneuver. Every pilot should be able to do it..
Awsome video. Great advice! You are being very "nice" describing the total lack of basic piloting skills that exist now in the US. We are cranking out thousands of young pilots just to meet quotas and projections that scare the hell out of me. It's pathetic at the lack of just plane stick and rudder skills being taught now. I have said for years student pilots should be required to get some hrs of tailwheel time before being able to take the exam. Also should require spin training. Anyway, thank you for all the great videos you do. Those slips look so damn cool!
Thank you! Really appreciate it! I think the one good thing, or one side effect of slowing airline hiring is pilots will need to instruct or do more SE flying before they move on to an RJ and will just naturally have a little more stick & Rudder time
The frame of mind for a slip should be to loose altitude not to slow down. Once you do loose the altitude slowing down is easy and COORDINATED so you don't stall accidentally. When the airplane is not in a slip the POH numbers are valid. When you slip your stall speed as printed goes out the window, so you need to be a bit faster in a slip! The cub is very forgiving. *Correct slipping technique becomes extremely important in more critical wings and wing loadings. BTW, the slips shown in the vid look very good. Thanks for the video.
Over at the flying club where I work as a mechanic apprentice (I'll be getting my A&P soon), and where I got my private pilot license, a lot of the instructors do not teach students how to slip when coming into land. And I feel like it relates to a point you made in the video, where you said if the student meets the ACS standard, check that part of the syllabus off and move on. We even have some instructors that allow their students to make very fast taxi's. And in A&P school we are told that taxi speed should be no more than walking speed. On the other hand though, we do have a few instructors that do teach these skills to their students, one of which got me into studying the different types of airfoils that different aircraft use, like the NACA 2412 on a C172. Which not many schools teach anymore according to him. I'm lucky enough to also have had one of the good instructors at the club teach me. Apart from the good ones however, the majority of the instructors out here are primarily focused on getting to the airlines as quickly as possible, and never seem to focus on giving a student a quality flight lesson. That's a trend that I've noticed all across the industry. Student pilots get their PPL, then their instrument, commercial, CFI, and start building hours as quickly as possible by teaching students, and leaving for the airlines as soon as they reach 1500 hours total flight time. Rinse and repeat. While flying for the airlines is great, I feel like the mentality of building hours is hurting a lot of student pilots, because like I said before, the CFI's are not focusing on the students, they're focusing on flight hours. And to me it's distracting all these young CFI's from what it means to be an instructor. Which is to devote their time to a student, and show them the ways of aviation. All of that combined I think is contributing to the loss is stick and rudder flying skills. Now, I myself am not a CFI, or a commercial pilot. I'm just a private pilot. However, I do eventually want to fly for an air freight company, and do some instructing on the side for fun. The two companies I'm looking are are either FedEx, or Atlas Air. My biggest goal within the industry though is to own an airplane, starting out with a little Luscombe, or any old taildragger, and moving my way up to a Cessna 182. When I say all that though, I'm not looking to get their as quickly as possible, and while a lot of people may tell me to think the other way around because of the seniority system, I'll just tell them that I want to take my time building hours, so that I can remain a safe pilot and retain my stick & rudder skills. Because I know that along my journey, I will make mistakes, but the key thing is I want to learn from whatever mistake I make. Because I have been told that even up to the ATP rating, all airmen certificates are a license to learn.
I taught all my students to sideslip. Useful tool in managing airspeed and rate of descent (mainly rate of descent!). But as others have stated, I'd rather they did it further back in the approach so that they arrive over the threshold on parameters!
I have my PP license and also fly RC planes.. Practicing Slips on the RC is so fun.. Just like in full scale, it’s a great tool to experience and have in the back pocket in both hobbies.. Thanks for sharing. 73
Fantastic topic. The more tools you have the better. Practicing this is also extremely helpful for landing in big crosswinds. It's the exact same thing only you are using the slip to be straight to the runway. In big crosswinds, I land my Cherokee with some extra power in because of the extra drag. Your demo was probably the equivalent to landing in a 15 kt plus crosswind in terms how amount of slip needed. Full rudder slips should definitely be in the practice routine.
Thanks for the advice. I took up flying as a hobby so my outlook on training has been a little different from the regular students at the school. Every take off or landing I always try to make it a performance one while I still have a instructor next to me to give advice. One important thing I found was to fly with diffrent instructors because each one will give you something the other doesn't know
I'm mostly with you. But also, I'm doing my tailwheel training now, and slipping that close to the ground seems like an easy way to break an airplane if I touch down to early. I'm more inclined to slip an airplane on final than I am in ground effect. If I were flying an approach to the airport in the video, I think I would slip the airplane to get down past the trees, and then flare and land as normal.
All good points, I kind of did a poor job of explaining that this is kind of a non routine, kinda last resort, use once in a while type thing, lol. I would absolutely slip on the approach over the trees and come out of it before ground effect. I would use the slip in ground effect if I just came in a really tight pattern and was fast and needed to bleed off some airspeed to get down ASAP or in a forced landing situation etc.
Good stuff but I agree with @irwinrussell60. Maybe consider more of an "intro to slips" video that describes the basics for people. Doing them very near the ground is definitely not how to begin.
Once you get the slip perfected it can be used almost to touchdown. Once you center the controls, the airplane quickly regains the proper touch down attitude. Did this many times in my 1946 Cessna 120 with no flaps. I was a much better pilot once I started flying taildraggers.
Not slipping an airbus 🤣 that would be funny. I’m going to learn this when I get my tail wheel. Great video! Everything you spoke about the flight schools is so true. I found Orlandi at blairstown 1n7 and they are amazing. They start at the grass roots and have a tail wheel program. Fantastic flight school. Not for the faint of heart. They are tough which is what I wanted. I’m not a 141 guy. I also don’t learn in a standardized way. The first thing Vince did our first flight is cover all the gauges. Getting me to stay outside and learn the airplane configurations based off attitude and engine rpm. Then having me peek at the airspeed to confirm. Incredible principles. I was chasing the gauges. He stopped it immediately. I learned what different attitudes combined with different rpm settings give me roughly certain air speeds.
@@Bananasssssssss there really is! Everyone has been amazing. I feel like that is said for a majority of the community though. My aviation fam is second to none.
I learned out of a small 2600 foot strip with trees on both ends, in a Piper Tripacer and my instructor was one of those older stick and rudder kind of guys so I wasn't shy with slips. Super handy for cross wind landings.
I was on a medical check ride with an FAA inspector just prior to my PPL check ride to demonstrate my eyesight was sufficient. The tower asked me to turn to base early to get me in before an inbound jet. So I slipped to slow and get down and still put it on the numbers. The FAA inspector seemed surprised that I was performing a slip, but I nailed it and he signed me off. I had practiced it a lot, just because it's fun.
100% agree on the stick and rudder skills. I learned to fly in 1977 from a crusty old instructor who was all about stick and rudder skills. However, I don’t think the accelerated training programs are the problem. I believe you can get a motivated student from 0 to ATP (if we didn’t have the stupid 1500 hour rule for a full ATP license) in 5.5 months and still teach excellent stick and rudder skills. This is simply a curriculum and philosophy issue, not a time issue. Since different airplanes have different systems, I’d much rather see the initial training focus more on stick and rudder and leave the systems training to the hiring airline. Spending so much time on systems training early on detracts from the flying fundamentals training and may well be mostly obsolete once on the line anyway.
I signed a large portion of my life away to the Armys highschool to flight school for the reasons you cover. When checking out some schools it was obvious that parents are choosing airline pilot as a career for thier kids. I aspire to be an aviator like you are not just a career pilot.
Thats the thing, I want everyone to be able to understand the importance of Stabilized approaches and proper planning but want them to be TRAINED in having the ability to fly the airplane when things go south
I totally understand what you're saying. And really it should be part of training just for the fact of if your flaps don't come down and you have to slow down for some reason
It's in the ACS. I don't remember if my CFI taught me how to do it or if I just knew from the PHAK/YT videos. But my CFI did practice with his other student in a 150 while I practiced solo in his 172. Didn't do them on my check ride, but I was ready.
I'm currently a student pilot out in the midwest using a small part 61 flight school and am in the latter half of the training setting up and flying the required cross countries. I find this rather interesting that slips don't seem to be taught at some of these larger schools as I was taught the technique pretty early in my training and have used it multiple times with simulated engine out landing procedures and as mentioned to bleed off some altitude without gaining on final if need be. I think it's a great skill to have. Maybe the fact that both CFI's I've worked with both have a lot of taildragger time(and the fact I've told them I 100% want to get a traildragger endorsement and possibly buy one someday).
It definitely is being taught less and less. I get it rarely needs to be used but that doesn't mean we shouldn't train for it. Glad to hear your school taught it early on
Hell yeah brother. I did my PPL training with a very old school pilot who landed DC-3s on beaches in Alaska and the Caribbean along with being a lifelong glider instructor. That crusty old bastard had me doing full slips from base to touchdown early on in my training. During my check ride the DPE goes "okay, you're going to have to show me a forward slip this landing" I told him "no problem". He goes" and you have a flap failure so you can't use flaps" I replied "great!". Later in the debrief he gave my CFI props on continuing to hammer home the old ways. Keep up the good work. Also, you need to brush up on your definition of "average" 😂
Slipping in ground effect can be tricky, especially in a low-wing aircraft. It’s possible, but challenging. I do this sometimes, but only in non-gusty conditions. It requires skill and a good feel for the plane. I would not recommend it if you don't know the plane well enough. Slipping on final is just normal ☺️ BUT in some aircraft slips are prohibited with flaps down.
Surely you have enviable Cub skills and you are beyond experienced, but wingtip few inches from the ground on the flare /0:04 in this vid/... too risky. Slips should be done at higher altitude or less aggressively in ground effect. Thanks for the video and keep 'em coming!
I have a Commercial Instrument Pilot license plus A&P license. Owned my own 1946 Cessna 120 (no flaps) for years. In addition, I was an Air Traffic Controller for both the USAF and FAA for a number of years. My last FAA airport I worked in the tower and we had 5 flight schools on the airport. As you can imagine, I've seen thousands of landings by low time and high time pilots. I can't remember ever seeing anyone slip an aircraft on landing at that airport. They all used as much runway as was available. Definitely a lost art for pilots.
It can be pretty easy to pick up speed during a slip too. If you are already going as slow as you should and then enter a slip, the sink rate can be alarming. To counteract that you let the nose down and then you have gained nothing by going too fast again
Great video! I agree that sick and rudder training is becoming a lost art. I had an IP tell me early in my flying career that if you can't touch down in the first 2,000' go be a bus driver. This always stuck with me and made me become obsessive about energy management in the pattern. In my DA-62 I calculate my Vref {Vso x 1.3}) on base to final to avoid getting caught in a low energy situation while turning base. I fly final a bit high (half a dot, or slightly above GS with visual references, or my typical sight picture) for power loss risk mitigation. I want to make sure I can always make the field anywhere in the pattern. A slight slip over the fence to the numbers is always enough to get me back on speed and GS for a precise landing, which for me is exactly in the middle of the bars. Flying a Phenom 300, everything is all about being stable before 1,000' or go around. This means backing approaches up with RNAV or ILS and being on speed, on time even in VMC.
@@Bananasssssssss It’s amazing! Comfortable, fast and really great to fly! My husband and I do lots of cross country flying and 3 hour legs are a breeze. I really like the instrument capabilities because it keeps our options open when we travel. Best GA twin on the market in my opinion!
I got my PPL 2 days ago, I never got to use slips as much as id like, as on every approach except when simulating a flap failure, I was using flaps in my 172. I certainly never used a slip in ground effect
Congrats on your PPL!. This is just something to be aware of and maybe revisit with your CFI once you get a little more time in the airplane, I always enjoyed doing Commercial Maneuvers because I feel like that taught e a lot about aerodynamics, energy management etc.
Great video! I got my private pilot license in usual Cessnas and Pipers but I also got lots of taildragger time in a J3 cub so I was comfortable doing slips. During my Commercial check ride in a Cessna 182 my examiner (also owner of the airplane) pulled the throttle on me and said you just had an engine failure, what are going to do. I was in North Dakota so finding a spot to land was no problem but I looked down and there was a crop duster strip right below me so I said I'm landing right there. I started my approach but was coming in on final too high even with full flaps. I put the 182 into a full slip and it started coming down like an elevator with no cables! I glanced over at the examiner and he was braced for impact but didn't try to take over the controls. There was lots of noise and turbulence due to the full flaps blocking the tail surfaces but it was fully under control. Just above the strip I went out of the slip and was just about to touch down (on the strip) and he applied full power and had me go around. He said I never knew you could slip a 182 with full flaps! I passed my check ride.
Any CFI advocating Against performing slips needs to surrender their CFI Certificate. Any pilot who advocates against using slips needs to get retrained. These are basic skills and maneuvers that are Required to be proficient in to be a pilot.
I was taught to fly in all taildragger aircraft. Main airacraft I flew a was a Cessna 170. My dad was a CFI and when possible I would go up with them, and a lot of times I worked a deal where I could get a little stick time. Most challenging was a Cessna 195, and a Luscombe 8A. Both for different reasons, 195 I couldn't see over the nose, took some doing to learn, and the Luscombe, was a lot quicker and would love to catch you "sleeping" a little in a crosswind. You mentioned 4 to 5 thousand foot runway. I guess I was lucky, we did a lot of the flying off small strips. We did a lot in and out of an 1800 foot strip, landing to the south, you cane in over a fence, no problem. Coming in to the north, you had power lines right at the end of the strip. If you didnt slip you could run out of runway real quick. I was taught, like you do in the J3, was never a problem. The only problem I have ever seen with a tricycle gear, is the tailwheel is on the wrong end of the aircraft. I think that a person is much better off learning to fly conventional gear and then transition to nosewheel, if you really need it. Thanks Joe, keep the great videos coming. God bless and keep safe out in the wild blue yonder.
A slip with steep bank is safe because the lift function is transferred to the fuselage so the wing stall speed is slower. A slip with nearly horizontal wings needs speed vigilance because it's a setup for a spin. PS you can do an insanely steep slip by starting from a near power-off stall and using full top rudder and keeping the nose up. Try it from altitude first. You steer with the elevators. If the speed builds up the nose isn't high enough.
I was doing a BFR in a C172 (rental) about seven or eight years ago. The instructor was a young guy who'd gone through Part 141 training. I grew up in Part 61, and started in TW airplanes (Champ). At the time, I owned a 180HP Globe Swift. We had to fly the Cessna for the flight review, because he had no time in type. As we flew, I was doing some things that really annoyed him! He pulled power on me four times to test me. I'd only ever had instructors pull it once during past reviews. During the first dead stick approach, I asked whether I might simply slip the plane in for the landing rather than using flaps. I'd done this before in a BFR with another old timer instructor. Well, this fellow immediately said NO! He wanted no part of that. So, I had to use flaps. I could tell that he was somewhat flummoxed by my style of flying. I got the feeling that he thought I was a hayseed! I'd flown mostly TW aircraft, and had taken a formal acro course in a Decathlon after getting my ticket. In some ways, I knew he was a better pilot than me, but in other respects he was clearly lacking certain skills. I'm not necessarily being critical, because his training prepared him to fly commercial. But it was interesting to see the differences in style of flying.
I know that when I got my ppl, that the instructors were not going to teach forward slips over the runway with a flare through the slip, that is something that the private pilot is going to have to learn without supervision, it takes some instincts to try some of these things, stick and rudder skills apply to ground handling as much as when the aircraft is airborne, but the pilot has to take initiative to try stuff.
After flying for 40 years, 90% of the fun now is starting a slip when turning base and carrying it all the way thru 180 degs to final, and sticking the numbers (sometimes:/) in my taildragger while wheel landing.
As a glider pilot, we use cross controls and slip, often times when there is a cross wind component. Besides getting us down quickly, we don't get pushed off the center line. In fact, it holds the center line quite nicely. Not sure if you guys encounter it, but because of our wing length and crossing controls, if you're not careful, and you allow too much aileron, the upper wing generates a lot of lift and can put the glider into, what's called, an 'over the top, spin entry'. On final, this can have devastating results.
I teach avionics to Air Force students and have access to million dollar simulators: I think there's an unjust fear of pushing the airframe to do it's job. Students in a C-130 sim lose their minds at a stall warning or side slip warning that happens well before the plane is actually in danger.
Stabilized approaches weren't part of the drill in the 50s. I spent a lot of early mornings at an idle airport doing landings out of a turn to final, that is, out of a power-off circle to land, an exercise in judging height, speed and circle timing. It's just fun at getting good at things. There used to be a B737 landing in eastern Europe somewhere on TH-cam showing the same thing, landing right out of a turn. In addition nobody ever dragged it in under power - make every landing dead-stick. It's making every landing training for an emergency.
We used the side slip on the B737-700 and -800 all the time when we approached certain short runway airports that required us to come in high. Needless to say, we had to be very smooth and avoided rapid and large alternating control inputs, especially in combination with large changes in pitch, roll, or yaw (e.g. large side slip angles)... I still see some SWA B737 pilots use side slips flying into KPHX!
Watching your videos of the J3 just makes me want a J3 Cub myself :) Good explanation as usual Joe :) I´ve just started working as cabin crew and in my company FO´s I fly with has only 80-110 actual flying hours and 200 sim hours. Where are there stick and rudder skills then? I have 600+ PPL hours :)
In Europe there are plans to get all those single prop planes to a more silent final approach. Basically the idea is, you go to idle right after turning to final. All pilots need to adjust the altitude during the landing pattern, because the final approach gets steeper. When you idle, and you have the usual flap position, the nose must drop to keep a safe airspeed, keep flying please. And then you flare as usual. How far these plans are, ask any European pilots. They don't ask all pilots to descent full flaps AND doing a side slip, but you got the idea: doing a steeper final approach, idling all the way down, everybody living nearby the airport will like that. Less noise! And every pilot can learn that new way of landing. So, good idea?
Hi Joe, I love the channel. I’m a new pilot and have been taught that a forward slip is to lose altitude without losing airspeed, my thinking before this video was that if I put it into a forward slip while in ground effect, I’ll slam the plane into the ground. Do you flare and put it into a ground effect. That seems a bit dangerous to me.
So, it depends. In this situation I'm really fast (for a Cub) so there is no issue in putting it into a slip. The danger comes from holding the Slip too long. You won't stall the wings but can stall the tail and the nose will come down hard (or mains) and you'll be sideways and that's not good. On a normal approach if I am slipping to come down over trees, I would take the slip out just prior to entering ground effect. In the video here, I put the Slip while IN GROUND effect but only because I had an EXCESSIVE amount of speed to bleed off. Hopefully that makes sense?
Hey no doubt Joe is the master of his machine (nice Cub!) and I can tell he wants us all to be better pilots. Hopefully this video will get pilots practicing slips and getting comfortable with them. In a descent, prior to crossing the numbers and beginning the round out to land that is. Slips do come in handy. No argument there. My concern is where he applies the slip. So if a pilot enters downwind not recognizing I’m too fast/ too high, turns base still not recognizing I’m too fast/too high, turns final still not recognizing I’m too fast/too high, crosses the numbers still too fast/ too steep, then a few feet above Tera firma finally notices they are eating up runway faster than normal- well, at that point, I know I wouldn’t want to be in that airplane with them as they finally gain situational awareness and decide to execute a slip a few feet above the ground. There’s also a conflict here with the FAA Flying Handbook and ACS for slips- both expect the pilot to depart the slip when the round out to land begins, but in this technique, you enter the slip at the start of the round out. I don’t deny this could be useful in an emergency, but remember most of us (me included) aren’t as good behind the stick as Joe. He’s using his visual cues and what the airplane is telling him to determine when to depart the slip and align his airplane for landing. That’s because the airspeed indicator isn't terribly useful in a slip, nor should any pilot be focused on it during the round out anyway. Peripheral drift cues and sink rate outside the airplane are the focus as the airplane tires are about to kiss the grass. What if I’m not as experienced as Joe and the reason I’m sailing down the runway faster than usual is the winds shifted on final and I didn’t notice the shift- but my airspeed was good but I’m now landing with a tailwind? Or the DA is higher than expected and that’s why I’m eating up runway, not excessive airspeed. Entering a slip just above the runway under those circumstances could end badly.
All good points. No argument from me! Just something ( like you said) can be used in an emergency or by a more experienced pilot. Hopefully most everyone has a good CFi that can maybe demonstrate it safely
I will be trying this in the 737 this week. Will get back to you with results! Seriously though, I think there is a distinct lack of career instructors. As that number goes down, so will the teaching of the "old ways." It's unfortunately just a fact of life as the majority of instructors are there to get their time and get out. Not to be aviators.
Back in the day (which was a Tuesday by the way) when I was doing my Commercial training, on one flight we’d finished the exercises we had planned for that flight, then my instructor said “let’s do some stuff that won’t be included in the flight test”…… “…at some point you’re going to be mixed in with turbine traffic who won’t be thrilled about being sequenced behind a 172 doing a ‘normal’ approach, so in daytime CAVOK here’s what you can do:….” At the normal start of the base turn he reduced power a bit but then trimmed nose DOWN to maintain about 110 knots instead of trimming nose up for 70. The desired result was to still be at 110 knots at the end of the base to final turn, then “slip the snot out of it” at about 75 knots to scrub off excess altitude and do a normal no flap landing. A few months later I was doing some solo practice in a 152, and there was a 172 in the circuit as well. I practiced several fast approaches in the 152, and was curious whether the instructor and student in the 172 were puzzled about how a 152 was ending up gaining on them on each subsequent circuit. I definitely feel I got good value/experience from the lesson that day, and if you got your Commercial without your instructor demo-ing and practicing this with you then I think you got cheated. I definitely DO NOT recommend this for any low time pilot without instructor supervision. But I consider it a valuable tool in my toolbox that can be drawn upon if needed in daytime good visibility conditions.
Thanks for sharing because this is really awesome to hear and a perfect example of how it should be taught. My Commercial training was my favorite to date, it's where I really learned how to fly the plane. Glad to hear you had such a solid instructor.
I’m a big fan of the forward slip to lose altitude. Not so big a fan for such to decelerate. Can be a bad habit that puts lots of stress on the back of the aircraft. Big setup for negative transference if getting into longer fuselages. If you fly an on-speed AOA, you’ll learn not to be fast and won’t float. But if you’re over-energy at the start, or need to stay high, slipping down lets you bleed without the stress on the tail achieving the same effect. Anticipate and avoid the problem. Slip the steep to avoid it becoming a dive and not need the subsequent decel. If you’re high and fast, fix the fast first then the high wait to slip till fixing the high. Silly idea, zoom away the fast thus easier to see your total energy error in the high, slip it away as needed.
Agreed,,I rarely slip to slow down but have done it occasionally. It’s one of those things that I think everyone should at least be somewhat familiar with it, “just in case” so to speak
I was going to but a A2 CZ Ellipse, a wonderful composite, elliptical wing aircraft with broad flight envelope. Handles turns beautifully like a spitfire. Then I found out that it couldn't handle a forward slip on approach due to the T tail. Deal off.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're spot on, on lack of (practiced skills) not having taken the time to compile the data but I seem to believe a lot of the (hero types, example Scully among others ) pilots that's had vary successful survival rates in vary bad accidents/situations have been the pilots that have strong stick and rudder skills from there past. - - just my opinion :) I love flying my RC on windy days just so I can do crab landings and takeoffs😳
@@Patrick42567 usually the better the stick & Rudder the better chances in emergency situations or challenging environments etc. The key is also to try your best to not get into those situations in the first place lol. For example, properly flown pattern, stable approach is definitely a better way to land within the Touchdown Zone than yeeting the airplane towards the runway and then slipping while in ground effect 😂. But again, great skill to have just in case 😁
The issue with how forward slips are taught now is the entire ethos of why a slip is used. Particularly with 141 school, I.E. ATP. Slips are always taught as a last ditch effort and a dangerous maneuver. When teaching the slips they always tell you to keep the speed in which is true, the issue is that speed in question is always 10 20 knots above what it should be nearly defeating all the benefits that come with slipping.
Can’t agree more. Too many pilots flying out there, who think forward slips or dangerous; often because they have never them. The airline (and cooperate) industry is missing good stick and rudder skills big time. As a check air-man and instructor on large aircraft like the A330/A350/A380, in most cases it doesn’t take long to see if somebody has previous tailwheel experience.
@@algroyp3r Yes, you do NOT slip a large transport aircraft and pretty much no other jet aircraft neither. The skills obtained by slipping and other good stick and rudder skills, can be used in other more challenging handling skills when flying large jet transport aircraft.
Great airmanship, 100% agree with what you're saying, but there is no way any flight school is going to teach this. One wing strike and their insurance would crucify them.
The Private Pilot Certificate is supposed to be a license to learn, but simply going over only ACS techniques again and again is not progressive learning. Your forward slip is a good technique for any, but especially for slick airplanes with no flaps or inefficient flaps. I would add some other basic stick and rudder flying techniques that increase our energy management: The basic level in low ground effect until Vcc and then climb at Vcc takeoff. In your Cub and other 65 hp to 150 hp airplanes, free ground effect energy can easily be fifty percent of total energy available. The energy management 1 g turn of any bank angle. If we do not pull back on the stick, the load factor is 1 g at any bank. Wolfgang, in "Stick and Rudder," asks what the airplane wants to do. In every turn it wants to lower the nose to maintain trimmed airspeed rather than altitude. This is why the airplane cannot stall itself. A pilot pulling back on the stick is required to stall. Down drainage egress is often of greater safety concern than is wind management. Wind management is making base into a crosswind at uncontrolled airports without traffic or ask tower. If we decelerate on short final enough to get a sink going, that will bring throttle into dynamic control, exact control, of glide angle and rate of descent. If we use the speed up of the apparent rate of closure as we get close to the numbers, we can further decelerate in ground effect where Vso, and out of ground effect number, is no longer a no go below number. See Stick and Rudder top of page 304. It is the same apparent rate we use to decelerate coming into an intersection with our cars. Thermal or orographic lift is often more than fifty percent of total lift available, especially in low powered airplanes in the mountains. Pitch up in up air and pitch down to get through down air quickly. Attempting to maintain altitude kills too many in the mountains. In severe downdrafts, we will not be able to hold altitude anyway. Pulling back to stall airspeed is not the solution. Good brief. Thanks.
No doubt the slip is one of the most underutilized techniques- my opinion. Yes, the majority of these flight schools are “academies” that push ratings to airline careers. I’m not knocking that - was not my path - I was a commercial rated helicopter pilot who added on with a SEL rating all for the fun of GA. Expensive, yes - but very rewarding!
l lost count of how many low time poorly instructed pilots have told me that slips are dangerous and they wont practice them. One reason I like to do them is traffic clearing on final, more than once slipping revealed unseen traffic below me on final. If you wont do slips or skids and don't understand their utility, you are just an accident statistic waiting to be recorded.
Regarding “stable approach” and airlines by 1K HAT, I read somewhere to consider this in terms of Time not Height. If you’re at 1K AGL, on a three degree glide path, you’re 3.3 miles to land. You’re probably doing >=120 kts, so you’re a minute forty to go, perhaps a minute ten if doing 180. If you’re only doing 50, however, that same glide path would put you at three hundred and forty feet HAT as a reference to be stabilized. If you’re doing 60, be stabilized by five hundred HAT. Note: stable is not synonymous with static. Many will treat these terms as such, however.
This is a great point. At the airlines we always do it 1,000ft above Airport elevation and our Vapp changes obviously with weight but usually we are 110-145kts or so. Good talking points 👍🏻
@@Bananasssssssss I much prefer AOA such that there is no change with weight as you have with approach speeds. I also think we should teach constant AOA turns in slow flight not just constant airspeed while constant AOA turns make for better landing patterns as they reduce risk of approach turn stalls. You can find on Medium “AOA and Power Techniques” discussing these as well as a case study with “F-35C Crash into the South China Sea.” Note you do not need to see AOA to do constant AOA turns, you just have to have sufficient power to stay level or at desired rate of descent in said turn. No back stick pressure required, your trim setting maintains the AOA.
@@jimallen8186 that’s also another great topic for discussion. There seems to be too much focus on Airspeed when it comes to discussion about stalls rather than really understanding AOA how can you stall at 150kts and not stall a wing at kts etc
@@Bananasssssssss I love taking peeps in my RV-6 and showing them a ninety degrees nose down stall. Granted, you have to have pitch rate to do it, but it does it. Do a Split-S and tighten the pull just as you’re approaching ninety down, feel the break with the nose suddenly stopping at the given pitch. Ease off it pulls through, sometimes you may over-ease off and need to slowly ease back in.
I’m at a field with lots of flight instruction. Airspeed control seems to be an issue. Instructors are afraid of slow flight and stalls and so this is transferred into the new students. 250 hr pilots teaching students. Bad combo
I towed sailplanes and needed to lose 2,000 feet in a hurry with a 250 foot rope behind me with power lines across the road from the 1,800 foot runway. Upon release it was a full rudder and aileron drop out of the sky with the rope way above me, passing well over the wires at 250 feet. I’d still be stopped within the first half of the runway. People on the ground liked the show.
I was thought how to slip an airplane a long time ago by a more old school CFI. It seems like lately the new CFIs and even some chief instructors don’t know how to deal with that. They should; but it’s kinda beaten into their heads that uncoordinated = always bad.
Great topic, I love to use a forward slip in my Piper Warrior if I find I’m a bit high on final approach. Yes, I could dump full flaps but that changes the trim of the aircraft and pressure on the yoke at a critical phase of flight. Your point that you can put the aircraft into a slip and take it back out more quickly is valid, especially for electric flaps but I think you missed the bigger point that it doesn’t drastically change the trim of the aircraft at such a critical time. Great video!
That’s a great great point about the Trim! Gonna pin this.
Agreed. I just got back from doing power off 180s and full slips to touch down in my pa-28. No matter the flap setting, it's a valid technique.
Small note. "Dumping the flaps" refers to removing them (say 40⁰ to 0⁰) and dumping lift. Another old school technique where if you are in ground effect and need to put that sucker on the ground right away, you can dump the lift and it will drop to the runway.
Johnson bar for the win!
I am a CFI and was "checking out" a guy from the UK in one of our Cherokee's. Doing a checkout, I don't give any instruction really, just observe the pilots flying skills. Every trip around the pattern he would turn base to final at pattern altitude and then do the most beautiful full slip, right to the numbers. Of course, any well-done slip such as he performed, was clear evidence that he knew how to fly and it was a short checkout. I asked why the slips. He said at his home airport its part of their noise abatement and every landing requires a high approach followed by a slip. It was a flight where the CFI became the student. I won't ever forget.
Unreal. How about we tell those people not to buy a house directly under the approach end of a runway.
I learned in the US and fly a robin 200 in the uk. And there is a difference in the way we do things obviously. We tend to teach dragging it in under power but I was taught glide was preferable to landing on the neighbours. But in the UK many runways are much shorter, I kept my plane at EGBD for years and that is shorter than an aircraft carrier. But if I'm landing at EGBO where I'm now based I only slip if I'm in a hurry and being in a hurry is not a good thing. My plane is low wing and there is some debate as to whether slipping with full flap is OK, poh doesn't say you can't but doesn't say a lot of things that you definitely can't so I do slip, just not with full rudder smashing.
Nice
@@mcmouse92Noise anaitment is not from the home owners.
Why dont everyone train in their home country, stop goong to states, get your plastic at home.
I used this technique to nail my commercial power off 180’s in a C172. I picked the 1000’ markers on the runway, kept 80kts all the way to the threshold with plenty of energy, then slipped as much as needed to nail the spot. Was able to hit my point every time with this method. I actually startled my DPE because she had never seen anyone else do this in ground effect before.
literally the perfect situation where this would come in handy!, lol
What do you mean by “with plenty of power” in power off approach? Just trying to understand
@@reyesben I meant to say “energy” instead of power. Thanks for that catch. I edited my original comment.
@@Bananassssssssswould also come in handy with a quartering tailwind, no reason to float all the way down the runway.
Brother, you are spot on regarding the disappearance of stick and rudder skills. I teach tailwheel in a Citabria and love helping people.
It's awesome when it clicks for em. It really is such a different kind of flying, it's so much fun
I bought and learned in a 7ECA Champ back in the 80s. Slips were the only way to get into many places I landed. Had the plane for ten years and then had life changes and got rid of it. Many of my jobs I was flown all over Alaska in many different kinds of planes and helicopters.
My instructor taught me to side slip and it has certainly come in handy
Why I am extremely happy to be a student glider pilot. It's all stick and rudder. I absolutely love this type of flying.
Tailwheel instructors are disappearing, so good on you. Keep up the good work. IMHO, the private licence should include several hours of TW instruction to cement proper habits in the primacy of learning.
I soloed a glider at age 14 and then a Supercub at 16, at Sugarbush in VT (1970’s). When I took my private check ride later at Danbury in CT, it was a blustery day. The check pilot didn’t bother with engine-out exercise because of my glider rating. Landing, it was gusty on a tricky approach so I used flaps 10 degrees and slipped for glide path control. The check pilot essentially offered me a job. He said that when I get my commercial and CFI, to call him for a job. I credit my old school instructors at Sugarbush!
In sailplane flying, we still learn side slipping and it can be very useful. Sometimes we have to land on 300 ft long grass strips with an aircraft going probably around 60 knots. There are airbrakes but if you misjudge you can’t go around.
My favorite is when the pattern is light, a beautiful slipping 180-degree turn from downwind to round out. Beats what see everyday by the pilot mills, rectangular patterns flown in a 172 miles and miles from the runway.
Thanks for re-centering in the tools we have GOT to have in an emergency! Private pilot students should have at least 1 lesson in a tailwheel - what a great way to break open new talents. I got my TW after private and wish I had done it sooner!
Have vastly improved my flying skills in microlights after being taught and practicing slipping…and vital for our short soft field grassy strips here in NZ, thanks Joe
love to hear it!
Wasn't until I got my tailwheel endorsement from a 74 year old instructor in a Luscombe L8 that I truly "learned" to fly. My skills increased exponentially from my time with him. Really didn't do many slips prior to this, but he really made it click with me. He gave me a true understanding of its purpose and what the aircraft is capable of. I've since got rid of the nose wheel airplane and now own a taildragger!
It really is amazing how much better of a pilot we’ve become once we get into taildraggers. It’s hard to really “need” these skills when we have 6,000ft paved runways with Autopilots, flaps etc.
@@Bananasssssssss Spot on.
Very similar story to my own though it was an 8KCAB and I think my instructor has to be in or very near her 80s as she knows many of the NASA engineers my nearly-90yr old grandfather worked with during the space race. Learned more in those few hours than I had in the preceding 60.
Real pilots fly taildraggers! All those others just drive their airplanes. I owned and flew a 1946 Cessna 120 (no flaps ) for many years and could put it down in less than a couple hundred feet.
I fully agree with these suggestions. I had a complete engine failure a couple of years ago in a Cessna 170B (manual flaps) and landed out in a very small field. During the glide and the approach to my landing site, I did not use any flaps at all, only slips while adjusting my glide angle to my landing site. The problem with using flaps except on very short final, is that if you misjudge, removing flaps will cause you to sink quickly and possibly land short of your touchdown spot. Slipping on the other hand allows you to increase and decrease your sink rate without the sudden sinking of removing flaps. When you take the slip out, you immediately start flying again and can put the slip back in if you need to lose a little more height. When I had the field made, I quickly pulled in full flaps just before touchdown to act as speed brakes and decelerate quickly during my roll-out. The secret to a successful forced landing is to make your landing spot and LAND AS SLOW AS POSSIBLE. Speed kills.
AMEN!
What also astounds me is how very few GA pilots seem to realise that they are playing a game of energy management.
Speed and altitude are interchangeable by pushing or pulling on the control stick. All the while, you are constantly losing energy through drag and simultaneously topping it up through engine power.
So if you now find yourself low and slow (so: somewhat low on energy), you add engine power, and use the control stick to distribute this extra energy over speed and altitude. Simple.
And if you find yourself high and fast (high on energy), you pull power, and again use the control stick to tell the plane where to get that energy from - altitude or speed.
But what if you’ve pulled your throttle to idle and still find yourself with an excess of energy? You need to add drag to lose it.
So, your options?
1: Add more flap if you have them. Flaps create a ton of drag. But on final you are likely to be at full flap already. So what else could you do?
2: (And I’ve never heard this one taught): Temporarily add speed. You don’t HAVE to approach at vy all the way. In fact, that is the speed with pretty much the least amount of drag. If you need more drag, just speed up to max flap speed and dump a bunch of energy. After all, drag goes up with the cube of speed, so a 20% increase in speed will create a 73% (1.2^3) increase in drag! Just make sure that you're back at landing speed when time comes to actually put your wheels on the ground. How? Pull your nose back up. At lease you've lost a bunch of energy by now.
3: And indeed, another great tool in the toolbox is to kick your plane sideways and expose a whole bunch of surface area to the wind. In other words: slip.
But it’s all about energy management.
And why doesn’t anyone seem to learn that any more?
Brilliantly said! Thank you!
Love doing slips, even as a new student I wanted to land just past the numbers and not have to brake for the first turnoff at my local airport. Been doing tailwheel training and it's getting easier.
I always thought of the slip kinda in the inverse. Instead of using to lose speed, it used to lose altitude without getting fast. Great tool for short approaches which we both seem to favor. But in a real engine out situation, you really cannot be short so you are clean, best glide until assured. That is 15kts higher than stall, AND I likely still have some altitude to lose into this short field. So yeah, I agree with you, use it to lose speed for a short field. I am glad we had this talk.
100% and that's how I use it 99% of the time. Think coming down over trees etc. This is just one example where you "could" use a slip to bleed off airspeed. Think if you had an engine failure and are doing a forced landing in a field and you are fast, you could use this technique to bleed of that airspeed. Hopefully that makes sense.
@@BananasssssssssThanks for making this video!
It’s not the crash that kills. It’s the speed. Good advice!
King of slips strikes again! Definitely have noticed pilots using more runway and never see forward slips utilized at my airport. I also notice more pilots making really wide patterns and long finals like they are flying a 747. when practicing in the pattern it is better to stay closer to the field at such a low altitude.
Yeah that's another issue at my airport as well. Really really large patterns. So much so they end up flying into another airport pattern that's close by
I focused so much on "the perfect pattern" that my slips, slipped. Now I slip all the time because our Aeronca doesn't have flaps and its totally fun!
That's a great point. I posted this video on a few Facebook Groups and a lot of the comments where "Well, fly a stable approach first". I understand that's the goal but realistically (especially outside the training environment) that isn't always the case and better to be able to know how to do this if needed.
And dangerous.
I do it all the time. I have taken my PPL in Brasil and over there my CFI have pushed me to the limit when I told him I was building an aircraft of my own project. Here in the U.S. no CFI's teach much about sleeps. I love to do it. I approach landing high on purpose just in case I loose power or something and sleep away. Freaking awesome!
Very interesting topic. I learned to fly in 1981 and I was taught forward slips with/without flaps in a C150 during my flight instruction. It is a great tool to have in the toolbox.
In later years, I had an electrical failure and could not use any flaps. No big deal for a C152 landing with no flaps, but being able to slip was beneficial.
absolutely PERFECT example!!!! thanks for sharing
@@Bananasssssssss 👍
Thanks learned a whole new way to use the forward slip
I just earned my Private Pilot license Thursday evening and I’m at a part 141 school but a part time student because my goal is NOT to get to the airlines quickly. I value you, your time and your videos!
Congratulations!!
Congrats!!!! (and thank you!)
Im a (nosewheel) CFI but I do a lot of J3 flying on the side. I am the primary aircraft checkout CFI at my school and it is incredible how many pilots, all the way up to CFIs and airline pilots have no idea that you can slip in ground effect and that slips can be used to bleed airspeed. Most people I fly with are pretty uncomfortable doing slips in general. I always demonstrate slips in ground effect, as well as flying tighter patterns in the 172s, 182s and Cherokees. Your videos have taught and reinforced many great stick and rudder principles that I do my best to pass on.
Appreciate that! Thank you
I completely agree with you on this. I learned to fly tailwheels in the early 90's out of a 100x2,000 strip with trees all around it. It was critical to be on your airspeed and know how to slip properly in airplanes that didn't have flaps. It can also be extremely handy when the big fan up front quits working and you only have one shot at getting everything correct. Great video! 👍🏼👍🏼
I got my PPL at an airline flight school, very nice school and well organized. But the examiner during the skill test had his own Pitts, he only let me pass the skill test if I went with him for one lesson fordward slips for the forced landing, ended up doing a forward slip, flapless glide in. That lesson was an eye opener, the amount of control you feel during the approach is very nice. It is good that you bring this topic to light
I gotta say, I’ve only been flying for a year so I’m still new, but I went to a part 61 and my instructor is a back country guy so I’ve been taught real stick and rudder skills and a good chunk of my hours are in a j-3. I’m glad I chose the instructor that I did!
Always great topics and beautifully presented Joe. Big slips always look dramatic from the ground accompanied by a rushing air noise. One of the most useful skills any pilot can have.
Thank you! They really are so much fun, not even sure why, lol
Love this. Slipping is so fun on top of the useful benefits 👍🏼
I started my training in a Luscombe 8a and slips were used on pretty much every landing to see the touch down point and lose altitude without gaining speed. Slipping is still a tool I use almost every day!
exactly! perfect accessory for these old taildraggers, lol
nice video, my wife and i recently had a long trip and ended up landing at a 30 feet wide 2000 foot runway overpower lines and trees in c-182 heavy in heavy crosswind, actually made a good landing but had two goarounds before i actually set it down, i also agree to fly has much as possible thanks dan
So true! I love to slip with my rc planes! I even find it less complicated than flaps. I use it instead of flaps even on my full flapped rc airplanes . You can gently and effective control the speed with the slip maneuver. Its a great maneuver. Every pilot should be able to do it..
Awsome video. Great advice! You are being very "nice" describing the total lack of basic piloting skills that exist now in the US. We are cranking out thousands of young pilots just to meet quotas and projections that scare the hell out of me. It's pathetic at the lack of just plane stick and rudder skills being taught now. I have said for years student pilots should be required to get some hrs of tailwheel time before being able to take the exam. Also should require spin training. Anyway, thank you for all the great videos you do. Those slips look so damn cool!
Thank you! Really appreciate it! I think the one good thing, or one side effect of slowing airline hiring is pilots will need to instruct or do more SE flying before they move on to an RJ and will just naturally have a little more stick & Rudder time
Gonna start calling this the Banana Slip next time I harp on my students slip skill.
hahahaha
The frame of mind for a slip should be to loose altitude not to slow down. Once you do loose the altitude slowing down is easy and COORDINATED so you don't stall accidentally.
When the airplane is not in a slip the POH numbers are valid. When you slip your stall speed as printed goes out the window, so you need to be a bit faster in a slip!
The cub is very forgiving. *Correct slipping technique becomes extremely important in more critical wings and wing loadings.
BTW, the slips shown in the vid look very good. Thanks for the video.
Over at the flying club where I work as a mechanic apprentice (I'll be getting my A&P soon), and where I got my private pilot license, a lot of the instructors do not teach students how to slip when coming into land. And I feel like it relates to a point you made in the video, where you said if the student meets the ACS standard, check that part of the syllabus off and move on. We even have some instructors that allow their students to make very fast taxi's. And in A&P school we are told that taxi speed should be no more than walking speed. On the other hand though, we do have a few instructors that do teach these skills to their students, one of which got me into studying the different types of airfoils that different aircraft use, like the NACA 2412 on a C172. Which not many schools teach anymore according to him. I'm lucky enough to also have had one of the good instructors at the club teach me.
Apart from the good ones however, the majority of the instructors out here are primarily focused on getting to the airlines as quickly as possible, and never seem to focus on giving a student a quality flight lesson. That's a trend that I've noticed all across the industry. Student pilots get their PPL, then their instrument, commercial, CFI, and start building hours as quickly as possible by teaching students, and leaving for the airlines as soon as they reach 1500 hours total flight time. Rinse and repeat. While flying for the airlines is great, I feel like the mentality of building hours is hurting a lot of student pilots, because like I said before, the CFI's are not focusing on the students, they're focusing on flight hours. And to me it's distracting all these young CFI's from what it means to be an instructor. Which is to devote their time to a student, and show them the ways of aviation. All of that combined I think is contributing to the loss is stick and rudder flying skills.
Now, I myself am not a CFI, or a commercial pilot. I'm just a private pilot. However, I do eventually want to fly for an air freight company, and do some instructing on the side for fun. The two companies I'm looking are are either FedEx, or Atlas Air. My biggest goal within the industry though is to own an airplane, starting out with a little Luscombe, or any old taildragger, and moving my way up to a Cessna 182. When I say all that though, I'm not looking to get their as quickly as possible, and while a lot of people may tell me to think the other way around because of the seniority system, I'll just tell them that I want to take my time building hours, so that I can remain a safe pilot and retain my stick & rudder skills. Because I know that along my journey, I will make mistakes, but the key thing is I want to learn from whatever mistake I make. Because I have been told that even up to the ATP rating, all airmen certificates are a license to learn.
That's a great attitude to have in regards to career flying. And every license is definitely a license to learn....
I taught all my students to sideslip. Useful tool in managing airspeed and rate of descent (mainly rate of descent!). But as others have stated, I'd rather they did it further back in the approach so that they arrive over the threshold on parameters!
LOVE the "short stuff." And soft fields. Don't fly anymore, (expensive, for a retiree!) but I remember some fun times. Thanks for the video!
you got it! ever find yourself in NJ let me know and We'll fly the Cub
@@Bananasssssssss You bet! Thank you! I love the older little birds! Stay well, my friend!!
I have my PP license and also fly RC planes.. Practicing Slips on the RC is so fun.. Just like in full scale, it’s a great tool to experience and have in the back pocket in both hobbies.. Thanks for sharing. 73
Fantastic topic. The more tools you have the better. Practicing this is also extremely helpful for landing in big crosswinds. It's the exact same thing only you are using the slip to be straight to the runway. In big crosswinds, I land my Cherokee with some extra power in because of the extra drag. Your demo was probably the equivalent to landing in a 15 kt plus crosswind in terms how amount of slip needed. Full rudder slips should definitely be in the practice routine.
Thanks for the advice. I took up flying as a hobby so my outlook on training has been a little different from the regular students at the school. Every take off or landing I always try to make it a performance one while I still have a instructor next to me to give advice. One important thing I found was to fly with diffrent instructors because each one will give you something the other doesn't know
I'm mostly with you. But also, I'm doing my tailwheel training now, and slipping that close to the ground seems like an easy way to break an airplane if I touch down to early. I'm more inclined to slip an airplane on final than I am in ground effect. If I were flying an approach to the airport in the video, I think I would slip the airplane to get down past the trees, and then flare and land as normal.
All good points, I kind of did a poor job of explaining that this is kind of a non routine, kinda last resort, use once in a while type thing, lol. I would absolutely slip on the approach over the trees and come out of it before ground effect. I would use the slip in ground effect if I just came in a really tight pattern and was fast and needed to bleed off some airspeed to get down ASAP or in a forced landing situation etc.
Good stuff but I agree with @irwinrussell60. Maybe consider more of an "intro to slips" video that describes the basics for people. Doing them very near the ground is definitely not how to begin.
@@gregcharest443 agreed but that’s kind of my point, this is something that has definitely been taught less and less over the years.
Once you get the slip perfected it can be used almost to touchdown. Once you center the controls, the airplane quickly regains the proper touch down attitude. Did this many times in my 1946 Cessna 120 with no flaps. I was a much better pilot once I started flying taildraggers.
Great video - I love your classic Cub and the Navitimer on your wrist!
Thank you!
Not slipping an airbus 🤣 that would be funny. I’m going to learn this when I get my tail wheel. Great video!
Everything you spoke about the flight schools is so true. I found Orlandi at blairstown 1n7 and they are amazing. They start at the grass roots and have a tail wheel program. Fantastic flight school. Not for the faint of heart. They are tough which is what I wanted. I’m not a 141 guy. I also don’t learn in a standardized way.
The first thing Vince did our first flight is cover all the gauges. Getting me to stay outside and learn the airplane configurations based off attitude and engine rpm. Then having me peek at the airspeed to confirm. Incredible principles. I was chasing the gauges. He stopped it immediately.
I learned what different attitudes combined with different rpm settings give me roughly certain air speeds.
Great People up there in Blairstown. Awesome Pancakes too, lol
@@Bananasssssssss there really is! Everyone has been amazing. I feel like that is said for a majority of the community though. My aviation fam is second to none.
I learned out of a small 2600 foot strip with trees on both ends, in a Piper Tripacer and my instructor was one of those older stick and rudder kind of guys so I wasn't shy with slips. Super handy for cross wind landings.
Poor ole Ercoupes ---ha !!! Of course they have S turns. Great video !!!!
Thanks !!!
You can mush in an Ercoupe and never need to slip.
I was on a medical check ride with an FAA inspector just prior to my PPL check ride to demonstrate my eyesight was sufficient. The tower asked me to turn to base early to get me in before an inbound jet. So I slipped to slow and get down and still put it on the numbers. The FAA inspector seemed surprised that I was performing a slip, but I nailed it and he signed me off. I had practiced it a lot, just because it's fun.
100% agree on the stick and rudder skills. I learned to fly in 1977 from a crusty old instructor who was all about stick and rudder skills. However, I don’t think the accelerated training programs are the problem. I believe you can get a motivated student from 0 to ATP (if we didn’t have the stupid 1500 hour rule for a full ATP license) in 5.5 months and still teach excellent stick and rudder skills. This is simply a curriculum and philosophy issue, not a time issue. Since different airplanes have different systems, I’d much rather see the initial training focus more on stick and rudder and leave the systems training to the hiring airline. Spending so much time on systems training early on detracts from the flying fundamentals training and may well be mostly obsolete once on the line anyway.
😂, not unless the student flew 6 days a week twice a day, total of 5 hrs a day.
I signed a large portion of my life away to the Armys highschool to flight school for the reasons you cover. When checking out some schools it was obvious that parents are choosing airline pilot as a career for thier kids. I aspire to be an aviator like you are not just a career pilot.
Thats the thing, I want everyone to be able to understand the importance of Stabilized approaches and proper planning but want them to be TRAINED in having the ability to fly the airplane when things go south
I totally understand what you're saying. And really it should be part of training just for the fact of if your flaps don't come down and you have to slow down for some reason
Ty very much! Loved the video as always! Nice Breitling watch ⌚ BTW 🇺🇸✈️🥇
Thank you! (for both compliments!, lol)
This is great stuff! Thanks for pushing stick and rudder skills!
You bet!
I was amazed at how good the cub slips. Puts the 172 to shame lol.
It's in the ACS. I don't remember if my CFI taught me how to do it or if I just knew from the PHAK/YT videos. But my CFI did practice with his other student in a 150 while I practiced solo in his 172.
Didn't do them on my check ride, but I was ready.
I slip all the time. The pax in the A321 love it.
lol, Big fan of Direct Law ehh :),
@@Bananasssssssss Works fine in normal law.
I'm currently a student pilot out in the midwest using a small part 61 flight school and am in the latter half of the training setting up and flying the required cross countries. I find this rather interesting that slips don't seem to be taught at some of these larger schools as I was taught the technique pretty early in my training and have used it multiple times with simulated engine out landing procedures and as mentioned to bleed off some altitude without gaining on final if need be. I think it's a great skill to have.
Maybe the fact that both CFI's I've worked with both have a lot of taildragger time(and the fact I've told them I 100% want to get a traildragger endorsement and possibly buy one someday).
It definitely is being taught less and less. I get it rarely needs to be used but that doesn't mean we shouldn't train for it. Glad to hear your school taught it early on
Hell yeah brother. I did my PPL training with a very old school pilot who landed DC-3s on beaches in Alaska and the Caribbean along with being a lifelong glider instructor. That crusty old bastard had me doing full slips from base to touchdown early on in my training.
During my check ride the DPE goes "okay, you're going to have to show me a forward slip this landing" I told him "no problem". He goes" and you have a flap failure so you can't use flaps" I replied "great!". Later in the debrief he gave my CFI props on continuing to hammer home the old ways.
Keep up the good work. Also, you need to brush up on your definition of "average" 😂
Love to hear it!
Slipping in ground effect can be tricky, especially in a low-wing aircraft. It’s possible, but challenging. I do this sometimes, but only in non-gusty conditions. It requires skill and a good feel for the plane. I would not recommend it if you don't know the plane well enough. Slipping on final is just normal ☺️ BUT in some aircraft slips are prohibited with flaps down.
All good points 👍🏻
Surely you have enviable Cub skills and you are beyond experienced, but wingtip few inches from the ground on the flare /0:04 in this vid/...
too risky. Slips should be done at higher altitude or less aggressively in ground effect.
Thanks for the video and keep 'em coming!
I have a Commercial Instrument Pilot license plus A&P license. Owned my own 1946 Cessna 120 (no flaps) for years. In addition, I was an Air Traffic Controller for both the USAF and FAA for a number of years. My last FAA airport I worked in the tower and we had 5 flight schools on the airport. As you can imagine, I've seen thousands of landings by low time and high time pilots. I can't remember ever seeing anyone slip an aircraft on landing at that airport. They all used as much runway as was available. Definitely a lost art for pilots.
Great video.
Thank you!
It can be pretty easy to pick up speed during a slip too. If you are already going as slow as you should and then enter a slip, the sink rate can be alarming. To counteract that you let the nose down and then you have gained nothing by going too fast again
Great point and was a big issue for me when I first started doing them in Cubs…
Great video! I agree that sick and rudder training is becoming a lost art. I had an IP tell me early in my flying career that if you can't touch down in the first 2,000' go be a bus driver. This always stuck with me and made me become obsessive about energy management in the pattern. In my DA-62 I calculate my Vref {Vso x 1.3}) on base to final to avoid getting caught in a low energy situation while turning base. I fly final a bit high (half a dot, or slightly above GS with visual references, or my typical sight picture) for power loss risk mitigation. I want to make sure I can always make the field anywhere in the pattern. A slight slip over the fence to the numbers is always enough to get me back on speed and GS for a precise landing, which for me is exactly in the middle of the bars.
Flying a Phenom 300, everything is all about being stable before 1,000' or go around. This means backing approaches up with RNAV or ILS and being on speed, on time even in VMC.
How do you like the DA-62? Looks like really nice planes.
@@Bananasssssssss It’s amazing! Comfortable, fast and really great to fly! My husband and I do lots of cross country flying and 3 hour legs are a breeze. I really like the instrument capabilities because it keeps our options open when we travel. Best GA twin on the market in my opinion!
@@amamdawhatever that’s awesome ! Would love one as a family hauler one day
that tail camera view is so cool
I got my PPL 2 days ago, I never got to use slips as much as id like, as on every approach except when simulating a flap failure, I was using flaps in my 172.
I certainly never used a slip in ground effect
Congrats on your PPL!. This is just something to be aware of and maybe revisit with your CFI once you get a little more time in the airplane, I always enjoyed doing Commercial Maneuvers because I feel like that taught e a lot about aerodynamics, energy management etc.
Great video! I got my private pilot license in usual Cessnas and Pipers but I also got lots of taildragger time in a J3 cub so I was comfortable doing slips. During my Commercial check ride in a Cessna 182 my examiner (also owner of the airplane) pulled the throttle on me and said you just had an engine failure, what are going to do. I was in North Dakota so finding a spot to land was no problem but I looked down and there was a crop duster strip right below me so I said I'm landing right there. I started my approach but was coming in on final too high even with full flaps. I put the 182 into a full slip and it started coming down like an elevator with no cables! I glanced over at the examiner and he was braced for impact but didn't try to take over the controls. There was lots of noise and turbulence due to the full flaps blocking the tail surfaces but it was fully under control. Just above the strip I went out of the slip and was just about to touch down (on the strip) and he applied full power and had me go around. He said I never knew you could slip a 182 with full flaps! I passed my check ride.
Any CFI advocating Against performing slips needs to surrender their CFI Certificate.
Any pilot who advocates against using slips needs to get retrained.
These are basic skills and maneuvers that are Required to be proficient in to be a pilot.
It's in the ACS
I was taught to fly in all taildragger aircraft. Main airacraft I flew a was a Cessna 170. My dad was a CFI and when possible I would go up with them, and a lot of times I worked a deal where I could get a little stick time. Most challenging was a Cessna 195, and a Luscombe 8A. Both for different reasons, 195 I couldn't see over the nose, took some doing to learn, and the Luscombe, was a lot quicker and would love to catch you "sleeping" a little in a crosswind.
You mentioned 4 to 5 thousand foot runway. I guess I was lucky, we did a lot of the flying off small strips. We did a lot in and out of an 1800 foot strip, landing to the south, you cane in over a fence, no problem. Coming in to the north, you had power lines right at the end of the strip. If you didnt slip you could run out of runway real quick.
I was taught, like you do in the J3, was never a problem.
The only problem I have ever seen with a tricycle gear, is the tailwheel is on the wrong end of the aircraft. I think that a person is much better off learning to fly conventional gear and then transition to nosewheel, if you really need it.
Thanks Joe, keep the great videos coming.
God bless and keep safe out in the wild blue yonder.
A slip with steep bank is safe because the lift function is transferred to the fuselage so the wing stall speed is slower. A slip with nearly horizontal wings needs speed vigilance because it's a setup for a spin. PS you can do an insanely steep slip by starting from a near power-off stall and using full top rudder and keeping the nose up. Try it from altitude first. You steer with the elevators. If the speed builds up the nose isn't high enough.
I was doing a BFR in a C172 (rental) about seven or eight years ago. The instructor was a young guy who'd gone through Part 141 training. I grew up in Part 61, and started in TW airplanes (Champ). At the time, I owned a 180HP Globe Swift. We had to fly the Cessna for the flight review, because he had no time in type.
As we flew, I was doing some things that really annoyed him! He pulled power on me four times to test me. I'd only ever had instructors pull it once during past reviews. During the first dead stick approach, I asked whether I might simply slip the plane in for the landing rather than using flaps. I'd done this before in a BFR with another old timer instructor. Well, this fellow immediately said NO! He wanted no part of that. So, I had to use flaps.
I could tell that he was somewhat flummoxed by my style of flying. I got the feeling that he thought I was a hayseed! I'd flown mostly TW aircraft, and had taken a formal acro course in a Decathlon after getting my ticket. In some ways, I knew he was a better pilot than me, but in other respects he was clearly lacking certain skills. I'm not necessarily being critical, because his training prepared him to fly commercial. But it was interesting to see the differences in style of flying.
I’d take the stick & rudder part 61 pilot any day over the technical part 141 pilot
I know that when I got my ppl, that the instructors were not going to teach forward slips over the runway with a flare through the slip, that is something that the private pilot is going to have to learn without supervision, it takes some instincts to try some of these things, stick and rudder skills apply to ground handling as much as when the aircraft is airborne, but the pilot has to take initiative to try stuff.
Good point Joe. This is definitely something that is (rightfully so) out of the comfort of a newly minted PPL
After flying for 40 years, 90% of the fun now is starting a slip when turning base and carrying it all the way thru 180 degs to final, and sticking the numbers (sometimes:/) in my taildragger while wheel landing.
haha, love to hear it
As a glider pilot, we use cross controls and slip, often times when there is a cross wind component. Besides getting us down quickly, we don't get pushed off the center line. In fact, it holds the center line quite nicely.
Not sure if you guys encounter it, but because of our wing length and crossing controls, if you're not careful, and you allow too much aileron, the upper wing generates a lot of lift and can put the glider into, what's called, an 'over the top, spin entry'. On final, this can have devastating results.
I teach avionics to Air Force students and have access to million dollar simulators:
I think there's an unjust fear of pushing the airframe to do it's job. Students in a C-130 sim lose their minds at a stall warning or side slip warning that happens well before the plane is actually in danger.
Stabilized approaches weren't part of the drill in the 50s. I spent a lot of early mornings at an idle airport doing landings out of a turn to final, that is, out of a power-off circle to land, an exercise in judging height, speed and circle timing. It's just fun at getting good at things. There used to be a B737 landing in eastern Europe somewhere on TH-cam showing the same thing, landing right out of a turn. In addition nobody ever dragged it in under power - make every landing dead-stick. It's making every landing training for an emergency.
We used the side slip on the B737-700 and -800 all the time when we approached certain short runway airports that required us to come in high. Needless to say, we had to be very smooth and avoided rapid and large alternating control inputs, especially in combination with large changes in pitch, roll, or yaw (e.g. large side slip angles)... I still see some SWA B737 pilots use side slips flying into KPHX!
Watching your videos of the J3 just makes me want a J3 Cub myself :) Good explanation as usual Joe :) I´ve just started working as cabin crew and in my company FO´s I fly with has only 80-110 actual flying hours and 200 sim hours. Where are there stick and rudder skills then? I have 600+ PPL hours :)
Thank you!
Very good and highly useful skill
absolutely
The 767 pilot who ran out of fuel in Canada used a slip to get the jet on an abandoned airport field.
@@rlsmith6904 Gimli Glider!
Great points, as always !
Thanks Slick!
In Europe there are plans to get all those single prop planes to a more silent final approach. Basically the idea is, you go to idle right after turning to final. All pilots need to adjust the altitude during the landing pattern, because the final approach gets steeper. When you idle, and you have the usual flap position, the nose must drop to keep a safe airspeed, keep flying please. And then you flare as usual.
How far these plans are, ask any European pilots. They don't ask all pilots to descent full flaps AND doing a side slip, but you got the idea: doing a steeper final approach, idling all the way down, everybody living nearby the airport will like that. Less noise! And every pilot can learn that new way of landing. So, good idea?
Started my tailwheel today! Doing it in a c140 with big ole tires
haha nice! have fun!
Hi Joe, I love the channel. I’m a new pilot and have been taught that a forward slip is to lose altitude without losing airspeed, my thinking before this video was that if I put it into a forward slip while in ground effect, I’ll slam the plane into the ground. Do you flare and put it into a ground effect. That seems a bit dangerous to me.
So, it depends. In this situation I'm really fast (for a Cub) so there is no issue in putting it into a slip. The danger comes from holding the Slip too long. You won't stall the wings but can stall the tail and the nose will come down hard (or mains) and you'll be sideways and that's not good. On a normal approach if I am slipping to come down over trees, I would take the slip out just prior to entering ground effect. In the video here, I put the Slip while IN GROUND effect but only because I had an EXCESSIVE amount of speed to bleed off. Hopefully that makes sense?
I was taught (in a Cessna 150) the forward slip is to increase rate of descent without GAINING airspeed, somewhat like flaps.
Hey no doubt Joe is the master of his machine (nice Cub!) and I can tell he wants us all to be better pilots. Hopefully this video will get pilots practicing slips and getting comfortable with them. In a descent, prior to crossing the numbers and beginning the round out to land that is. Slips do come in handy. No argument there. My concern is where he applies the slip. So if a pilot enters downwind not recognizing I’m too fast/ too high, turns base still not recognizing I’m too fast/too high, turns final still not recognizing I’m too fast/too high, crosses the numbers still too fast/ too steep, then a few feet above Tera firma finally notices they are eating up runway faster than normal- well, at that point, I know I wouldn’t want to be in that airplane with them as they finally gain situational awareness and decide to execute a slip a few feet above the ground. There’s also a conflict here with the FAA Flying Handbook and ACS for slips- both expect the pilot to depart the slip when the round out to land begins, but in this technique, you enter the slip at the start of the round out. I don’t deny this could be useful in an emergency, but remember most of us (me included) aren’t as good behind the stick as Joe. He’s using his visual cues and what the airplane is telling him to determine when to depart the slip and align his airplane for landing. That’s because the airspeed indicator isn't terribly useful in a slip, nor should any pilot be focused on it during the round out anyway. Peripheral drift cues and sink rate outside the airplane are the focus as the airplane tires are about to kiss the grass. What if I’m not as experienced as Joe and the reason I’m sailing down the runway faster than usual is the winds shifted on final and I didn’t notice the shift- but my airspeed was good but I’m now landing with a tailwind? Or the DA is higher than expected and that’s why I’m eating up runway, not excessive airspeed. Entering a slip just above the runway under those circumstances could end badly.
All good points. No argument from me! Just something ( like you said) can be used in an emergency or by a more experienced pilot. Hopefully most everyone has a good CFi that can maybe demonstrate it safely
I will be trying this in the 737 this week. Will get back to you with results! Seriously though, I think there is a distinct lack of career instructors. As that number goes down, so will the teaching of the "old ways." It's unfortunately just a fact of life as the majority of instructors are there to get their time and get out. Not to be aviators.
Back in the day (which was a Tuesday by the way) when I was doing my Commercial training, on one flight we’d finished the exercises we had planned for that flight, then my instructor said “let’s do some stuff that won’t be included in the flight test”……
“…at some point you’re going to be mixed in with turbine traffic who won’t be thrilled about being sequenced behind a 172 doing a ‘normal’ approach, so in daytime CAVOK here’s what you can do:….”
At the normal start of the base turn he reduced power a bit but then trimmed nose DOWN to maintain about 110 knots instead of trimming nose up for 70. The desired result was to still be at 110 knots at the end of the base to final turn, then “slip the snot out of it” at about 75 knots to scrub off excess altitude and do a normal no flap landing.
A few months later I was doing some solo practice in a 152, and there was a 172 in the circuit as well. I practiced several fast approaches in the 152, and was curious whether the instructor and student in the 172 were puzzled about how a 152 was ending up gaining on them on each subsequent circuit.
I definitely feel I got good value/experience from the lesson that day, and if you got your Commercial without your instructor demo-ing and practicing this with you then I think you got cheated.
I definitely DO NOT recommend this for any low time pilot without instructor supervision. But I consider it a valuable tool in my toolbox that can be drawn upon if needed in daytime good visibility conditions.
Thanks for sharing because this is really awesome to hear and a perfect example of how it should be taught. My Commercial training was my favorite to date, it's where I really learned how to fly the plane. Glad to hear you had such a solid instructor.
yep, this is the only way I will be able to get in and out on my runway :)
I’m a big fan of the forward slip to lose altitude. Not so big a fan for such to decelerate. Can be a bad habit that puts lots of stress on the back of the aircraft. Big setup for negative transference if getting into longer fuselages. If you fly an on-speed AOA, you’ll learn not to be fast and won’t float. But if you’re over-energy at the start, or need to stay high, slipping down lets you bleed without the stress on the tail achieving the same effect. Anticipate and avoid the problem. Slip the steep to avoid it becoming a dive and not need the subsequent decel. If you’re high and fast, fix the fast first then the high wait to slip till fixing the high. Silly idea, zoom away the fast thus easier to see your total energy error in the high, slip it away as needed.
Agreed,,I rarely slip to slow down but have done it occasionally. It’s one of those things that I think everyone should at least be somewhat familiar with it, “just in case” so to speak
I was going to but a A2 CZ Ellipse, a wonderful composite, elliptical wing aircraft with broad flight envelope. Handles turns beautifully like a spitfire. Then I found out that it couldn't handle a forward slip on approach due to the T tail. Deal off.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're spot on, on lack of (practiced skills) not having taken the time to compile the data but I seem to believe a lot of the (hero types, example Scully among others ) pilots that's had vary successful survival rates in vary bad accidents/situations have been the pilots that have strong stick and rudder skills from there past. - - just my opinion :)
I love flying my RC on windy days just so I can do crab landings and takeoffs😳
@@Patrick42567 usually the better the stick & Rudder the better chances in emergency situations or challenging environments etc. The key is also to try your best to not get into those situations in the first place lol. For example, properly flown pattern, stable approach is definitely a better way to land within the Touchdown Zone than yeeting the airplane towards the runway and then slipping while in ground effect 😂. But again, great skill to have just in case 😁
The issue with how forward slips are taught now is the entire ethos of why a slip is used. Particularly with 141 school, I.E. ATP. Slips are always taught as a last ditch effort and a dangerous maneuver. When teaching the slips they always tell you to keep the speed in which is true, the issue is that speed in question is always 10 20 knots above what it should be nearly defeating all the benefits that come with slipping.
Good points
Can’t agree more. Too many pilots flying out there, who think forward slips or dangerous; often because they have never them. The airline (and cooperate) industry is missing good stick and rudder skills big time. As a check air-man and instructor on large aircraft like the A330/A350/A380, in most cases it doesn’t take long to see if somebody has previous tailwheel experience.
Is it true that slip can cause a compressor stall in jet engines?
@@algroyp3r Yes, you do NOT slip a large transport aircraft and pretty much no other jet aircraft neither. The skills obtained by slipping and other good stick and rudder skills, can be used in other more challenging handling skills when flying large jet transport aircraft.
Yup, you essentially blank out the air that would normally go through the engine...
@@Bananasssssssss I can do it in DCS in F-18...
Joe, please be my CFI 😂. Love your thoughts and approach to flight training.
hahah, Thank you!
Great airmanship, 100% agree with what you're saying, but there is no way any flight school is going to teach this. One wing strike and their insurance would crucify them.
This is true. (unfortunately)
Slips are more effective than flaps imho
The Private Pilot Certificate is supposed to be a license to learn, but simply going over only ACS techniques again and again is not progressive learning. Your forward slip is a good technique for any, but especially for slick airplanes with no flaps or inefficient flaps.
I would add some other basic stick and rudder flying techniques that increase our energy management:
The basic level in low ground effect until Vcc and then climb at Vcc takeoff. In your Cub and other 65 hp to 150 hp airplanes, free ground effect energy can easily be fifty percent of total energy available.
The energy management 1 g turn of any bank angle. If we do not pull back on the stick, the load factor is 1 g at any bank. Wolfgang, in "Stick and Rudder," asks what the airplane wants to do. In every turn it wants to lower the nose to maintain trimmed airspeed rather than altitude. This is why the airplane cannot stall itself. A pilot pulling back on the stick is required to stall.
Down drainage egress is often of greater safety concern than is wind management.
Wind management is making base into a crosswind at uncontrolled airports without traffic or ask tower.
If we decelerate on short final enough to get a sink going, that will bring throttle into dynamic control, exact control, of glide angle and rate of descent. If we use the speed up of the apparent rate of closure as we get close to the numbers, we can further decelerate in ground effect where Vso, and out of ground effect number, is no longer a no go below number. See Stick and Rudder top of page 304. It is the same apparent rate we use to decelerate coming into an intersection with our cars.
Thermal or orographic lift is often more than fifty percent of total lift available, especially in low powered airplanes in the mountains. Pitch up in up air and pitch down to get through down air quickly. Attempting to maintain altitude kills too many in the mountains. In severe downdrafts, we will not be able to hold altitude anyway. Pulling back to stall airspeed is not the solution.
Good brief. Thanks.
These are all great Techniques!! Love to see it.
No doubt the slip is one of the most underutilized techniques- my opinion. Yes, the majority of these flight schools are “academies” that push ratings to airline careers. I’m not knocking that - was not my path - I was a commercial rated helicopter pilot who added on with a SEL rating all for the fun of GA. Expensive, yes - but very rewarding!
l lost count of how many low time poorly instructed pilots have told me that slips are dangerous and they wont practice them. One reason I like to do them is traffic clearing on final, more than once slipping revealed unseen traffic below me on final. If you wont do slips or skids and don't understand their utility, you are just an accident statistic waiting to be recorded.
Thats another good point, Eagles, Pitts, Stearmans etc, you won’t be able to see if you don’t slip on final
Regarding “stable approach” and airlines by 1K HAT, I read somewhere to consider this in terms of Time not Height. If you’re at 1K AGL, on a three degree glide path, you’re 3.3 miles to land. You’re probably doing >=120 kts, so you’re a minute forty to go, perhaps a minute ten if doing 180. If you’re only doing 50, however, that same glide path would put you at three hundred and forty feet HAT as a reference to be stabilized. If you’re doing 60, be stabilized by five hundred HAT. Note: stable is not synonymous with static. Many will treat these terms as such, however.
This is a great point. At the airlines we always do it 1,000ft above Airport elevation and our Vapp changes obviously with weight but usually we are 110-145kts or so. Good talking points 👍🏻
@@Bananasssssssss I much prefer AOA such that there is no change with weight as you have with approach speeds. I also think we should teach constant AOA turns in slow flight not just constant airspeed while constant AOA turns make for better landing patterns as they reduce risk of approach turn stalls. You can find on Medium “AOA and Power Techniques” discussing these as well as a case study with “F-35C Crash into the South China Sea.” Note you do not need to see AOA to do constant AOA turns, you just have to have sufficient power to stay level or at desired rate of descent in said turn. No back stick pressure required, your trim setting maintains the AOA.
@@jimallen8186 that’s also another great topic for discussion. There seems to be too much focus on Airspeed when it comes to discussion about stalls rather than really understanding AOA how can you stall at 150kts and not stall a wing at kts etc
@@Bananasssssssss I love taking peeps in my RV-6 and showing them a ninety degrees nose down stall. Granted, you have to have pitch rate to do it, but it does it. Do a Split-S and tighten the pull just as you’re approaching ninety down, feel the break with the nose suddenly stopping at the given pitch. Ease off it pulls through, sometimes you may over-ease off and need to slowly ease back in.
I’m at a field with lots of flight instruction. Airspeed control seems to be an issue. Instructors are afraid of slow flight and stalls and so this is transferred into the new students. 250 hr pilots teaching students. Bad combo
I towed sailplanes and needed to lose 2,000 feet in a hurry with a 250 foot rope behind me with power lines across the road from the 1,800 foot runway. Upon release it was a full rudder and aileron drop out of the sky with the rope way above me, passing well over the wires at 250 feet. I’d still be stopped within the first half of the runway. People on the ground liked the show.
Sounds like a blast 😁
I was thought how to slip an airplane a long time ago by a more old school CFI. It seems like lately the new CFIs and even some chief instructors don’t know how to deal with that. They should; but it’s kinda beaten into their heads that uncoordinated = always bad.