how low do you go

[BrendAn]

doing a couple of circuits tonight i side slipped in to avoid overflying a house.  i straightened out around 200 ft.

just wondering how low is considered safe when slipping. i haven't done a lot of it so far.

[turboplanner]

9 hours ago, BrendAn said:

doing a couple of circuits tonight i side slipped in to avoid overflying a house.  i straightened out around 200 ft.

just wondering how low is considered safe when slipping. i haven't done a lot of it so far.

Minimum height is 500 feet above ground level.

[BrendAn]

1 hour ago, turboplanner said:

Minimum height is 500 feet above ground level.

I mean how low so you go before you pull out of the side slip. You are already over the runway.  

[440032]

To about 50 feet for me sometimes. And I do serious sideslip approaches very often, for a whole variety of reasons, some to lose height quickly, but usually to exaggerate the crab angle via the crosswind.

[Thruster88]

I practice slips all the way into the flare in the Thruster, engine at idle. This results in an extremely steep approach, there is quite a ground rush and the flare has to be timed, it is a fun manoeuvre. Also practice engine off landings. I do this by myself, in the event of a real engine failure there will be less stress. I rarely do slips in my other aircraft which have flaps. Always fly with correct airspeed. 

[T510]

All the way to the flare here as well, it's a great feeling when you get it spot on.

[PureCaboose]

All the way to the flare, my instructure at my last BFR made me do a 1000ft side slip to flare and land with engine at idle....was a lot of fun.

[skippydiesel]

Correctly executed slips do not increase air speed.

 

I have heard that some aircraft advise against side slips.

 

Some aircraft are easier to slip than others - good rudder authority may have a lot to do with this.😈

[turboplanner]

58 minutes ago, BrendAn said:

I mean how low so you go before you pull out of the side slip. You are already over the runway.  

Sorry I forgot that. I'd suggest discussing it with a local instructor, and as someone else mentioned checking for any restrictions on the aircraft, but  it's not unlike crabbing into a crosswind and at the last minute a few feet above the ground, straightening up. The reason for the instructor opinion is it is a coordinated action, and you might have fallen into it and taught yourself, but it pays to make sure what the limits are.

 

[PureCaboose]

4 minutes ago, skippydiesel said:

Correctly executed slips do not increase air speed.

 

I have heard that some aircraft advise against side slips.

 

Some aircraft are easier to slip than others - good rudder authority may have a lot to do with this.😈

That is a good point, read the POH. For my Jabiru slips with flaps are allowed. The emergency decent method is take off flaps and slip like a MOFO.

 

 

[BrendAn]

2 hours ago, 440032 said:

To about 50 feet for me sometimes. And I do serious sideslip approaches very often, for a whole variety of reasons, some to lose height quickly, but usually to exaggerate the crab angle via the crosswind.

Excellent. Thanks 

[BrendAn]

1 hour ago, turboplanner said:

Sorry I forgot that. I'd suggest discussing it with a local instructor, and as someone else mentioned checking for any restrictions on the aircraft, but  it's not unlike crabbing into a crosswind and at the last minute a few feet above the ground, straightening up. The reason for the instructor opinion is it is a coordinated action, and you might have fallen into it and taught yourself, but it pays to make sure what the limits are.

 

I have no problem side slipping. Just haven't done it right down to the runway before.

[BrendAn]

1 hour ago, skippydiesel said:

Correctly executed slips do not increase air speed.

 

I have heard that some aircraft advise against side slips.

 

Some aircraft are easier to slip than others - good rudder authority may have a lot to do with this.😈

The whole idea of a side slip is to create drag and lose height without increasing speed. That's what I was taught.

[BrendAn]

1 hour ago, T510 said:

All the way to the flare here as well, it's a great feeling when you get it spot on.

Started heading over to yarram just now but ran into a headwind so have gone to Traralgon instead

[turboplanner]

29 minutes ago, BrendAn said:

I have no problem side slipping. Just haven't done it right down to the runway before.

That was my point, you don't want to enter lovely neat side slips and then round out diagonally on a line to a metre below ground level.

[facthunter]

Beware of going low. Don't practice to below 200 ft till you are VERY good at it. It requires very good control of Airspeed by precise pitch management. The controls are very crossed up .The Rate of descent is much higher. Recovery to the flare has to be very controlled and precise. Many people who think they are sideslipping are Just doing an ugly SKID. I've often asked pupils and other instructors to do one for ME and MOST FAIL dismally in doing it Properly. IF you have flaps or a very draggy plane you don't need to do it. The Wing must go down first and you stop the Nose falling with rudder.  The correct speed should be low but safe. HIGHER SPEEDS stress the Plane. This requires LOTS of Practice to get right, and you won't get it right IF you are NOT taught it Correctly. Practice at Height till you are real good or you will hurt someone. Nev

[BrendAn]

Lots of good info here. Thanks everyone.

[RFguy]

(post script - I just saw Facthunters comment - yes  I have written the same line 

 

just remember (and this is something my instructor reminding me off one BFR)  :

it can take 'some time'  to stop the aircraft descending quickly.  especially if the aircraft has some weight.. (inertia)

(IE not so applicable to  a high drag, lightweight aircraft like a Thruster) 

To takes time to slow down the vertical descent rate.

In the piper, I can slip at 1800 fpm with full flap and max rudder.   (9 meters per second). 

Not much short of free fall.  bringing the aircraft back to a nil descent rate may take several seconds. IE you dont want to be too near the ground....

Fortunately, you are usually going pretty slow when doing this  so less likely to tear the wings off.

Just like when you are going down in a lift and you feel gravity increase as it comes to a stop at the bottom. 

 

Nev's point above wing down (roll ) first  is important - and you'll get this from correct instruction. ....In the simulator , If I boot full rudder into the piper without aileron first, I get a spin entry...

 

Edited 5 hours ago by RFguy

[Moneybox]

I did a couple of side slips during lessons just so that I understood the process and reason behind it. When I read my Sportstar instructions it said side slips can be performed but with no useful advantage. They suggest a full flap landing if needed however second stage of flap is all that is required for most short field landings.

 

[BrendAn]

1 minute ago, Moneybox said:

I did a couple of side slips during lessons just so that I understood the process and reason behind it. When I read my Sportstar instructions it said side slips can be performed but with no useful advantage. They suggest a full flap landing if needed however second stage of flap is all that is required for most short field landings.

 

That's like utube I watched on the epic turboprop. They said side slipping an epic gains nothing because they are so slippery from every angle it doesn't create much drag.

[skippydiesel]

27 minutes ago, BrendAn said:

That's like utube I watched on the epic turboprop. They said side slipping an epic gains nothing because they are so slippery from every angle it doesn't create much drag.

Never slipped an EPIC however your third hand advice seems suspect.

 

My limited understanding of a slip is the deliberate application of crossed controls, creating drag (in a side slip there may also be a contribution from the fuselage being presented sort of sideways, to the air flow) Hence my earlier comment on rudder effeteness (power) having a significant impute to how easy it will be to achieve a "good" slip.

 

Landings, in a cross wind may  (depending on technique) involve a side slip into wind.

 

My Zephyr had a very powerful rudder - I could do really dramatic slips. My Sonex has a pissy little rudder and slips are bordering on non events. When I was taught slips, in a Cessna 172, they were almost as much fun as the Zephyr.😈

Edited 3 hours ago by skippydiesel