Questions And Comments

If youre flying along and reduce power while maintaining the established pitch attitude, what happens to airspeed? It starts decreasing, right? To maintain the desired airspeed, wed want to pitch the nose down, wouldnt we? Depending on how stable the airplane is in its pitch axis, it may naturally pitch down, without pilot intervention; if its unstable, its pitch may not change. This behavior depends on how the airplane is designed and loaded. All the Cirrus AFM/POH is saying is that a good short-field technique requires touching down at the minimum airspeed. To achieve that objective, coordinating power reductions and pitch attitude is necessary for optimum performance. As it is in any airplane weve ever flown, including the Cirrus models. That said, some airplanes require a different technique. For example, airplanes like the Seabee or Lake amphibians-with their single pusher engines mounted on a pylon-respond opposite to other singles when power is adjusted. Instead of the nose wanting to drop when power is reduced, in these airplanes it may want to rise.

Key Takeaways:

• Maintaining approach speed after power reduction in most aircraft, including the Cirrus SR20, requires lowering the nose to compensate for decreasing airspeed, a standard aerodynamic principle.
• The legality of using an IFR GPS with an outdated database or as a sole means of navigation depends on the specific unit's operating limitations, not blanket statements.
• Parker Hannifin stopped producing vacuum pumps due to a lawsuit settlement after an aircraft crash, not because of high failure rates.

Key takeaways sponsored by Aviator Pro | Start Your Training ->

See a mistake? Contact us.