Mastering the Forward Slip

Stephen Pope

Tuesday, July 03, 2012 at 05:30 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A forward slip is a maneuver pilots use on final approach to rapidly lose excess altitude without increasing airspeed, allowing for fine glide path adjustments.
It is executed by banking the aircraft (typically into the wind) and applying opposite rudder to maintain heading, with the bank angle determining the rate of descent up to the practical rudder limit.
To perform, reduce power to idle, slow to approach speed, bank, apply opposite rudder to track a target, maintain approach airspeed with pitch, and recover by simultaneously releasing rudder and leveling the aircraft.
Mastering the forward slip requires practice, and pilots uncomfortable with it should work on the basics with an instructor.

See a mistake? Contact us.

The forward slip can be a useful skill to master since it allows for fine-adjustment of the airplane’s height above the runway on final approach, allowing you to stay on glide path while maintaining your target approach airspeed.

Slips are useful when you’re high and need to lose extra altitude in a hurry to make your touchdown spot. In these cases, it makes little sense to just lower the nose to get down to the runway since that will cause a corresponding increase in airspeed. The skill you need to hone is the ability to dissipate the extra altitude without increasing airspeed above that required to land.