Touch and go: Flaps and cowl flaps.

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jacf182
Airman Basic
Posts: 6
Joined: 28 Oct 2017, 04:46

Touch and go: Flaps and cowl flaps.

Post by jacf182 »

I'm practicing non-stop touch and go with this airplane in order to perfect my landings. I have a couple of doubts:

Since I'm climbing to 1000 feet and I fly the pattern at that altitude, it takes me about 2 to 3 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. Should I leave my cowl flaps open, or should I close them as soon as I enter the downwind, then open them again when touching and going? I would like to know the correct operation of cowl flaps when doing this kind of practice.

Also, I'm landing with full flaps. What is the correct flaps procedure for a touch and go? What I'm doing currently is as soon as I land, I set flaps up. When the flaps are about halfway up I engage full throttle again in order to take off.

Any tips are appreciated.

Thanks!

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DHenriques_
A2A Chief Pilot
Posts: 5711
Joined: 27 Mar 2009, 08:31
Location: East Coast United States

Re: Touch and go: Flaps and cowl flaps.

Post by DHenriques_ »

jacf182 wrote:I'm practicing non-stop touch and go with this airplane in order to perfect my landings. I have a couple of doubts:

Since I'm climbing to 1000 feet and I fly the pattern at that altitude, it takes me about 2 to 3 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. Should I leave my cowl flaps open, or should I close them as soon as I enter the downwind, then open them again when touching and going? I would like to know the correct operation of cowl flaps when doing this kind of practice.

Also, I'm landing with full flaps. What is the correct flaps procedure for a touch and go? What I'm doing currently is as soon as I land, I set flaps up. When the flaps are about halfway up I engage full throttle again in order to take off.

Any tips are appreciated.

Thanks!

Instructing in high performance complexes I had certain "rules" for touch and go's. Rule number 1 is that you should have at least twice the runway available than you would need for a normal landing. Reconfiguring a complex CORRECTLY on the roll out into a touch and go rotation can be a REAL busy time.
This being said, once you touch down the way you handle the yoke in a 182 is a bit different on a T&G than a full stop landing.
At touchdown, just ease the pressure off the yoke into a neutral position, concentrate on lateral control and start carefully reconfiguring the airplane. Although a fixed gear in a 182 I always had my students touch, look, and say out loud "Flaps!" when raising the flaps. This avoids any premature gear retraction in aircraft so equipped and a pet rule of mine.

You can go either to 20 degrees or full up if you have the room. RE-
TRIM the airplane. This is important in the 182 as although you can certainly handle an out of trim condition in a 182 on a T&G but it's a handful so get rid of the final approach trim. Experience will teach you just were to target the trim index for this.
Cowl flaps; Use the CHT gauge as your bible for them. You will be using a wide power range for T&G's so be careful. I always started with them in trail then had the student "adjust as necessary.
I've never been a huge fan of touch and go's as an instructor. As a pilot practicing yes, but not for dual. T&G's give up the valuable "in between" time where the student can relax and contemplate what was learned during the prior pattern to be applied on the next pattern. (My instructor hat on for this of course :-)
Dudley Henriques

jacf182
Airman Basic
Posts: 6
Joined: 28 Oct 2017, 04:46

Re: Touch and go: Flaps and cowl flaps.

Post by jacf182 »

DHenriquesA2A wrote:
jacf182 wrote:I'm practicing non-stop touch and go with this airplane in order to perfect my landings. I have a couple of doubts:

Since I'm climbing to 1000 feet and I fly the pattern at that altitude, it takes me about 2 to 3 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. Should I leave my cowl flaps open, or should I close them as soon as I enter the downwind, then open them again when touching and going? I would like to know the correct operation of cowl flaps when doing this kind of practice.

Also, I'm landing with full flaps. What is the correct flaps procedure for a touch and go? What I'm doing currently is as soon as I land, I set flaps up. When the flaps are about halfway up I engage full throttle again in order to take off.

Any tips are appreciated.

Thanks!

Instructing in high performance complexes I had certain "rules" for touch and go's. Rule number 1 is that you should have at least twice the runway available than you would need for a normal landing. Reconfiguring a complex CORRECTLY on the roll out into a touch and go rotation can be a REAL busy time.
This being said, once you touch down the way you handle the yoke in a 182 is a bit different on a T&G than a full stop landing.
At touchdown, just ease the pressure off the yoke into a neutral position, concentrate on lateral control and start carefully reconfiguring the airplane. Although a fixed gear in a 182 I always had my students touch, look, and say out loud "Flaps!" when raising the flaps. This avoids any premature gear retraction in aircraft so equipped and a pet rule of mine.

You can go either to 20 degrees or full up if you have the room. RE-
TRIM the airplane. This is important in the 182 as although you can certainly handle an out of trim condition in a 182 on a T&G but it's a handful so get rid of the final approach trim. Experience will teach you just were to target the trim index for this.
Cowl flaps; Use the CHT gauge as your bible for them. You will be using a wide power range for T&G's so be careful. I always started with them in trail then had the student "adjust as necessary.
I've never been a huge fan of touch and go's as an instructor. As a pilot practicing yes, but not for dual. T&G's give up the valuable "in between" time where the student can relax and contemplate what was learned during the prior pattern to be applied on the next pattern. (My instructor hat on for this of course :-)
Dudley Henriques
Wow, thanks a lot for sharing your experience and knowledge! I am glad you put your instructor hat on, no better way to learn. I'll be sure to put those tips to practice tomorrow night. BTW, by "cowlflaps in trail" do you mean closed?

Can I get a bit off topic here and also ask about your recommended throttle/prop/mixture configuration for descent? The checklist flow provided by A2A's manual states:

DESCENT:
-Power: As desired
-Mixture: Enrichen as required.


Is there a standard speed/rpm/fpm for descending with this aircraft? I often reduce RPM and adjust throttle/mix to smoothen the engine, but am not sure about the most efficient/realistic way to do it.

User avatar
DHenriques_
A2A Chief Pilot
Posts: 5711
Joined: 27 Mar 2009, 08:31
Location: East Coast United States

Re: Touch and go: Flaps and cowl flaps.

Post by DHenriques_ »

jacf182 wrote:
DHenriquesA2A wrote:
jacf182 wrote:I'm practicing non-stop touch and go with this airplane in order to perfect my landings. I have a couple of doubts:

Since I'm climbing to 1000 feet and I fly the pattern at that altitude, it takes me about 2 to 3 minutes from takeoff to touchdown. Should I leave my cowl flaps open, or should I close them as soon as I enter the downwind, then open them again when touching and going? I would like to know the correct operation of cowl flaps when doing this kind of practice.

Also, I'm landing with full flaps. What is the correct flaps procedure for a touch and go? What I'm doing currently is as soon as I land, I set flaps up. When the flaps are about halfway up I engage full throttle again in order to take off.

Any tips are appreciated.

Thanks!

Instructing in high performance complexes I had certain "rules" for touch and go's. Rule number 1 is that you should have at least twice the runway available than you would need for a normal landing. Reconfiguring a complex CORRECTLY on the roll out into a touch and go rotation can be a REAL busy time.
This being said, once you touch down the way you handle the yoke in a 182 is a bit different on a T&G than a full stop landing.
At touchdown, just ease the pressure off the yoke into a neutral position, concentrate on lateral control and start carefully reconfiguring the airplane. Although a fixed gear in a 182 I always had my students touch, look, and say out loud "Flaps!" when raising the flaps. This avoids any premature gear retraction in aircraft so equipped and a pet rule of mine.

You can go either to 20 degrees or full up if you have the room. RE-
TRIM the airplane. This is important in the 182 as although you can certainly handle an out of trim condition in a 182 on a T&G but it's a handful so get rid of the final approach trim. Experience will teach you just were to target the trim index for this.
Cowl flaps; Use the CHT gauge as your bible for them. You will be using a wide power range for T&G's so be careful. I always started with them in trail then had the student "adjust as necessary.
I've never been a huge fan of touch and go's as an instructor. As a pilot practicing yes, but not for dual. T&G's give up the valuable "in between" time where the student can relax and contemplate what was learned during the prior pattern to be applied on the next pattern. (My instructor hat on for this of course :-)
Dudley Henriques
Wow, thanks a lot for sharing your experience and knowledge! I am glad you put your instructor hat on, no better way to learn. I'll be sure to put those tips to practice tomorrow night. BTW, by "cowlflaps in trail" do you mean closed?

Can I get a bit off topic here and also ask about your recommended throttle/prop/mixture configuration for descent? The checklist flow provided by A2A's manual states:

DESCENT:
-Power: As desired
-Mixture: Enrichen as required.


Is there a standard speed/rpm/fpm for descending with this aircraft? I often reduce RPM and adjust throttle/mix to smoothen the engine, but am not sure about the most efficient/realistic way to do it.
The 182 is a pretty straight forward aircraft really. Flying it is not complicated at all; just a few simple things to remember.
A2A modeled the flight model after an actual 182 so it's accurate.
On descent; Power as required is accurate. I'd leave the prop at cruise RPM, reduce the throttle a bit and keep it in the green arc on the ASI. Watch the CHT as always and adjust the cowl flaps if needed to maintain the temp in the green. Watch the mixture and richen it when needed.
Basically just read the manual and follow normal procedure.
Have fun!

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