C150 shortfield landings

[Jude098]

I downloaded a POH for the C150, as I hire one from EGBJ, and it gave the ASI for a shortfield landing with 4 flaps as 8MPH. Could prove interesting/entertaining/downright scary!
P 2/10 of the POH states:
LANDING
Normal landings are made power off with any flap setting. Approach glides are normally made at 65 to 75 MPH with flaps up, or 60 to 70 MPH with flaps down, depending upon the turbulence of the air.
SHORT FIELD LANDINGS
For a short field landing, make a power off approach at 8 MPH with flaps 40º (fourth notch) and land on the main wheels first. Immediately after touchdown, lower the nose gear to the ground and apply heavy braking as required. Raising the flaps after landing will provide more efficient braking.

[trident3A]

The POH for our 150 Aerobat states 60 MPH with 40 flaps

[taxistaxing]

We are advised not to use full 40 degrees of flap in my group's c150. The reasoning is that, for the typical runways most PPLs would go into (probably no less than 500m), the benefits don't outweigh the disadvantages if the the flap motor fails in the fully down postion and you have to go around. You apparently also need quite severe nose down attitude with the full flap setting, and power on until late in the approach, or else a very steep final approach which could be tricky to judge.

65mph with 30 degrees seems to work well, even for the shortest fields. Much slower than that and you don't have enough energy to flare properly.

[Madbob]

And if you have to land in a really short field with 40 degrees you won't have the performance to fly out! :eek:

(Unless there is a very strong wind :ok: blowing in the right direction!!)

MB

[taxistaxing]

http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/461522-training-aircraft.html

Interesing discussion of the 150 on the above thread from a couple of years back.

One of the posters mentions the C150 has 16 times the stall related fatal accident rate of the C152. :eek:. Much as I enjoy flying it I'll be sticking to the 30 degree setting! At least for now.

It's definitely an idiosyncratic aircraft if you're used to 172s/152s. The flap selector switch needing to be held down while the flaps deploy rather than the usual gated one-shot switch in a 152 and 172 takes some getting used to.

[Crash one]

Dunno about the 150 but trying to stall a 152 it just kept mushing so maybe Jude is right & 8mph is possible:ok:

[Sir George Cayley]

With hundreds of hours on some venerable C150s I'm always amazed at some of the tales told.

A full flap GA in a 150 needs less push on the yoke than a spring loaded door.

If you land somewhere you can't takeoff from it's your fault not the plane.

Power Attitude Trim - follow this as a basic tenet and you'll not smite the ground.

In a glide approach with full flap you'll not get it past 80 mph - yes the flaps will rattle but handled correctly transitioning to the flare (big pull on the yoke) 300 yds is easy.

It's a toy that is like a best friend - always there for you always a joy.

God how I miss one.

SGC

[douglasheld]

Interesting replies, but nobody has answered the question.

If you want a real answer, you might find out the subtype letter after the type; for instance, C150M.

[Big Pistons Forever]

When I was doing my PPL on a C 150 we had the flaps fail full down ( 40 deg) on the go around after a PFL. Terrain was 900 feet ASL and the temp was 30 deg C. The instructor told me to go around at about 200 feet AGL. At full power the aircraft would just barely maintain altitude. We flew the 10 miles back to the airport dodging towers and arrived for the overhead join still at 200 feet.

IMO there is no reason to ever go to flaps 40. If flaps 30 won't allow a comfortable approach you should go find a better runway.

[avcraft]

I think you'll find it's a typo... Perhaps download another POH. Mine has 52-61 knots for a normal approach, but it's a 150D taildragger with manual flaps.

Sir George speaks very wisely! The 150 is just a real pleasure to fly, this 40' flap nonsense is just that. I use whatever flap setting is appropriate and always remember it's a 150 and therefore has 150 performance

Once you get a handle on shortfielders you'll have a blast! I can get mine back to 35 knots indicated and stop in less than 150' :ok::ok:

[tecman]

Correct..it's obviously a typo. I love scanning the POHs in my "All those Cessna 150s" book. If you must have mph, I note that the 1973 C150 POH does indeed say that for short field landings use 40 deg of flap, enough power to control the glide path, and approach at 60 mph. After clearing obstacles, reduce power and maintain 60 mph by lowering the nose. In kts, the recommended figure for the final year 1976 C150M is 52 kts.

You're missing a lot if you don't use the 40 deg flap setting, at least sometimes. On marginal strips in outback Aust I've found it excellent, giving great and precise approach control. On one strip, a curved final to miss the windmill was required* , and my old C150F with 40 deg flap was just the ticket. 10 deg on takeoff, bled off gently as we picked up speed, was a good way to get out, too.

You do need to get into the habit of getting rid of flap more than 20 deg if you want to go around, but that should be second nature for all 150/152 pilots. Do yourself a favour and hop in with an instructor to explore one of the best features of the C150. You'll have a lot of fun, and won't look back.

Cheers.

*In case you're wondering why the wheat cocky didn't get rid of the windmill, it was his way of keeping pilots away from the single wire earth return power line. Perverse, but effective.

[Pilotage]

Whilst C152 are all very similar to each other, there is a lot more variation between C150 models. A generic C150 POH downloaded from the web may be quite misleading.

The only safe approach is to use the one for that actual airframe. The aircraft owner should either allow you to access it to take notes and/or a copy, or give/sell you a copy. If they won't do one of these things, then they probably have other bad habits as well, and it's best never to go near the aeroplane again.

P