Originally Posted by
Pilot DAR
One of the many wisdoms passed to me repeatedly over the decades has been: Once you have a plan in an emergency, don't change it unless there is no choice. This goes extra for forced approaches. Aside from allowing yourself several different landing sites which are all very close to each other, you're better to make the right decision first, and stick with it. Changing your mind while gliding down certainly wastes altitude, and invites a poor outcome. If there is an adequate landing site close, it's a better choice than the perfect looking one farther along. 'Same logic as not flying past a fuel stop, 'cause you think you can make it.
While enroute, you should be constantly considering where you might force land if the engine quit in the next minute. Perhaps the site is one you just flew over, and had a decent look. The one you've flown over and seen from several angles, is certainly better known to you than the one which is still ahead. You can't judge its suitability and distance as well. If the engine quits, you're no longer trying to get further along your route, you're just trying to get down safely. Making the best decision first, and sticking with it is an important element of things not getting much worse mid emergency. If you're really unsure about the suitability of the forced approach sites in your area, fly higher, to give yourself more time to select, and glide.
Just to be absolutely clear for the original poster, if you are undershooting the field on a forced landing it is no longer a forced landing it is a crash. This is a situation where you need to re-evaluate what’s happening because it is unrecoverable. I do not agree that you doggedly stick with the original decision blindly and hit the ground at high speed short of the intended aiming point. Actually, that’s the point I was making about the original exercise. Both the instructor and the original poster knew the PFL exercise was going wrong and left the decision to bin it too late. That’s the learning point of what you flew. It would have been better to make a different decision while you had more options rather than continue down and select flaps (just because that’s what you do) and put yourselves and the aircraft in a precarious situation.
By the way, the T67 flight manual makes no mention of using flap to for improved glide. It says that you use the flap to adjust the glide to achieve the required touchdown point. It recommend the same speed for clean and the first stage of flap (70kts) and the glide will definitely be degraded by the addition of flap because of the increase drag. Just to explain that a little further - the flap will mean the wing produces a bit more lift but the wing is already generating the same amount of lift as the aircraft mass so when you select the flap you will reduce the angle of attack and keep producing the same amount of total lift. You will definitely be generating a bit more drag. So the glide range will decrease. In some aircraft you may be able to reduce the rate at which the aircraft is descending because you can generate the required lift at a slightly lower speed but you will not go as far over the ground. You may stay in the air slightly longer but will not go as far.