PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Mooney precautionary landing after baggage hatch opens in flight
Old 21st Jul 2020, 01:13
  #18 (permalink)  
Pilot DAR
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Ontario, Canada
Age: 63
Posts: 5,626
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If you suspect that your airplane may have been weakened, it would be wise to slow it down, while maintaining a safe margin. Drag is a square of the speed. When you've decided to land, sure, carry a little extra speed, just in case... But flying way faster than suitable leads to an unstable approach, and a greater risk close to the ground if something goes wrong then. Unless you've practiced very fast approaches (which I do occasionally for possible flapless landings), you're better to fly an approach as normal as possible for your skills. When something out of your control has changed, keep as much as possible within your control reasonably "normal".

If the idea landing spot is right in front (which it perhaps was for this fellow), then sure, head for it. Remembering: "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate". This pilot looses a lot of points with me for flying a very unstable approach, in an obvious rush, while diverting much too much of his necessary attention to "communicate" (the camera). Forget the silly camera, and do important pilot stuff! No one has the excess skill capacity to entirely assure that landing worked out well, while fiddling, or even thinking about the camera!
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