Because we'd previously tested the same aircraft type, at the same weight, on a similar surface, with the same test pilot flying at the same speeds (within a knot anyhow) - but a different engine fitted (which used a different throttle mechanism and thus idled properly).
Lower approach speeds is a possibility, but it means a different manual for each engine type, possibly uncomfortable attitudes, and also an aircraft which might behave differently when being landed at idle, and with the engine dead (e.g. deadsticking after an engine failure). For all those reasons, we didn't.
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Last edited by Genghis the Engineer; 8th April 2005 at 13:23.