Approach and Landing Speeds for Cessna 172
Has anyone got any thoughts on C172 landing speeds (surely this has come up before)?
The poh says 61KIAS for a short landing and '60 to 70' elsewhere. There is no direct reference to altering the speed for weight. Thus a student might fly the aircraft solo using a threshold speed of 65 and then pick up 400lbs of extra pax and go flying using the same speeds. No great harm is likely to result but is there any formal teaching in circulation? Conversely, a student may fly with a full load all year, using speeds towards to top of the range and then book in for a few circuits solo prior to a test and come over the hedge horribly fast for the weight. Over-flares, ballooned landings, PIOs etc are, in my experience, quite common in these circumstances. Anyone got anything useful to say? (for 'student' read 'low time ppl'. C172P with standard tanks and 30 flap.