For me to say go and slip your fully flapped 172 on this forum might take me a tad over the line, but, If we were flying together, and you suggested that you were going to do it ,with some altitude and reasnable caution, I would not be the least bit concerned.

While doing such manuevers in various Cessnas, I have never had anything other than some softness on pitch. The most noticable of this occurred once in a 172, slipping with flap out and a door off. I have not experienced the lightening of the pilot against the seatbelt which Mr. Thompson reports, though I certainly do not doubt him either. The Cessna test pilots really did seem to go to extremes, and for good reason!

While flying a mechanically fit, correctly loaded Cessna (important qualifier to my statement), I have never found any flight characteristic I would report as dangerous or unsafe. This goes from very cross controlled sideslips, right up to required spin entries in C206, C207, and 185 amphibian, among others (do not do without flight test authority). Your challenge will come one day, when you're flying an aircraft with a control or loading problem. That's what has made the hairs on my neck stand up in the past!

Caution and adherence to the procedures of the flight manual are excellent, and to be encouraged, but a pilot who stays "in the middle" of what the plane will safely do, is missing the opportunity to learn more about what it can do. When what it can do, becomes more of what you can safely make it do, you have more skill, and are less likely to be "rattled" by an unexpected event.

I have made many landings, particularly into small bays, where the water was suitably calm, where an aggressive sideslip over the obstacle on final was vital in keeping the landing within the intended area. These are advanced skills, and should be practiced under qualified supervision, but are worth the effort to learn well.

Pilot DAR

Oops, completely missed that :O. I'm still doing Friday afternoons for the moment but may end up booking Saturdays for the longer nav-ex's (possibly coming soon, depending on weather).

Understood - anything I do or do not do will be of my own volition. Simply asking your experiences. Quite fond of getting out of the middle now and then, also in current aeros practice which is something I'd recommend to anyone as an exercise in appreciation of the edges, not to mention good fun..

@Sycamore - indeed.. one type (ASK-13 glider) I've flown will indicate zero airspeed in a full blooded slip - the technique I was taught was to maintain the pitch picture - power/attitude/performance etc.

I was doing some full on slips today in the C150 (to prevent shock cooling, it was -21C OAT), and with the door off and full flaps, there was a burble, and the elevator did it's own thing for a second at around 60 MPH. absolutely no problem to control though.

Just out of interest, DAR, does the C150 run out of aileron or rudder first, and it it the same for the 172?
Long time since I have flown either, and I can't remember.....
I do seem to recall the ASI being not a lot of use, despite the two statics.

What???:eek:

My 150 reaches the rudder limit first (even with the taller rudder), which is just fine, as you just hold the rudder hard over, and apply the desired control with the ailerons. My 150, however has aileron gap seals, so they are a little more effective. That said, any single Cessna I have sideslipped, right up to the Caravan, seems to behave similarly.

I was returning from a flight test in a Caravan amphibian into Saskatoon airport with the owner of the operation, who was usually the only company pilot to fly this beautiful brand new plane. The tower, recognizing him (by his voice on the radio, and the registration) gave us a really expedited landing to get in ahead of a 737, who was a few miles out. With the instruction from the tower, which he accepted on my behalf, I carefully entered a very pleasing and effective sideslip from downwind, curving right around to crossing the numbers, with no final approach really ever established. At the peak, I had a 1200 FPM descent, but very stable and controllable. Following a very satisfying touchdown and rollout, I turned to him and asked: "Do all your company pilots get to fly like that?". "No! Never!" he replied, with a grin denoting his special privilege, which I had now shared! Or, we could have gone to the back of the line, and then waited for wake turbulence separation!

The airspeed on the 150 during a sideslip is fairly stable, and the 150 only has one static port. The 172 does have two ports, and seems to behave the same.

The door off flying in the 150 yesterday was necessary for some testing of a project. We only went for about 15 minutes at a time. It was prudent to sideslip down to land, rather than pull the power back, to save the cylinders from shock cooling. During each of my landings, I touched down still at 1800 RPM, then pulled the power off as I slowed down. It keeps the engine happy! It was -20C on the ground during the day, and went down to -32 last night. The 150 has spent the winter in the heated hangar! I'd like to sound like a tough Canadian, but -32 is unusually cold for here, and people here are whining about it - even my passenger - though, it was his door off, not mine!

Pilot DAR

Dunno about your 172 - ask your instructor - but in the ones I fly it's full flap and push the nose down. I haven't actually tried a vertical descent, but anything much less than that it just hangs on the flaps and doesn't seem to accelerate to beyond the flap limiting speed :)