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by pageandrew
1056 days ago
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The ideal approach to landing is what's called a "stabilized approach", in which the aircraft descends to the runway at a constant 3 degree angle and constant descent rate. If the pilot finds themselves with too much altitude too close to the runway, in other words above that glide path, they need to more aggressively descend to meet the glidepath. One way to aggressively descend would involve just pointing the nose down, but this has the effect of increasing speed (trading altitude for airspeed). You need a way to descend more quickly without increasing speed. Generally, this is done by adding more flaps (increasing drag), but in the case of the Gimli Glider, their hydraulic systems were down, so they could not add more flaps. A forward slip is a maneuver in which you roll the aircraft such that the top of the wing and side of the fuselage are exposed to the oncoming air (relative wind), and you use the rudder in the opposite direction to keep the aircraft flying straight (with respect to the ground track). When properly executed, the rudder and aileron cancel each other out so you keep flying straight across the ground, but the nose of your airplane is not aligned with the direction of travel, and the top and side of your airplane is exposed to the oncoming wind, significantly increasing drag, and thus descent rate. |
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Sounds like drifting. If I get your drift.