FLYING THE SPEEDS Knowing VY and VX for your airplane and being able to hit those marks in a climb are important skills, but probably not for the reasons you would expect. Flying them shows a commitment to precision and an ability to control pitch and power, and picking VY for a normal climb and VX on every flight for a short-field takeoff shows decision making. Yet, blindly climbing at VY isn't necessarily a great idea. For one, the visibility over the nose is usually horrible, and being alert for traffic is more important than getting to altitude 20 seconds faster. And in many high-performance airplanes, cylinder cooling will require you to climb at faster speeds to get more airflow through the cowling. It's also more comfortable for passengers. You also could argue that VX is as much a numerical floor as it is a useful technique. If trees or houses are so close to the end of the runway that you need to fly VX for a few hundred feet, you are an exceptionally skilled pilot operating out of very difficult strips. More useful for most of us is knowing that if you fly anything slower than VX the airplane won't climb as well. Pull back all you want. The only thing you'll accomplish is getting closer to a stall. -IJT AOPA.ORG/FT 29http://www.AOPA.ORG/FT