AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019 - 16

LETTERS
McSpadden asserts in the article
that 400 lives have been saved
by airframe parachutes. I wonder where that statistic comes
from? Is that the number of
inflight activations of airframe
parachutes? He asserts in the
same paragraph that "most offairport landings do not end in
fatalities." I've heard a figure of
90 to 96 percent, but even if we
interpret the word "most" to
mean 75 percent, that suggests
that only a hundred lives might
have been saved. While 100 lives
is impressive, it hardly qualifies to compete with the broad
safety impacts of the other nine
items on the list. And it doesn't
account for the pilots that were
more comfortable pushing the
envelope because they had the
get-out-of-jail-free card.
I would have put AOPA's
integrity above what comes
across as a thinly veiled plug
for BRS. Is there accurate data
to suggest otherwise?
Michael Mock
AOPA 911939
Townsend, Georgia

Landing tale

HANGAR TALK

Barry Schiff's "Give 'er the Slip"
article in February's AOPA Pilot
magazine reminded me about a
flight on a Boeing 727-2A. I was
flying with a first officer who was

PROFICIENT PILOT

Giving 'er the slip

BY BARRY SCHIFF

A tried and true technique

BARRY SCHIFF

was presented with
the Aero Club of
Northern California's Crystal Eagle
Award in November
2018.

I RECENTLY WATCHED a rerun of Falling from the Sky:
Flight 174, a made-for-TV movie that had me falling from
my seat and rolling on the floor in a fit of sidesplitting
laughter. I have never seen an aviation movie so replete
with unintentional blunders and bloopers.
The 1995 docudrama attempted to detail the
events leading up to the safe landing of an Air Canada
Boeing 767 that experienced a double engine flameout
because of fuel exhaustion while at Flight Level 410
near Winnipeg, Canada. (The 767 had been loaded with
pounds of fuel instead of a like number of kilograms.)
The dead-stick landing at Gimli, Manitoba, on July
23, 1983, was a masterful display of airmanship, resulting in part from Capt. R.O. Pearson's experience as a
glider pilot. While powerless and on final approach to
the 8,000-foot-long runway of an abandoned air force
base (then used as a drag strip), he recognized that
the Boeing was too high and would likely overshoot.
Pearson responded almost instinctively by lowering a
wing, applying top rudder, and deftly slipping off the
excess altitude.
Slipping was developed because early airplanes did
not have wing flaps. A slip was the recommended way
to steepen the descent without increasing airspeed.
Although slipping is less emphasized today, it nevertheless must be demonstrated during some flight tests.
Many of us, though, fail to subsequently maintain proficiency in slipping, a maneuver that belongs in every
pilot's repertoire.
Slips also can be used to further increase sink rate
with flaps extended because flaps are not always as
effective as we might need them to be. They also are
an effective way to reduce airspeed (especially prior to
a forced or crash landing), to assist in closing an open
door in flight, or to divert smoke and flames away from
the cockpit during an engine fire in a single-engine airplane. Slips should not be used, however, with a low fuel
supply because this could unport a fuel pump or fuel
line in a near-empty tank.
I never allowed my students to solo until they
had mastered slipping, but not for the obvious reasons. I discovered that those proficient at performing
slips (especially sideslips) made the best crosswind
landings. This, I believe, is because learning to crosscontrol an airplane at altitude made them more
comfortable with slipping near the ground while executing crosswind landings.

Inadvertent slipping most often occurs during normal flight when bank angle is too steep for
the existing rate of turn. It usually is the result of
improper rudder usage during turn entry or recovery,
inadvertently applying top rudder while turning, or
flying one wing low while holding a constant heading. The airplane simply flies somewhat sideways,
and those inside the airplane tend to lean toward the
low wing (as does the ball of a slip-skid indicator).
The drag produced during such "sideways" flight is
what helps to prevent airspeed from increasing while
descending in a normal slip.
It is not common knowledge, but some airline
pilots-especially old-timers-use mild slipping to
assist in gently descending their aluminum giants
onto the glideslope when caught high and after the
flaps have been deployed. (Using spoilers to lose altitude often is prohibited following flap extension.)
Such slipping seldom involves lowering a wing more
than a few degrees, is remarkably effective, and is
rarely felt by those in the cabin.
Pilots of yore used a more dramatic procedure to
descend steeply without building excess airspeed. It
was called a falling leaf, a maneuver in which an airplane in a glide is made to swing from side to side and
settle like a leaf falling from the sky with little change
in heading. It is performed by entering a power-off
stall and then applying sufficient rudder to cause the
airplane to barely begin an incipient spin. Opposite
rudder is then applied before heading changes very
much and is held until an incipient spin barely begins
in the opposite direction. This cycle is repeated until
the desired amount of altitude has been lost. The
descent profile seems more vertical than horizontal
because the aircraft loses altitude rapidly and with
little forward speed.
Once a pilot is proficient at slipping, he might
find a CFI willing to instruct him in fishtailing.
This is an emergency maneuver that can be used
to quickly dissipate airspeed during a potential
overrun during a forced landing. It is performed
by applying rudder in one direction and then the
other while applying opposite aileron in each case
to keep the wings level. It can be highly effective.
This maneuver, however, should not be performed
in large, swept-wing aircraft.
AOPA

Barry Schiff missed another important lifesaving use of a slip. Combat pilots of low and
slow airplanes were taught to fly in a sideslip
because ground gunners invariably would aim
ahead of the extended centerline of the aircraft
rather than in the actual (slipping) direction of
travel. Saved a lot of lives.

Bill Ramos
AOPA 4334022
Las Vegas, Nevada

www.barryschiff.com

20 | AOPA PILOT February 2019

a great stick and a lot of fun to fly
with. On the last leg into DTW,
I wanted to pull his leg a little.
They asked me if we had the
field and without asking Mike
I keyed the mic: "Yessir, we can
take a visual." Mike was straining against his straps trying to
get a view of the airport on my
side. "OK, sir, you are cleared to
land on 3L." Mike asked me how
it looked. "Oh, you're fine, a little high, that's all." He banked the
airplane and exclaimed, "Are you
nuts? I can't make that!" I assured
him he could, flaps 2, 5, 15, gear
down, 30 degrees. Mike said he'd
never make it. I said, "You wanna
bet?" He threw his arms up and

said, "You got it!" I placed the left
wing down ever so slightly and
top rudder and we flew right into
the glideslope. I pushed them up
at the outer marker and made a
grease job. "Flaps up after landing," I intoned. Mike gave me a
dirty look, said, "I never would
have believed it." Schiff is right;
if you're smooth nobody knows
back in the cabin. But, one person did on that flight. I was last
off the airplane, putting on my
coat and hat, and an elderly
lady in her eighties stopped by
the door smiling. She asked,
"Were we flying sideways?"
I smiled back and said, "Oh,
just a tiny bit, glad you enjoyed

"Flying in the jump seat was not my first time in a jumbo jet cockpit, but it sure was
my first time flying around with a state-of-the-art hospital in the trunk!" said Editor
in Chief TOM HAINES about his experience in the Orbis International MD-10 Flying Eye
Hospital. The 46-year-old airliner lives a leisurely life of 100 flight hours or so a year,
but hauls a big, life-changing load. It even has a cool call sign: Orbis One. Most impressive, though, said Haines, is the commitment of the Orbis organization, the staff, and
the volunteers to stamping out debilitating eye conditions around the world. "Every
person I came in contact with was absolutely on point regarding the mission and the
idea of service, including Nate Morrissey. Nate's a GA pilot and an FAA inspector in real
life, but is a passionate volunteer determined to make pilots everywhere more aware
of the Orbis mission. Like others at Orbis, he's all in to keep the program growing and
healthy. I came away with a great admiration for the organization and impressed, yet
again, by the difference aviation can make in the world."

16 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

the flight." She said, "At least you
made a nice landing out of it."
Kenneth Eckstein
AOPA 7684106
Simpsonville, South Carolina

Clarification

While many World War II airborne soldiers were drafted
into the service ("Re-Living
History," February 2019 AOPA
Pilot), airborne duty was voluntary, and remains so today.
We welcome your comments.
Editor, AOPA Pilot, 421 Aviation
Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701
or email (pilot@aopa.org). Letters may be edited for length
and style before publication.

http://www.barryschiff.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019