How do combat landings work without gaining too much speed to land?
Posted by velvet_funtime@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 24 comments
Watching a few videos of combat landings. Looks like the aircraft dives for the end of the landing strip then rounds out at the last minute.
How is this accomplished without gaining too much speed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQBGDsakXbM
ShIVWilton@reddit
It’s a combination of aircraft design and technique. Some props can select beta inflight, the C-17 uses reverse thrust and drops like a stone, A-10 has speed brakes the size of barn doors and can split-S with them fully open and gain little airspeed, high speed fighters trade altitude for energy and simultaneously bleed the energy off with g’s.
Narrow_Badger1934@reddit
Since 90% of the people here don’t actually know what they’re talking about. Idle power, pitch for airspeed, ride the target approach, threshold and then landing speeds
TrowelProperly@reddit
you mean like yourself?
Narrow_Badger1934@reddit
You do, source: me, 130 FE
TrowelProperly@reddit
You don't, source, infront of a real FE.
JT-Av8or@reddit
For C-130s and front side planes they just use flaps. Big ass flaps. For C-17s and backside we fly below the wing’s stall speed and use engine thrust to stay airborne. At 500,000 pounds the approach speed is about 120 knots with the actual stall speed likely being 140-150.
chipsachorte@reddit
get dirty
giospez@reddit
Someone I know used to do troop transports in Iraq and told me he was doing very steep approaches with the prop in full beta
BeeDubba@reddit
It's called a tactical descent. In a C-17 you'll get 20,000+ FOM. Pretty insane. I'm pretty positive they don't do them to landing.
Spud8000@reddit
looks are deceiving.
on the way down you "get behind the power curve". i.e. you pull up the nose, let her slow down, then add considerable engine power to hold you up in the air. Then when you are flairing and pull the power back, you drop onto the runway like a rock (hopefully you are only 1 foot in the air at that point in time).
the downside is: if you have an engine out on short approach, you can not recover from it, you drop out of the sky a few hundred feet short of the runway threshold.
SATSewerTube@reddit
Not everything is a 152 homie
MEINSHNAKE@reddit
“Military” approaches and short field approaches are two different things, you can’t safely use the short field approach on the backside of the power curve in high performance aircraft.
What we do is come in high, put everything out for drag and come in steep somewhere around the top of the white arc, get below the glide slope and level out without adding power.
With that much drag and no power you can slow it down very quickly and end up with a relatively normal landing.
Lazy_Tac@reddit
full flaps and start at threshold speed. The herc has a lot of drag even on a good day
GingerB237@reddit
Now look up chinook combat landing. It’s freaking wild. We used to have to get medevacs on the bird within what seemed like a few seconds before they tore off.
ReadyplayerParzival1@reddit
Throw the props into high pitch and you get lots of drag
Far_Top_7663@reddit
In some planes you can even select reverse in flight.
whywouldthisnotbea@reddit
Beta
GustyGhoti@reddit
https://youtube.com/shorts/s1mBbbY5AvU?si=XcWGrdg7ryUh3KgV
Hodgetwins32@reddit
Maintaining minimum airspeed and lotsa drag.
mountainbrew46@reddit
Maximum airspeed*
All the drag devices out and descending at basically red-line speed with idle power. The key is inefficiency to maximize descent rate
kharmael@reddit
Close the power, Take maximum flap, drop the gear, deploy speed brakes. Point the nose down. When the speed is nearly at your most limiting speed raise the nose.
Low_Sky_49@reddit
Drag high, thrust low (sometimes reversed) and point the nose down to keep it flying with enough airspeed to arrest the vertical rate in the round out.
theyoyomaster@reddit
It’s done by putting the aircraft in a condition where it is severely thrust deficient where there is more drag than propulsion requiring more nose down to compensate. For a slick and fast plane like a fighter this isn’t possible and they usually go for shallow approaches but on a chonky cargo plane it’s easily doable and controllable.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Watching a few videos of combat landings. Looks like the aircraft dives for the end of the landing strip then rounds out at the last minute.
How is this accomplished without gaining too much speed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQBGDsakXbM
Please downvote this comment until it collapses.
Questions about this comment? Please see this wiki post before contacting the mods.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. If you have any questions, please contact the mods of this subreddit.