Proficient Pilot: What’s the flap about?

Conventional wisdom dictates, however, that a pilot should not retract the flaps during the landing roll because this might cause him to inadvertently raise the landing gear instead—obviously when in an airplane with retractable gear. Such an accident would also reduce the landing distance—and be noisy!—but probably wouldn’t be worth the price unless you are confronted by an emergency requiring a really short landing.

Most light airplanes, of course, are stiff-legged, so it is unlikely that retracting the flaps during the landing roll in these aircraft would have any negative effect. As a matter of fact, reader Timothy Spear wrote to inform me that the pilot’s operating handbook for the Cirrus SR22 says that “for maximum brake effectiveness [during a short-field landing], retract the flaps, hold the control yoke full back, and apply maximum brake pressure without skidding.”

Retracting the flaps after touchdown actually reduces the likelihood of skidding the tires during heavy braking. It also improves directional control in a crosswind. Finally, raising the flaps immediately after touchdown reduces the possibility of wheelbarrowing, a situation where the airplane rides light on its main gear and heavy on its nosewheel, which can result in a rapid and dizzying loss of directional control.

Speaking of unorthodox flap usage, there also is a technique involving flap retraction during the landing flare while only inches above the runway. The sudden loss of lift plants the airplane exactly where the pilot wants it to be. This takes practice, however, and perhaps some instruction. You need to be prepared to compensate for the accompanying pitch change. This technique is most effective when using manual flaps because they are more easily modulated and can be operated more rapidly than electrically or hydraulically operated flaps.

I used this technique to win a spot landing contest in a Piper Comanche 260C at Inuvik in the High Arctic of Canada in 1970. It was so easy and effective that I felt as though I were cheating, but that didn’t prevent me from accepting the trophy.

Some years ago I was making a visual approach to Las Vegas, Nevada, in a Beech Bonanza A36 on a typical summer day—density altitude was well above 5,000 feet. As I approached the boundary, another aircraft intruded upon the runway, necessitating a go-around. No big deal. I simultaneously raised the nose and applied full throttle. The flaps, however, wouldn’t respond to repositioning the flap lever. I clawed my way oh so s-l-o-w-l-y to pattern altitude with the flaps fully extended. After discovering that the circuit breaker for the flap motor had popped, I reset the breaker, raised the flaps, and proceeded to make a no-flap landing.

This reminded me that landing with retracted flaps is very different than landing with them extended. It is an abnormal procedure that should be practiced once in a while and involves a prolonged flare and consuming a lot of runway.

It also reminded me that this usually results in smoother landings. It’s much easier to hold the nosewheel off the ground and chirp the mains with the flaps up. This is especially true when landing with a forward center of gravity, such as when there are only two people aboard a four- or six-place airplane.

Landing with the flaps partially deployed also makes landings easier and typically increases stall speed on the approach by only about 2 or 3 knots in most light airplanes. It does, however, increase landing distance somewhat, which is not a problem unless using a short runway.

Another occasion for opting to approach using less than full flaps might be when there is a decent chance that you might have to execute a missed approach (such as when the weather is near minimums during an instrument approach). After all, it is less challenging and much safer to begin a missed approach with partial flaps than with all of them hanging down.

This also is a valuable technique to use when you think that you might need to make a VFR go-around, especially when operating at heavy weights or at high density altitudes—times when a missed approach would be more challenging than usual. You can give yourself a head start into the maneuver by approaching the runway with less than full flaps.

A lesson here is that the thinking pilot should not always and arbitrarily land with full flaps just because that is the normal way of doing things.