Flight Lesson #6

1.6 Slow Flight
13-10-2025
20-10-2025

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Slow flight described
• Fast flight
• Taxi checks

Introduction

One of the harder lessons so far, slow flight. The purpose of this lesson is to fly slowly, almost on the minimum airborne speed we can achieve in the Cessna 172. The first time we did the lesson, this did not went as planned as we lost too much altitude and controlling the aircraft was a bit hard as we had to maintain this for a long time. Therefore, I had to retake this lesson.

Slow flight described

To begin with flying slowly, we first lookout for other traffic and then start the exercise.

1. Start by pulling back the throttle to around 1500 RPM
2. Because the thrust decreases, we need to generate more lift by pitching up the plane
3. Simultaneously trim the aircraft till you hit the desired speed
4. To compensate for the lift-loss, we need more throttle and RPM, set this around 1900
5. Steer with the rudder to steer gently and focus on your point

If we do this without flaps, we can achieve safe flying speeds around 55 knots (101 km/u)

If we do this with flaps, we can achieve safe flying speeds around 43 knots (80 km/u)

I found it hard to hold the plane in the correct position, altitude decreased too much and/or speed increased too fast. Also maintaining a specific heading is very hard as you cannot look outside as you are piching around 10 degrees up. Here you can only use the inside compasses.

After around 3 tries I did succeed but it’s an exercise I had to repeat. The second lesson, which was a week later, the results were much better. I also had an other plane which was lighter, which makes the weight component somewhat less, and a less higher stall speed. The slowest speed we hit during the slow flight was 49 kts (90 km/u), which is on the edge of developing a stall.

Fast flight

The exercise which was a lot easier and more fun is fast flight. Here we will descent using full throttle (2700 RPM) and after a little while you will hit 140 knots (260 km/u). This is around the speed a passenger jet like a Boeing 737, 777 and Airbus A320 will take off.

After hitting the speed, we will decrease power and you really feel the aircraft slowing down. Also, at higher speed, you need way less rudder and aileron input as more air is flowing over the wings and rudder.

Taxi checks

Then after the flight was done, I was told to learn the taxi checks from memory. These must be known without a checklist.

The checks we must do is:

1. Brakes on both sides
2. Compasses decreasing/increasing
3. Steer to the right, ball to the left <-> Steer to the left, ball to the right
4. Turn coordinator to the left and right
5. Artificial horizon stable and level

At the before take-off checklist and magneto’s check, call-out is mandatory if this is between limits or not. Also ensure that the nose wheel is straight before braking.

A overall change of flying learning/preparation is needed for me. I will now first go through the SOP’s, and try exercises myself in the simulator before trying them for the first time in a real plane.

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