Slow Flight / MCA Maneuver Video

[@m5guys]

Gary, thanks for posting your video series. For a student pilot like me, your videos really help supplement what my CFI is teaching me. The added benefit is that I can watch your videos over and over again between lessons. Please keep up the great work -- I'm looking forward to seeing more of your 5 minute summaries!

[@templarjay]

Also student pilot, watching your vids are very helpful. Thanks.

[@LouDiVentura]

Garry, great 5 min video. Im currently a CFI candidate at Big Sky Aviation @ KMIV, recently passed the FOI and FIA knowledge tests. Your videos have really helped me. Thanks.

[@GarryWing]

Not sure what you mean by 'normal cruise', but you could be referring to V-be (Best Endurance), which is minimum power for maximum time in the air; in most light singles it's going to be the same as V-bg (Best Glide) speed which is at the bottom of the power curve (any slower, induced drag increases; any faster parasitic drag increases...) Thanks for watching...

[@manriquehidalgo19]

Very good, only clarify in slow flight power maintains Altitude, and Control column airspeed. Happy Landings!!

[@TomKristiansen]

Thanks to you I learned MCA in Microsoft flight simulator x whit a Texan T/6, I'm not real pilot and will not be either. but I like to learn and not to mention fly. Thanks Garry

[@GarryWing]

Not sure where you got that... but, quoting from the FAA "Airplane Flying Handbook", (p. 4-1) "Slow flight could be thought of as a speed that is less than cruise." They go on to make a distinction between takeoffs/climbs and MCA... but according to the FAA, I'm pretty much correct...

[@hooonooz]

Great videos Garry. They have helped me through my private and complex. Thanks

[@tatianakachira7998]

Slow flight is not by definition slower than normal cruise. It's slower than the speed for best endurance. It's in a range of airpseeds between MCA and best endurance, basically.

[@TheRooster602]

Hi Garry: at :30 in this video you say "slow flight is by definition any flight slower than 'normal cruise' speed". 'Normal cruise' is your term. Tatiana also used the term to justify her objection to your definition of slow flight. You both used the term so I am hoping you would each tell me your definition of it. thanks ! I'm working on slow flight with my instructor right now so this is VERY helpful.

[@TheRooster602]

Hi Garry: at :30 in this video you say "slow flight is by definition any flight slower than 'normal cruise' speed". 'Normal cruise' is your term. Is it different from 'cruise' ? Tatiana also used the term to justify her objection to your definition of slow flight. You both used the term so I am hoping you would each tell me your definition of it. thanks ! I'm working on slow flight with my instructor right now so this is VERY helpful.

[@TheRooster602]

Xtremely helpful video preparing for lessons. THANKS! ASA _Flight School_ , p. 275: "flight below the best-endurance speed is ... slow flight". Same page: "slow flight ...the *point* where an increase in attitude results in a stall". They forgot the word 'pitch' in there, and changed the definition to a POINT vs a RANGE. Jepp _Private Pilot Maneuvers_: "slow flight... flight at minimum controllable airspeed". Authorities differ, even with themselves; a broad definition which can be narrowed.

[@TheRooster602]

What is the lower limit for normal cruise? I can't find the term in Jepp or ASA.

[@filmi112]

here is another student pilot. thanks for the video

[@TheRooster602]

Tatiana, what is your definition of 'normal cruise' ? Is it different from 'cruise' ? thanks!

[@romeogolf72]

Great vid. Many thanks!

[@pamagee2011]

Question: why do airline pilots never practice slow flight? Why do airline pilots never practice stall recovery? I know for a fact that they do not

[@TheRooster602]

"not everything slower than normal cruise is slow flight." Another way of wording that is: some speeds slower than 'normal cruise' are not 'slow flight'. Tatiana, what speeds slower than 'normal cruise' are NOT 'slow flight'? And, what is your definition of 'normal cruise' ? Is it different from 'cruise' ? Thanks!

[@TheRooster602]

"not everything slower than normal cruise is slow flight." Another way of wording that is: some speeds slower than 'normal cruise' are not 'slow flight'. Tatiana, what speeds slower than 'normal cruise' are NOT 'slow flight'? Thanks!

[@tatianakachira7998]

Maybe it's a matter of international terminology differences. The FAA definition strikes me as unfortunate UNLESS they define cruise as anything faster than the best endurance speed. Because best endurance is well defined, and the slow flight regime is "the back side of the power curve". Also, I see my comment above, and I didn't phrase it very well; of course, slow flight is, of course, slower than normal cruise; it's just that not everything slower than normal cruise is slow flight.

[@abdullahatteyah5434]

great, good , i have learned fro your video, thank you

[@lw216316]

Can you explain if your aircraft stalls at 50 and you are cruising at 55 (slow flight) if you have a 10 tail wind then does that make the wind going over your wings to be 45 and would you stall ?

[@GarryWing]

This is a very basic question that many students wrestle with when first trying to grasp this aerodynamic stuff. You are flying *within* the air mass (which in your example is moving at 10). So the stall speed would be unaffected by the speed of the moving air mass within which you're flying (your _groundspeed_ would of course be higher with a tailwind of 10, but that's not the point here). The example I use is if you are inside a train car that is moving at 30. If you are walking forward at 10 inside that train car, you're moving over the ground at 40 (30 + 10), but *you* are still only moving within the train car (similar to the air mass) at 10. Is your mind ready to explode yet? Ha. Read _Stick and Rudder_ and _AFH_, etc., and it will click at some point. Notice neither of us used *knots* or *mph* in our examples; the unit of measurement or the actual numbers don't matter; grasp the concept. I _love_ it when students ask questions like this; it tells me they're actually thinking about it...

[@lw216316]

I think it just clicked. If I were in NO WIND boppin' along at 55 and a tail wind of 10 overtook me I'd still be doin' 55 relative to the wind but because of the help of the wind I'd be doin' 65 relative to the ground. that's a relief now I know I won't fall out of the sky if overtaken by a strong tail wind. thanks, happy flyin'

[@GarryWing]

I did? That was 2 years ago; I hardly remember what I said yesterday...:) I think you may be waaaay overthinking this... if you're working on slow flight with your instructor, you are at training at the Private Pilot level, right? Just slow the plane as much as you can without stalling, then resume cruise flight within the altitude and heading PTS standards and move on. You're parsing words and terms that really are not important at all; trust me.

[@kvbowfmfa225]

the new acs doesnt allow stall horn sound going off.

[@TomKristiansen]

Thanks to you I learned MCA in Microsoft flight simulator x whit a Texan T/6, I'm not real pilot and will not be either. but I like to learn and not to mention fly. Thanks Garry