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- Sep 14, 2020
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After getting some excellent advice on this forum for this new owner and even downloading an excel sheet of weight-adjusted speeds, with all of the work done for me it was time for some real-world testing. I've got a 1966 pa-32-300 that I just got back from a complete avionics and interior overhaul. WIth just myself and 50 gallons of fuel, I was 2500 lbs.
Here is what I found.
Weight adjusted ( W.A) Vx = 81mph I climbed out with flaps at 10 at 85 mph from a short grass strip and it climbed so much better than when at 95mph
Vs - W.A. - listed 61mph - I found it was fully stalled at 58mph with stall light on around 62mph did this one twice
Vso flaps 10 - not much difference 56mph stall
Vso flaps 25 - stalled at 54mph
Vso Flaps 40 48mph!
All of them were done power off and all of them were incredible docile with no wing drop. I didn't hold any of them in a long-duration stall but I also wasn't recovering when the light came on. These are the speeds that I found I was no longer flying with the nose falling.
I came into my short ( 2000) foot grass strip with obstacles at both ends with my new adjusted speeds and a newfound confidence in how the plane stalls and how it behaves. This time I used 100mph on downwind, 90 mph on base, 80 mph on final with 70mph on short final and it was a much nicer experience. I was over the power lines, down and stopped not much past half so 1000' without really braking.
All of this was done in calm wind conditions although it was a 10-knot crosswind, no gusts to deal with so no gust factor to consider.
For me, this makes complete sense and I will be using weight-adjusted speeds from now on. Thanks for the awesome information and just wanted to share the results!
Kyle
Here is what I found.
Weight adjusted ( W.A) Vx = 81mph I climbed out with flaps at 10 at 85 mph from a short grass strip and it climbed so much better than when at 95mph
Vs - W.A. - listed 61mph - I found it was fully stalled at 58mph with stall light on around 62mph did this one twice
Vso flaps 10 - not much difference 56mph stall
Vso flaps 25 - stalled at 54mph
Vso Flaps 40 48mph!
All of them were done power off and all of them were incredible docile with no wing drop. I didn't hold any of them in a long-duration stall but I also wasn't recovering when the light came on. These are the speeds that I found I was no longer flying with the nose falling.
I came into my short ( 2000) foot grass strip with obstacles at both ends with my new adjusted speeds and a newfound confidence in how the plane stalls and how it behaves. This time I used 100mph on downwind, 90 mph on base, 80 mph on final with 70mph on short final and it was a much nicer experience. I was over the power lines, down and stopped not much past half so 1000' without really braking.
All of this was done in calm wind conditions although it was a 10-knot crosswind, no gusts to deal with so no gust factor to consider.
For me, this makes complete sense and I will be using weight-adjusted speeds from now on. Thanks for the awesome information and just wanted to share the results!
Kyle
