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Podcast: Learn from the maintenance experts with Ask the A&Ps, a new podcast from AOPA featuring technicians Mike Busch, Paul New, and Colleen Sterling answering your questions.

Explore more training topics in our expanded online content hub aopa.org/ft

RESOURCE

How It Works: Electrical system
How a battery, a generator or alternator, and an electrical bus work together to power an aircraft’s starter, lights, radio, and fuel pump.
aopa.org/ft/electricalsystem

Video: Flying the Hudson River corridor
Looking for a new view of New York City? Ian J. Twombly has some tips for flying the Hudson River corridor.
aopa.org/ft/hudson

Video: Any attitude
Airplane wings can stall at any airspeed and any pitch attitude—even pointing straight down.
aopa.org/ft/attitude

Sideways

I enjoyed Sarah Deener’s article on slips (“Sideways,” August 2020 Flight Training). Having learned in a nice high-wing Cessna 150 and, after flying gliders for the past 20 years, I’ve always been comfortable with slips, but understand how a lot of people may not be. And good for her quoting Bill Kershner [the late William K. Kershner, a prolific aviation writer and CFI]. I loved his books and wrote him a note to that effect; got back a very friendly letter, too.

Slips certainly can save one’s bacon, as I found out once when way too high in a glider and aiming for a very short field, with no wind. Full spoilers and slip, watch the speed, ease off the slip at 20 feet, spoilers to half and on the button (whew, didn’t do that again). From crosswind on, I did have to do an entire pattern in a slip for the glider commercial, too.  

When I was first learning I asked my CFI for a cross-control stall, which I thought was basically out of a very high nose-high slip. Anyway, it ended in a serious altitude drop. Many years later, with instructor approval I took a breath and tried slipping stalls in a glider and the results were…nothing, nothing much at all. Now skids, did that into a spin the first time I tried an accelerated stall, so I had the CFI teach me how to get out of spins. End of problem, and beginning of respect for not cheating on pattern turns.

Richard Weil
St. Paul, Minnesota

Where’s Max?

Readers told us they had a hard time finding our longtime co-pilot Max in the August issue. We hide him in our pages each month. One member said he and friends even used a magnifying glass, but to no avail. Hint: turn to p. 34 in the August issue; Max is very well hidden!

We welcome your comments. Please email [email protected]. Comments will be edited for style and space.