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RV-9A - Slow Down, or Drop Altitude, Not both

Why not do an overhead approach? Or maybe practice an emergency circle to land and try to nail it with power off.

I would do overhead approaches in formation with -6s -7s -8s and Swifts. It would require, at times full forward slips to bleed energy and fit in with the rest of the formation.

It was not a problem, just something that had to be done. In the end, it gave me so much confidence in the aircraft that full slipping approaches became a go-to procedure in many situations. The giant airbrake is the fuselage. You've paid for it, it's no extra weight, and it's lots of fun to deploy!
 
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Why not do an overhead approach? Or maybe practice an emergency circle to land and try to nail it with power off.

I've done overhead breaks with my 9 and they work just fine for bleeding energy. The purpose of this test was to see how the 9 responded to riding a stall down. The 9 drops like a rock if you slow it way down so that what I do when I need to lose altitude quickly. On final I can always go around if I'm hot and can't slow down enough.

I really brought this up because I'm a little concerned about the movement on the horizontal and I wanted to see if anybody else noticed this. Bird wings should flap, not airplane wings. :)

Yep... again. Solution: don't look back there...
LOL, OK
 
Practice the steep spiral descent as well

This is a maneuver my original instructor liked to demonstrate, so I naturally have practiced it often. During my Private Pilot exam check ride it helped me to nail a power off descent to landing. It allows for good visibility below, and you can practice going around a spot on the ground. Slow to full flap speed, drop the flaps and power, and then initiate about a 45 degree bank, adding power once in a while to clear the engine and using pitch to control the airspeed. The RV9A will do this easily and I have seen 1500-1800 FPM.
 
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