Originally Posted by
gapellegrini
David,
BV may be right at least for some planes. If you look at the full scale F-104 flight manual the emergency procedure for a flame out says that for optimal glide distance is reached with take off flap. For sure the 104 is a very unusual plane and it was the only full scale plane I found this procedure.
On a pratical side with my bandit I flew about 150 ft above me on runaway direction and put the plane on idle simulating a flame out and landed applying flaps and gear close to the runaway. On another pass at the same height, direction and speed I did as BV said appling take off flap after losing some speed but not gaining altittude and the plane glided better and crossed runaway start at a higher altitude. Not a very scientific valid experiment but a good one.
Gabriel
I fly the F-104 and you definitely
do not want to drop flaps on this plane without having power. The plane gets very dirty on approach and will slow down surprisingly fast. I need at least 50% power all the way to the ground. I would not consider my chances to be very good in the F-104 in a dead stick, but they would be better with flaps up.
You have to keep in mind that no -104 model flies like the real plane because the wing profile must be totally different in order for the model to fly at all. Most of the RC 104s that fly well have 8-9% symmetrical airfoils, so they will get very draggy once you go into AOA, and drop the flaps and gear.