Here’s a true story. I was learning to fly in a Cessna 150 with a civilian instructor from a flight school in Nashville (BNA). Once he took me one time out to a small, short, grass strip. We landed, and taxied back to prepare for takeoff.
He then asked me what was the stall speed of the Cessna 150 at full flaps? I think I said 55 mph, which is about right. He then told me, “okay…set the aircraft for full flaps, full power, and I want you to rotate at 55 mph and maintain that speed during climb out.”
Uh…what?!!! No! That’s crazy!!!
As I said, we were on a short grass strip, with a fence at the other end. I was pretty scared, but I did what he requested. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it would work or not.
We started…and at 55mph I rotated. The fuselage shook like hell, the stall horn was blaring, and at first we didn’t lift off. I thought we were dead. It felt like we would never fly and would hit the fence at the far end.
But then the aircraft slowly began to fly…and even accelerate as we lifted off the grass…soon we were actually climbing and flying…the stall horn subsided and the fuselage stopped shaking…and we climbed out. Easily cleared the fence at the end. Not even close. I was totally impressed. It frickin’ worked!
The IP looked at me and said…”trust your airplane. If the book says it will fly at 55mph, it will. Trust your skills to fly the aircraft at the limits”.
22 yrs later I completed by 900th carrier landing in an A-7E aircraft. Flying right at the limit.
Author – David Tussey ( Retired US Navy pilot )
