Many years ago, I had a friend who owned a Tiger Moth and used to take part in slow flying competitions at his local aero club. The objective was simple – in a straight line how slowly could you fly from point A to point B. This is a test of skill keeping the aircraft in the sky, safely, whilst enjoying the scenery and navigating to your destination.
I thought I would try the same thing in the sim and can recommend it. Unless you are a true endurance flyer I would recommend a short flight. With all the scenery add ons available I thought I would give it a go in the Shock Ultra. My first trip was from Boscombe Down Airport (EGDM) to Bristol (EGGD). The flight planner gives a distance of 39NM and a 32 minute duration. I wanted to fly this route to check out Stonehenge in the new UK update (which is beautifully rendered).
As it is slow flying I decided that I would impose some rules and constants-
- No flaps allowed
- Weather set to Clear Skies
- Following the magenta line on the VFR map
Cruising at between 2,000 ft and 2,500 ft at approximately 40knts the whole journey took me 1hr 3 mins and 44 secs. The flight was all about getting the trim set correctly and managing the throttle as well as the slew left and right to keep the plane on track.
This might sound like a boring exercise to some, but it does require a degree of skill and was good fun. The only stall warning I got was just before touchdown at Bristol.
VIDEO - Landing at Bristol EGGD
You can cheat if you want and circle for a bit, but where’s the fun in that!!!
How slow can you go?
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Flying into the wind you could go for as long as fuel allows
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But the point is going between point A and B with some constants attached i.e. no wind, clear skies etc so it adds a bit of skill to the task.
Missed your weather bullet point!
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You should add at an Altitude under 50-100’ thats where the real fun is, No room for mistakes that low.
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That’s a great idea. Trying not to fall out of the sky and keeping it as slow as possible was challenging enough.
At the Tiger Moth flying club a “How slow can you go” was quite a regular event.
I used to like to fly along the highways and try to ‘land’ on a certain car, while you couldnt interact with them directly if you did it right you could be right above/behind them until they rolled under the road. Great fun! Trouble now is you cant go under freeway bridges so that game would be even more challenging
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Found a good one today, flying along the hiway an notice this rather long and flat warehouse roof, just screaming LAND ON ME!!! hehehe, so I circle back around line up, flaps down touch down on the roof, full stop, I thought cool I wonder if I can take off again aka Snake Plisken Style then all of a sudden the plane starts shaking violently, and the black box of death appears, you have damamged you landing gear, so I guess I fell through the roof, but I did manage to land and stop safely…
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That’s very cool. Where about was that? What aircraft were you in?
Interstate 90 just east of Cleveland Ohio in Euclid, South side of the road about 222-260th st. approx.
I was flying the 152 but yup I was thinking about trying it again in something a bit lighter…maybe the roof will hold ROFL
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You didn’t mention anything about altitude and power, so maybe keep full power, pitch up until stall warning and keep “hanging on the prop” in a constant climb. Actually flying at critical angle of attack instead of just below stall warning might also shave off 5/10 kts by itself.
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Thanks @anon50268670 That’s a good shout. I did a fair bit of “hanging on the prop” and was on the stall threshold a few times. That’s the challenge. Slower the better…
Hopefully creating this topic has stirred a few folk to have a go and see how slow they can go. That was the aim. Everyone usually wants to get from A to B in not neccesarily the slowest way. What I experienced form the Tiger Moth lot was a fun way to do it.
Hopefully sharing some results, routes, what worked in different aircraft could start an interesting topic of discussion.
