Had a few questions on flap settings, experiences, and "practical" suggestions.

I have the MX7-235 on amphibs (aka the shopping cart), so mine may be slightly different than most of you (as 48 degree setting is not allowed with float configurations). A couple questions I have are:

Can your go around (effectively) with 40 degrees of flaps. If not, what is your procedure? What Performance do you experience. Pros/Cons

Can your go around (effectively) with 48 degrees of flaps. If not, what is your procedure? What Performance do you experience. Pros/Cons

I am trying to gather some goo practical knowledge and experience that is out there.

Thanks.

Hmm, I’m no expert, but I can tell you that if you are to slow in a Maule and you ditch the flaps in the wrong weather conditions you will find your self landing whether you like it or not. I made this mistake at high density altitude and almost had a big ooops. Luckily I caught the issue and added 1 notch until she picked up enough speed to ditch the flaps completely.

My procedure is to execute the go around and ease out the flaps a notch at a time as the plane accelerates. But again that’s assuming I’m way slow.

Thanks for the info.

I would say to clarify my questions, will the airplane climb with 40 and or 48 degrees down?

I know in a 172 with 40 degrees of flaps, you are committed to land. It won’t climb so to go around you gotta get back to 30 degrees.

Does that apply practically with a Maule as well at 40 or 48?

The airplane will climb with 40 and 48 degrees flaps but not quickly. 40 degrees on my MX-7-180 is the point where there is as much lift as drag and I use it for short field takeoffs. 48 is more drag than lift. Amphibs add about 500 lbs to the airplane's weight so climb will be slower. Raising flaps when you are close to the ground at a slow airspeed is risky because of the sudden loss of lift. The old rule about raising flaps only when you have a positive rate of climb is good for a go around but I would also consider airspeed.

I agree with Andy. In my previous M7 235 B on amphibious floats I just used the 20 or 40 degree settings for landings and for go around power first then ease off the flaps as speed picked up. You don’t need any more drag with those big floats. Also the -7 degree doesn’t work with floats as will actually slow you down.

I make every take off with flaps 40. It climbs just fine. Lower the nose and flatten the climb to gain speed through Vy and ease the flaps off one notch at a time.

https://youtu.be/wJZzU7Hk2sA

Amphibs will obviously be slightly flatter.

Thanks for the practical knowledge. I did notice when I flew the airplane from eastern WA to Central cal that the -7 flap setting were not really doing anything other than causing a loss of altitude. Even at 9500 feet and cruise they did not provide any advantage. The only advantage I saw was a "high speed cruise descent" out of 9500 feet where I was about 300 FPM descent with -7 flaps and I got about an additional 8KTS.

Still need to play/experiment some.

Again, thanks all for the info.

I am not sure what your weight was with the -7 degrees. I have found that at or near max gross it does little other than provide less lift. When not at max gross (or near) it is an almost immediate 5 kts gain!

A go around with max flaps will require a very heavy left hand push, as the right hand gradually lowers the flaps back down to one notch. imho

cberonio wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 16, 2022 11:21 pm

Thanks for the info.

I would say to clarify my questions, will the airplane climb with 40 and or 48 degrees down?

I know in a 172 with 40 degrees of flaps, you are committed to land. It won’t climb so to go around you gotta get back to 30 degrees.

Does that apply practically with a Maule as well at 40 or 48?

Not apples to apples, but my M4 will climb at any flap setting. Weight of course being a factor.

If you nail the throttle for a go around with 40* flaps, be prepared to add lots of left hand to keep the nose down. Not bad as long as you are expecting it... For short takeoffs, I usually start with no flaps, accelerate, and pop on full flaps, keeping a hand on the flap handle and slowly release pressure as speed increases, stopping at 1 notch until I'm through climbing.