B737 Talk

While it is allowed, I have had some buddies that have had captains tell them they couldn't use flaps 2, 10, and 25 because those captains claim those flap settings aren't in any of our profiles.
Wow! Haven’t heard that before.
 
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That’s pretty stupid, but so is having 9 flap settings so they cancel each other out.
 
i like my old days of takeoff/approach and landing flaps in one jet; and no flaps at all in the other.

Yeah mine are mostly either HALF/FULL or automatic with the gear handle. Whatever, they said I passed my MV so that's good enough for me :)
 
Interestingly, same for us. HALF for field takeoffs, FULL for boat. Basically Flaps 30 vs Flaps 40 (those were the actual deflections of TEFs, though now that I say it, I feel like the Hornet was 45 deg at FF). A little extra nose up stab trim for boat launches as well (7 NU for Rhino/Growler without any asym stores, and 17 NU for Hornet). I always remember doing that first takeoff checklist ashore for the first time after being on the boat for months/a year. You catch yourself saying "Flaps full"......oh wait, flaps half. Either way, you were good retracting them at 180 knots....(160 for FULL to HALF on a G/A)......no silly bugs on a speed tape and 12 flap settings to throw your hands through :)
 
Nobody uses 25 that much.

edit: I dunno, lotta manufacturers do weird stuff between the handle on the flight desk and the surfaces.

E.g., Airbus is really five positions too with their whole "oh the computer says we are in a certain phase of flight."

Or EmbraerYaborã and their two different lever positions for the same configuration, one for going up, the other for going down, with a gate at one.

Or Embraer actual and how they banned full flaps on the Phenom for a long time with an extra detent.

If there were better computers available at the time, I bet the McDonnell-Douglas Dial-A-Flap would have made for a pretty nice ride.
 
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Umm, that's five. ;)

Only because culturally here, we call for it like that. I haven’t had anyone go from flaps 15 and call for 30. If you want 30, we usually still say flaps 25, then 30. You’re right that’s five, but in practicality you can think of the last notch as two quick successions.
 
Only because culturally here, we call for it like that. I haven’t had anyone go from flaps 15 and call for 30. If you want 30, we usually still say flaps 25, then 30. You’re right that’s five, but in practicality you can think of the last notch as two quick successions.

I'm sure I'll figure this out on the line, but I still haven't been able to figure out what the appropriate delay in F25 is......like do you just say it and then immediately follow up with F30 (as I have been doing), or are you supposed to have a pregnant pause so everyone knows you did it? :)
 
I'm sure I'll figure this out on the line, but I still haven't been able to figure out what the appropriate delay in F25 is......like do you just say it and then immediately follow up with F30 (as I have been doing), or are you supposed to have a pregnant pause so everyone knows you did it? :)

Nothing says you can’t go from 15 to 30 in terms of some limitation or restriction. Unless it’s in your training manual, the 25 thing is a weird-ism some pilots have to have a smooth transition to 30. It really doesn’t make any actual difference. I even go 15 to 40 for final flaps, if I’m planning on using 40. I don’t stop at 25 and 30 for a few seconds just because. Unless it’s some weirdo required thing to do at your shop, the airplane doesn’t care one way or another.
 
Nothing says you can’t go from 15 to 30 in terms of some limitation or restriction. Unless it’s in your training manual, the 25 thing is a weird-ism some pilots have to have a smooth transition to 30. It really doesn’t make any actual difference. I even go 15 to 40 for final flaps, if I’m planning on using 40. I don’t stop at 25 and 30 for a few seconds just because. Unless it’s some weirdo required thing to do at your shop, the airplane doesn’t care one way or another.

Yeah sorry I was more speaking to our company Stan than 737 flying in general.
 
I'm sure I'll figure this out on the line, but I still haven't been able to figure out what the appropriate delay in F25 is......like do you just say it and then immediately follow up with F30 (as I have been doing), or are you supposed to have a pregnant pause so everyone knows you did it? :)

Whatever feels comfortable. My standard is to try to be flaps 5 and 180 kts at 2000 AGL, gear down flaps 15, bug 15. Then flaps 25 about 1600-1800 ft. Bug final speed and call for flaps 30 by 1200-1400 ft.

It’s really what you feel comfortable with. But configured and landing checklist done before 1000 AGL in all cases.
 
Only because culturally here, we call for it like that. I haven’t had anyone go from flaps 15 and call for 30. If you want 30, we usually still say flaps 25, then 30. You’re right that’s five, but in practicality you can think of the last notch as two quick successions.

Why? What is the purpose for this cultural way? Just “how it’s always been done”?

Why don’t you quickly stop at flaps 10 from 5, before going to flaps 15….make that two quick successions?
 
Why? What is the purpose for this cultural way? Just “how it’s always been done”?

Why don’t you quickly stop at flaps 10 from 5, before going to flaps 15….make that two quick successions?

Because the profile is that way. We’ll use flaps 10 if on GS and need to go down while still doing an ATC requested speed of 180ish knots. Flaps 10 officially isn’t on the profile view below.

Flaps 1 about 225-210.

Flaps 5 about 180-200. (Or around 210 if need to descend more).

Gear down, flaps 15, bug 15 or about 160.

Flaps 25, bug towards final target speed, and

Flaps 30 landing checklist.

If it’s flaps 40, I’ll still call 30 first, make sure we’re decelerating and below Vmax40 and then call flaps 40.



Full disclaimer. “Glideslope alive” as gear down flaps 15 and “approaching glideslope” flaps 25 are the official profile, just like it was for the CRJ, but reality is you could have GS alive waaaay out there and even capture way back at 4-5000 ft. Just do what it takes to be about flaps 5-10 and 180 knots until about 2000 AGL and then configure. In sim world do the exact profile, but real world, it’s okay to delay until closer in.


Point is, the profile shows that no matter how you configure, call gear down flaps 15, then have a callout for flaps 25, and then flaps 30/40.

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So what are your thoughts about flaps? When and how much? Techniques? I'd say that all these bananas flaps options are potentially the most confusing for my pea brain (I'm used to either up/half/full or just up/down). As @MikeFavinger astutely noted, I am one who will fly mostly 800/900/MAX with an occasional 700F. What's the finesse point? Speaking mostly to dirtying up, slowing down, terminal area stuff. The up and away config changes are fairly straight forward. I come from a plane that can basically do anything once you slow to 240, though it also does not really slow down and go down without speed brakes (which aren't limited by flap settings in that case). Though I have been taught over the years to die a little inside when you fail and have to use the boards.
*Laughs in Dial-a- flap*
 
Because the profile is that way. We’ll use flaps 10 if on GS and need to go down while still doing an ATC requested speed of 180ish knots. Flaps 10 officially isn’t on the profile view below.

Flaps 1 about 225-210.

Flaps 5 about 180-200. (Or around 210 if need to descend more).

Gear down, flaps 15, bug 15 or about 160.

Flaps 25, bug towards final target speed, and

Flaps 30 landing checklist.

If it’s flaps 40, I’ll still call 30 first, make sure we’re decelerating and below Vmax40 and then call flaps 40.



Full disclaimer. “Glideslope alive” as gear down flaps 15 and “approaching glideslope” flaps 25 are the official profile, just like it was for the CRJ, but reality is you could have GS alive waaaay out there and even capture way back at 4-5000 ft. Just do what it takes to be about flaps 5-10 and 180 knots until about 2000 AGL and then configure. In sim world do the exact profile, but real world, it’s okay to delay until closer in.


Point is, the profile shows that no matter how you configure, call gear down flaps 15, then have a callout for flaps 25, and then flaps 30/40.

View attachment 66233

My question is what is the purpose of that in the profile? Is there some performance or limitation reason that it’s that way? Or is it just that we’ve always done it that way? It’s not wrong necessarily, but it’s just a needless extra selection step.
 
My question is what is the purpose of that in the profile? Is there some performance or limitation reason that it’s that way? Or is it just that we’ve always done it that way?
No limitations per say, we can put flaps out up to appropriate placard speed (eg, 250 kts for flaps 1 and 5). But the profile I wrote out above is what most people do at our shop.

I assume you’re similar, sounds like you do flaps 1/5, then gear down flaps 15, and you like to go straight to 30/40 :)
 
My question is what is the purpose of that in the profile? Is there some performance or limitation reason that it’s that way? Or is it just that we’ve always done it that way? It’s not wrong necessarily, but it’s just a needless extra selection step.

There is quite a bit of “we have always done it this way” on the 737 at Eskimo Airways.


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