On Aug 2, 10:35*pm, Scott wrote:
As a noob to gliders (coming from powered airplanes), I always thought
that spoilers were "the bomb" * *One thing I like about spoilers over
flaps is that you can go from full spoilers to no spoilers instantly
without bad effects. *Can't do that with flaps...if you misjudge and put
on too much, too early, there isn't much you can do except
undershoot...

You can if you resist the temptation to fly slower than a safe no-flap
speed until you are very close to the ground and/or have the runway
"made". Use the flaps to approach steeper, not to approach slower.

When I was flying a Janus (which has something like a 20º landing flap
position I think), I sometimes practiced going smoothly but reasonably
quickly between no flap and landing flap without feeling a change in G
forces. This involved applying forward elevator at the same time as
increasing the flap setting, and backward elevator at the same time as
reducing the flap setting.

If you do this then you can safely remove flap on approach without any
"sagging", provided that you keep the speed above 50 knots or so. Some
people liked to float the Janus in with landing flap at under 45 knots
on dead calm days, and that's usually going to be ok, but I always
added another 5 knots for my wife and kids. You can get rid of it
quickly enough once you're below a height you don't mind falling from.