On my 3rd solo outing as a student I had a complete pitot-static failure
after takeoff. ASI did come alive to 35-40 knots, which is why I didn't
abort, but then stayed there and then sagged after takeoff. I flew my
first pattern with no ASI, airspeed, or VSI, and landed on my first try
on the 3100' runway (22 at MWC). It wasn't that bad, actually, as I
knew I could control my airspeed well by the tach and pitch attitude, if
not by feel, yet still it was all the excitement I needed for a little
while.

If I'd had 11K of runway I would have elected to do what you did.

An Metet wrote:

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I was flying from Green Bay, Wisconsin to the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan. Very shortly after takeoff I noticed that my air speed
indicator said over 200 mph. That's just not bad in a Cessna 150!

Further investigation showed that my air speed indicator was actually
reading NEGATIVE!! It had wrapped around below zero.

My plane has a small cover over the pitot tube that should lift off the
pitot tube hole at flying speed. Normally as I begin my takeoff role the
cover 'pop's off at about 40 mph. On this takeoff roll the thing stayed
stuck, and I had an inoperative ASI.

I continued my climb, making sure to keep my climb shallow.

Once I had some altitude I tried doing shallow dives to increase the
airspeed and maybe 'pop' off the cover. No joy. I considered more
agressive dives, but decided that was a dumb idea.

I decided to continue to my destination. My destination is a quiet
airport with 11,000 foot runways, and that seemed a better place for my
first no-ASI landing than the rather busy Green Bay airport.

Many people would probably just land by feel, but I'm a numbers guy and
now I didn't have any numbers.

My plan was to come in with just below cruise power, keeping more than
90 mph on the GPS. Once over the runway I would cut the throttle and
wait for speed to fall. When the plane felt like landing I'd let it
touch down, being careful not to let the wheels hit the pavement at
90mph. With 11,0000 feet to use this should all be possible. I would
avoid the use of flaps since I was not sure when the plane would be in
the white arc, and no-flaps landings are easy in a Cessna 150.

To finish the story, the dang cover popped off after two hours of flying
and five minutes before landing. I never got to try my plan.


So, how would you deal with your first no-ASI landing?