The International Cessna^® 170 Association

My 1951 Cessna has the flaps off while I remove some corrosion.
I took a survey with my airport bums. 75% say yes, 25% say no.
Please keep in mind I am not foolish enough to try this.
What say you?

I'd think so.

Hell Ya!!
Please report your results.
Scott.....53B

I believe it would but the stall speed would be significantly higher plus the load factor on the wings would be distributed differently than usual with more
lift being produced on the outer portions of the wing. It may cause the wing to fail at different loads than normal. But, I am guessing if you just flew it around the pattern there wouldn't be a huge difference.
That being said, I wouldn't try it either.

...or just model it in flight simulation software like X-Plane.
I'm sure there is a Cessna 170 out there somewhere. All you'd have to do is change the airfoil for the section of wing concerned.

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bagarre wrote:...or just model it in flight simulation software like X-Plane.
I'm sure there is a Cessna 170 out there somewhere. All you'd have to do is change the airfoil for the section of wing concerned.

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That is not likely a realistic scenario because there is no supporting data for the software to access. (This is commonly overlooked in flight simulation. For example, at the training facility where I am a TCE, the simulators are full-motion, level D, which means the handling, visual, and other characteristics are so realistic that FAA allows the issuance of Type Ratings in the aircraft despite the fact the pilot may never have actually set foot in the real airplane. Yet the simulator is restricted to 30 degrees pitch and 60 degrees roll for training purposes despite the well-known fact that the simulator will very convincingly perform aerobatic manuevers well-beyond those limits. What is not usually recognized is...the computer is merely predicting the aerobatic manuever based upon control inputs...not actual forces that have been demonstrated during software and simulator development. In other words...it's doing the roll or loop or whatever based upon digital imagination...not data derived from flight tests.) The airplane being simulated may not actually be capable of performing the manuever the simulator was tricked into simulating.

Holey moley! What a wimp! If you really wanted to know, you'd go out and try it.

Bet it would. Years ago there used to be a "salvage" yard over by El Paso. "Doc" swore up and down the best way to clean the dust and dirt out of a wing after "storage" was to fly it w/o the inspection covers on. While cleaning out a wing with the water method I washed a lot of sand out and a crab shell. Things that make you go Hummmmm.

I have flown a B with out one flap was no big deal at all! Oh yea the fuel tank was gone too.

Indopilot wrote:Bet it would. Years ago there used to be a "salvage" yard over by El Paso. "Doc" swore up and down the best way to clean the dust and dirt out of a wing after "storage" was to fly it w/o the inspection covers on. While cleaning out a wing with the water method I washed a lot of sand out and a crab shell. Things that make you go Hummmmm.

There's a difference between a missing inspection cover on the lower (high-pressure area) surface of the wing and a
low-pressure surface area completely missing. But I'd imagine the reduction in total wing area is not sufficient to prevent an airplane with missing flaps from flying at reduced weight. Some airplanes have CDL's (Condition Deviation Lists) which specify which items (such as inspection covers) can be missing and still legally operate. If I were to use my imagination in developing a CDL for a 170, I'd imagine that all of them can be missing except perhaps those just beneath the aileron sector, just forward of the aileron. Of course, only proper flight tests could confirm such matters would have no adverse effects.

BUMBLE-BEE wrote:I have flown with out flaps and it was no big deal at all! Oh yea no fuel tank too. ...

Indopilot wrote:Bet it would. Years ago there used to be a "salvage" yard over by El Paso. "Doc" swore up and down the best way to clean the dust and dirt out of a wing after "storage" was to fly it w/o the inspection covers on. While cleaning out a wing with the water method I washed a lot of sand out and a crab shell. Things that make you go Hummmmm.

Are you speaking of "Doc Willie"?