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Comment by jvm___ | Hacker News Reader

You Tokyo Drift the plane, exposing more of the side of the plane to the forward motion of the plane to increase the drag by using the side of the plane as a air-brake.

Instead of the most areodynamic way of flying straight, and the worst aerodynamic way of flying completely sideways, you power-slide the plane so that it's not dead-straight and the extra wind-resistance slows you down.

One of the pilots had sail-plane experience from riding a one-man ice-boat with a sail attached over an icy lake - which is where he learned the maneuver. You can slow your speed by the same trick, it's just not usually done with an airliner.

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> One of the pilots had sail-plane experience from riding a one-man ice-boat with a sail attached over an icy lake - which is where he learned the maneuver

This is correct, but I want to note that every Private Pilot (in the US at least) learns this maneuver, and it is required to be demonstrated to an examiner on the Private Pilot practical checkride.

While true, your comment is focusing on what I think is the second most important aerodynamic force in a slip, which is the wind resistance if the side of the plane.

By far the most interesting thing going on is that you’ve destroyed lift. The ailerons are acting as spoilers essentially so the plane starts to want to drop out of the sky.

I’m a pilot, and the sensation of a slip is definitely not that you’re rapidly losing forward groundspeed, it’s that you’re suddenly not gliding, and instead kind of dropping out of the sky.

It feels different in different planes - I always felt the Cessnas were glued to the sky no matter how much I slipped, but the pipers would drop like a rock if I needed them to.

> Instead of the most areodynamic way of flying straight, and the worst aerodynamic way of flying completely sideways, you power-slide the plane so that it's not dead-straight and the extra wind-resistance slows you down.

That is actually not completely true. You are mainly increasing drag to lose altitude quickly WITHOUT gaining additional airspeed. Remember, backside of the power curve, pitch for speed, power for altitude. You could push the nose down to give up altitude in a power out, flaps out configuration, but you might overspeed your flaps by gaining airspeed. That is why you have the Tokyo drift.

I used to fly a couple times/week for work and one I time I could see our runway out of my passenger window as we were landing, and we were heading directly for it. I just thought it was very windy, but I'm now learning that maybe Vin Diesel was at the helm that day. Very good explanation, thank you.

That can also happen in a crosswind - the plane is flying in a liquid.

Just like to take a boat directly across a fast river you have to aim it “upstream” - same thing can happen with a plane on landing.

It’s hard to explain but one feels different from the other.

I knew it could happen with wind, so that's what I assumed it was. I didn't realize the pilot could put the plane in that kind of slide. Very cool!

Spot on, but nit: Helps you lose altitude quickly, not slows you down.

Whether you lose altitude or speed quicker depends on the plane's attitude. Both/either could be the case.

Uh..yes. But that's not the goal of a slip. You're describing the first flight lesson for every pilot. And it's true, but not relevant for the discussion of a slip. The goal of a slip is to quickly lose altitude without changing airspeed. If you need to quickly slow down, chop and drop and pitch up.

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