In this engineering talk to the Texas Flying Club, I discussed maneuvering speed (aka corner velocity). This talk includes a discussion of the physics, applied calculations for the club’s Cessna 172 with a 2400 pound STC, references and discussions of the CAR 3 regulations governing most older aircraft, and a discussion of limitations of the regulations.

The important points to remember are:

• Maneuvering Speed only effectively protects against a SINGLE control input.
• Reduce Va at lower weights. A good rule of thumb is a reduction by half the weight ratio.
• Negative load limits and maneuvering speed are less than the positive load limits and Va.