Maneuvering speed

Implications

It has been widely misunderstood that flight below maneuvering speed will provide total protection from structural failure. In response to the destruction of American Airlines Flight 587, a CFR Final Rule was issued clarifying that "flying at or below the design maneuvering speed does not allow a pilot to make multiple large control inputs in one airplane axis or single full control inputs in more than one airplane axis at a time". Such actions "may result in structural failures at any speed, including below the maneuvering speed."

Design maneuvering speed VA

V_A is the design maneuvering speed and is a calibrated airspeed. Maneuvering speed cannot be slower than V s n and need not be greater than V_c.

If V A is chosen by the manufacturer to be exacly V s n the aircraft will stall in a nose-up pitching maneuver before the structure is subjected to its limiting aerodynamic load. However if V A is selected to be greater than V s n , the structure will be subjected to loads which exceed the limiting load unless the pilot checks the maneuver.

The maneuvering speed or maximum operating maneuvering speed depicted on a cockpit placard is calculated for the maximum weight of the aircraft. Some Pilot's Operating Handbooks also present safe speeds for weights less than the maximum.

The formula used to calculate a safe speed for a lower weight is V A W 2 W 1 , where V_A is maneuvering speed (at maximum weight), W₂ is actual weight, W₁ is maximum weight.

Maximum operating maneuvering speed VO

Some aircraft have a maximum operating maneuvering speed V_O. Note that this is a different concept than design maneuvering speed. The concept of maximum operating maneuvering speed was introduced to the USA type-certification standards for light aircraft in 1993. The maximum operating maneuvering speed is selected by the aircraft designer and cannot be more than V s n , where V_s is the stalling speed of the aircraft, and n is the maximal allowed positive load factor.