{"id":4168,"date":"2017-01-13T17:51:39","date_gmt":"2017-01-14T01:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=4168"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:54","slug":"171-everyone-make-damned-complicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/171-everyone-make-damned-complicated\/","title":{"rendered":"#171 “Why does everyone make it so damned complicated?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m talking about landings.\u00a0 In our tailwheel airplanes we have two basic methods of landing, the Three Point landing and the Wheel Landing.\u00a0 The approach can be identical, but the two are different in the way the airplane contacts the ground.\u00a0 Refer to the title of this little piece.\u00a0 If you are in the business of teaching and writing about flying, you will hear words of advice and \u201chow-to\u201d ad nauseum about these two methods.\u00a0 They are virtually ALL too complicated.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take the first one, the Three Point landing.<\/h3>\n

I hear so many words of advice to the person having trouble with it, from \u201cfind the landing attitude and hold it\u201d to \u201cthe key is an appropriate approach speed\u201d.\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry, but in my very humble opinion, the authors of those pieces of advice have their heads securely lodged in their nether regions.\u00a0 Since you\u2019ve stayed with me this far, I\u2019ll assume you may be a little interested in MY advice.\u00a0 Here it is:\u00a0 Keep it in the \u201cwindow\u201d.\u00a0 Period.<\/h3>\n

\"\"The Tailwheel Town 140 in “the window”<\/strong><\/p>\n

You see, it doesn\u2019t make any difference how fast your approach speed is and I won\u2019t even dignify the attitude advice.\u00a0 If you simply fly the airplane into the \u201cwindow of acceptable altitude\u201d (that\u2019s between about 1 millimeter and a couple of feet) and keep it there as long as you possibly can with no power, two things will happen. You will run out of the ability to increase the lift necessary to maintain that little amount of altitude and your wheels, all three of them, will contact the ground.\u00a0 That\u2019s it.\u00a0 Want to make it smoother?\u00a0 Then make the window of acceptable altitude lower.\u00a0 If you can keep the airplane three inches off the ground until it \u201cpays off\u201d or stalls or you simply run out of back stick, you\u2019ll have a really cool landing.<\/h3>\n

Now some more little details:\u00a0 I hear a lot of fliers exclaim, \u201cOh, crap!\u00a0 I touched with the tailwheel first!\u201d\u00a0 They are complaining about nothing.\u00a0 A proper three point landing is one in which the airplane contacts the ground with full aft stick.\u00a0 If its stalling angle of attack is higher than its \u201csitting on the ground\u201d attitude, it\u2019ll touch with its tailwheel first.\u00a0 No biggy, that\u2019s the way it\u2019s supposed to be.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about it.\u00a0 The only way to truly execute a \u201cthree-point\u201d landing in such an airplane is to touch down before it is stalled.\u00a0 I\u2019d rather the plane be stalled than literally three-pointed, so the best three point landings I ever demonstrate in my 140 are tailwheel first landings. \u00a0I call \u2018em \u201cker-plop\u201d landings.<\/h3>\n

Virtually every other concern you may have about the execution of your three point landing will be answered if you simply \u201chold it off\u201d.\u00a0 Now, if you read what I said about the \u201cwindow of acceptable altitude\u201d, you\u2019ll know why you\u2019re having trouble with this landing.\u00a0 After all, only two things can really go wrong and they both have to do with that window that you can\u2019t seem to stay in.\u00a0 Either you\u2019ll over-flare and balloon up, leaving the window, or you\u2019ll fail to use enough elevator and you\u2019ll touch the ground, again LEAVING THE WINDOW.\u00a0 It\u2019s like the guy who goes to the doctor and tells him, \u201cDoc, it hurts when I go like this\u201d.\u00a0 The Doctor then advises, \u201cThen don\u2019t go like that\u201d.\u00a0 STAY IN THE WINDOW.<\/h3>\n

Now, on to the Wheelie:\u00a0 First I must address the prejudice held by many members of the \u201cGeezer Patrol\u201d.\u00a0 Sorry, guys, but you are all wet.\u00a0 Just like the guy who brags, \u201cI never use my brakes\u201d, you are doing yourself a huge disservice by eschewing the wheel landing.\u00a0 For one thing, you are a passenger at the moment of stall.\u00a0 I\u2019d rather be the pilot.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I do so many wheelies, even when I\u2019m by myself.<\/h3>\n

Okay, now the \u201chow-to\u201d.\u00a0 Like many maneuvers, the Wheel landing has a mnemonic.\u00a0 It is \u201cSwoop, Sink, Plant\u201d.\u00a0 If you remember each of those three steps you\u2019ll be fine.\u00a0 If you forget any of them, you\u2019ll regret it.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take them one at a time.<\/h3>\n

\u201cSwoop\u201d.\u00a0 That\u2019s nothing more than resisting the urge to gradually raise the nose and thus decrease the airspeed long before you reach the point of intended landing.\u00a0 And before you exclaim, \u201cWho, me?\u201d,\u00a0 let me tell you that fully 90 percent of the people who come to me for tailwheel endorsements or master classes do it.\u00a0 Don\u2019t.\u00a0 Now you have saved valuable airspeed, which you will need for the second stage.<\/h3>\n

“Sink”. \u00a0When you\u2019ve swooped to within five feet or so of the runway, you\u2019ll stop the swoop and begin the \u201cSink\u201d.\u00a0 You\u2019ll also change where you\u2019re looking.\u00a0 Before, you were looking at a target, the point where you were going to swoop to and stop at five feet of altitude. \u00a0It was probably the numbers on a hard-surfaced runway.\u00a0 But once you stopped that swoop, look up at infinity and begin to use that airspeed and angle of attack not to regulate the attitude, but rather to regulate the sink rate.\u00a0 Find a magic, although changing, amount of elevator, which will give you a nice, stable and slow sink rate.\u00a0 As you are sinking, think about the last stage, otherwise you\u2019re liable to be too busy patting yourself on the back for a soft touch to notice the bounce you just created by failing to PLANT.<\/h3>\n

“Plant”. \u00a0The \u201cPlant\u201d is nothing more than applying the correct amount of elevator to maintain the same pitch attitude you had at the moment of contact.\u00a0 This is important because at the moment of contact, the mains can\u2019t go any further down.\u00a0 But Mister Tailwheel still has a way to go and since he has some mass, he\u2019s going to want to go down.\u00a0 But if you allow that tail to continue its descent, you will be allowing the angle of attack to increase.\u00a0 And since you have a slight surplus of airspeed, you\u2019ll increase the lift and BINGO, a Bounce is born.<\/h3>\n

What can go wrong?\u00a0 Probably the most common error is failing to plant (remember the back patting? )\u00a0 That\u2019s followed by failure to control the sink, usually resulting in a bounce because it was so flippin\u2019 fast!<\/h3>\n

Remember when I asked the question which became the title of this article?\u00a0 I think people make it complicated because they don\u2019t work hard enough at the very simple fundamentals of this landing.\u00a0 They deal with the side effects of doing it wrong instead.\u00a0 If you simply follow the simple rules of \u201cKeep it in the window\u201d and \u201cSwoop, sink and plant\u201d your troubles will be over.\u00a0 See, I told you it was simple!<\/h3>\n

But, what if you screw it up, simple as it is. \u00a0The result of that mistake, may be “The Dreaded Bounce”. \u00a0And that is the title of our text article. \u00a0Stay tuned!!!<\/h3>\n

And in the meantime, Happy Swooping!<\/h3>\n

Brian<\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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