{"id":4220,"date":"2017-01-20T16:07:39","date_gmt":"2017-01-21T00:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=4220"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:54","slug":"172-dreaded-bounce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/172-dreaded-bounce\/","title":{"rendered":"#172 The Dreaded Bounce"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve made just one mistake. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t matter whether you were doing a \u201cWheelie\u201d or a \u201cThree-Point\u201d landing.\u00a0 That one mistake was to create a bounce.\u00a0 The airplane either came down a bit too fast with not enough plant during a Wheelie or it touched before stalling in the three point, or \u201cKerplop\u201d landing.\u00a0 Now you have to deal with the resultant bounce.\u00a0 There are usual methods of dealing with this situation.\u00a0 One is to use alternating up and down elevator to chase the bounce.\u00a0 That almost always results in \u201cpilot induced oscillation\u201d or PIO. \u00a0Hmmm, that’s really not a good idea.\u00a0 The other method is to simply apply power and go around.\u00a0 That\u2019s the method that a lot of instructors and experienced pilots prefer (Acme is really into this one).\u00a0 Cue the villagers with their pitchforks and torches because I think that solution sucks.\u00a0 I\u2019m against most go arounds that occur after touchdown.\u00a0 I say, \u201clet\u2019s fix it right now and continue with the landing\u201d.<\/h3>\n

There are basically three methods of dealing with a bounce.\u00a0 They all have the same problem, in that the decision of how to deal with the bounce must be made in a fraction of a second.<\/h3>\n

The first method is to change the desired type of landing. If you\u2019ve tried a wheelie and encountered a bounce, you can simply keep the airplane in the landing window and turn it into a three point.\u00a0 That works lots of times.\u00a0 If you can act fast<\/h3>\n
Wonder why this is a picture of Cindy’s hand? That’s because the first two methods of dealing with a bounce really depend mostly on elevator. Notice the light touch… as it should be.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

enough and if the airplane is descending slow enough, you can use the second method by simply applying forward elevator when it touches next and make the next attempt work without a bounce. I can’t tell you how many of these “second time’s a charm” touchdowns I’ve used. \u00a0And I’m sure I haven’t made my last one!<\/h3>\n

The third method is perhaps the most popular.\u00a0 Its disadvantage is that it will increase the amount of runway required, so there is always the risk of running out of runway.\u00a0 It is the addition of power.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the reasons that most flight instructors insist that the pilot keep a hand on the throttle.\u00a0 Although I am one of those teachers, I really don\u2019t<\/h3>\n
Hand on the throttle. That’ll make it just that much quicker to apply power for a go-around. Some instructors really stress this… I’m in the process of changing my attitude about it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

care for this method.\u00a0 To me, it relies on something which may not always be available and creates a bad habit.\u00a0 But if you must\u2026.\u00a0 Power will preserve flying speed and make it possible to touch again.\u00a0 It will also make it possible to go around.\u00a0 Hmmm, after a touch?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s a good idea, although situations vary.<\/h3>\n

So there you have it, three ways to deal with the dreaded bounce:\u00a0 Turn a wheelie into a three-point, use the excess speed to touch once more and use power to either preserve the altitude you have or go around.\u00a0 All of these methods require split-second decision-making and that may be what makes the bounce so dreaded!<\/h3>\n

Now go out there and practice some bounces! \u00a0For those who tend to experience the dreaded bounce, I have begun to create that bounce for them, then fold my arms and let them deal with it.<\/h3>\n

Happy Swooping (and bouncing!)<\/h3>\n

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

“Cue the villagers with their pitchforks and torches because I think that solution sucks.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[35,38,67,178,195],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}