If you're flying a small taildragger you can only do wing-down
Not true, QDM. In the Europa mono-wheel, de-crabbing is the only way to go, because any kind of wing-low landing will result in landing on an outrigger, and they're not designed to take that kind of punishment. But having said that, I agree with you in the more general case - unless there's a good reason not to do so, a wing-low landing is almost always going to be best in any light tail-dragger. That's definitely the case in every type I've flown except for the Europa.
Chuck - I'm curious as to your reasons for teaching wheel-landings before 3-pointers. I tend to think of wheel-landings as a) being more difficult, because of both the precise timing necessary in moving the stick forward, and the precise use of the rudder to control the roll-out, and b) being significantly different to a nose-wheel landing, whereas the 3-pointer is almost identical to a well-performed nose-wheel landing. Teaching 3-pointers first, therefore, seems to be logical in terms of providing the student with building blocks, and building on what he already knows.
FFF
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