I found this sitting on my desk top and must have forgot to finish it........sooo what the hell airplanes should fly the same in Britian as in Canada so here is an incompleted how to land thing for you to read.
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Lets have a look at the wheel landing.
In another thread I offered some thoughts on how to judge height and situational awareness during a landing in nose wheel airplanes and figured what the hell I might as well offer some suggestions on how to perform a wheel landing.
During the training for crossover from nose wheel airplanes to tail wheel airplanes there is a tendency on the part of instructors to focus on full stall three point landings.
Why there is this concentration on three point landings is interesting because in almost every tail wheel airplane that is available the wheel landing gives best directional control, especially with a X/wind.
So first lets look at the Flight Training Manual and see what that has to say regarding wheel landings.
There is not really much there except a short paragraph that is fuzzy at best in describing how to perform a smooth safe wheel landing.
In fact I find the description for this landing to be quite interesting.
Quote:
( From the Flight Training Manual.)
The approach should be normal with or without power according to the conditions of the day, to the point where the descent is checked. The airspeed is then decreased to the point at which the aircraft settles. Adjust the power at this point so as to descend in a level attitude at a slow rate ( approximately 100 to 300 feet per minute).
You will not be able to watch the vertical speed indicator during this stage, but with practice you can easily estimate the descent rate. A fast rate of descent could cause a hard contact with the surface, followed by a downward rotation of the tail through inertia and a subsequent bounce back up into the air. Small control adjustments only should be used as the aircraft settles to assist in descending slowly and maintain a level attitude. As the wheels smoothly contact the surface , apply gentle but firm forward pressure to hold the wheels on the ground and decrease the angle of attack. The aircraft should be held on the wheels nearly level, until it has slowed sufficiently to ensure full control in a three point attitude under existing conditions.
I teach the wheel landing a little differently, especially with regard to the rate of descent issue prior to wheel contact with the surface.
From a normal approach attitude and airspeed you commence the flare at a height which will result in the airplane being in the level attitude as the flare is completed and at the same time making contact with the surface, at wheel contact with the surface you lower the nose attitude sufficiently enough to change the angle of attack to produce zero or negative lift.
This can be done in two ways, my preference is to have the airplane trimmed hands off for the approach speed to make the approach less work and at surface contact use a slight forward movement of the elevator control to pin the airplane to the surface by dumping the lift vector.
Some pilots use nose down trim and just relax the back pressure at wheel contact, however that can pose a bit of an irritation if you need to go around for any reason as you now have a nose heavy airplane to start the climb out with.
The best prescription for a good wheel landing is quite simple…..flare at the correct height so as to not have to extend the landing distance and time in the air adjusting the rate of descent in the level attitude getting rid of height you didn’t need in the first place.