Originally Posted by
Chuck Ellsworth
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I am aware that many here may not agree with my personal methods with the DC3 but for me it worked best and I never lost control or landed short or ran off the side of the landing path or off the end in five thousand hours of flying the DC3.
I am not sure why you are so defensive. I can't recall even one post on this site where somebody disagreed with you on how you
fly the DC 3. I certainly have not, nor would I because I don't personally have any DC3 time
However this is the private flying forum and I think it is unlikely anybody reading this is flying around in his/her private DC3.
What they are more likely doing is flying around in a variety of light tail draggers. I would suggest that what is the best way to fly the DC 3 does not automatically make it the best way to fly a Cub/Champ/chippy/Jodel/Condor etc etc.
Personally I 3 point the small tail draggers and wheel land the big ones with the cross over at around the Cessna 185 size.
As for the short field thing I think it is mostly a red herring for the small tail draggers. Wheel or 3 point it is pretty much a given that you will be able to land in a shorter distance than you can safely takeoff in all of the non specialty STOL smaller taildraggers.
However like pretty much everything in flying, this issue IMHO resists one fits all pronouncements. I like reading different points of view and am always interested in different thoughts on why pilots do what they do
