Jim Thursby wrote:
>
>Hi Chris,
>If you are that gung ho, by all means try it yourself but don't say you
>weren't warned. I thought I was smarter than Ivan Shaw once too. Against
>his wishes (and unknown to) I spent the better part of two hours trying to
>wheel land one of the company planes. I've been told it was some of the
>most entertaining stuff the controllers at Lakeland had ever seen. It will
>squeak the main on ever so gently with just a touch of power, then the tail
>slams to the runway and you are rewarded for your carelessness with another
>chance or two at landing it properly. If you recover from the resulting
>three to ten foot bounce and haven't clipped your propeller, and if you
>haven't ground looped it, and if you haven't stalled and dropped it in, you
>can attempt another landing. I tried many times and NEVER got it to stay on
>the ground. If you must attempt wheel landings in a tail dragger aircraft
>please buy or build an RV and save the Europa community from losing another
>aircraft from the ranks. And the prop is VERY close when on the main wheel
>with the plane in a slight nose down attitude.
>
> Jim T.
>
>
---> Hi, Jim! I recall Paul McAllister making a comment regarding this
when I was flying with him in his Mono some time ago. He said you told
him it was impossible to wheel land a monowheel. Some of these landing
issues might be related to the position of the main gear in relation to
the CG. To wit: Cessna 140s had two gear versions, straight and swept
forward, with the axle centerline 3" farther forward. My flight
instructor made the comment that my 140, which has the straight gear,
was much easier to wheel land than the 140 that the FBO owns, which has
the swept gear. Indeed, the extra weight behind the CG with the swept
gear would make the tail tend to rotate downward with any vertical
velocity component when the aircraft touches down on the main(s). As
the tail drops, presto, you're flying again. I've pulled a few of those
with my 140, and usually after the nice *sproing* from the spring gear
and finding yourself 10' high with no speed, firewall it and go-around
for another try.
I'll have to look at some drawings of the mono to see where the main
gear axle CL is compared to the LE of the wing. That might be a clue.
Nevertheless, I find this most interesting discussion, and good
prevention of having our prop eat the ground someday.
Chris
A159
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