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No stick tailwheel landing...

Discussion in 'Aviation Chat' started by rob lay, Mar 8, 2008.

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  1. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    Dec 1, 2000
    63,980
    Southlake, TX
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    Rob Lay
    #1 rob lay, Mar 8, 2008
    Went up in the Citabria today. My last 3 TW flights had been in the Decathlon, so fun to have the flaps back. Hardly any wind, but with 2 notches of flaps a short field takeoff in air before landing line on 17 at 52F. Out in practice area just went through all the ground maneuvers and stalls.

    Not sure why Gilbert didn’t have me do this part of original endorsement as a great skill, but he had me do a point and steep turns without the stick. All I could use was rudder, throttle, and trim. Amazing you still almost have complete control, if anything, the trim is more sensitive on the pitch. Once turn is setup and coordinated, then nothing different than a stick turn.

    Plan was touch and go’s at Alliance. Cleared 4 mile final into 16R and Gilbert challenged me to see how far I could go on the approach without the stick. Had left hand on trim, right hand on throttle, and busy feet. Really no issues at all with the approach, perfect speed and alignment except a little more crabbing into the wind vs. aileron of course. I kept it coming and 5 ft. off the ground I had trim all the way back for flare. We had a decent 3 point touchdown and I asked Gilbert at what point he got back on the stick and he claims that he never moved it, 100% landing without the stick.

    Anyway, first time I’ve heard of this skill and I think something all TW pilots should know in case of a locked or caught rear stick when solo.

    Fun day, B-24, B-25, and B-17 parked in front of tower. Turned out on them several times at 500 ft.
     
  2. Bob Parks

    Bob Parks F1 Veteran
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    Nov 29, 2003
    8,017
    Shoreline,Washington
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    Robert Parks
    #2 Bob Parks, Mar 9, 2008
    Sounds like you are starting to have some fun with you tail wheel flying. The partial loss of controls isn't the death sentence that some pilots think it is. The air show clown act of which I was a part used an Aeronca Champ with one aileron that was capable of a full range of aerobatics except sustained inverted flight. We eventually flew it with the right half of the elevator missing as well as one aileron. We also practiced flying with just trim and sticking our hands out of the windows to make a turn without rudder ( the Pietenpol was very sensitive to this type thing and we had a lot of fun with it). Anyway, it's good to know what you have to do and what you can do if you if you experience some sort of anomaly in flight.
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