Wheel landings for visibility

[Chet]

OK. I know this topic has been talked about a lot but the following is maybe a new spin on it. I recently landed at Dirty Devil airfield in UT. It is only 1200x18 feet wide and the surface is a little bit of soft sand. It occupies the whole mesa with shear drop-offs at either end. The approach is below the canyon rims. In other words it is a little challenging. I landed there hitting my spot pretty well but it was a hard 3-pointer resulting in bent tailwheel springs. I was also off the center line about 5 feet because with the nose high visibility nonexistent I could not distinguish between the runway and the runway edge due to vegetation not being different enough viewing from the side window. I have never wheeled the BH (4-place) primarily based on all the great posts on this site. BUT in a situation like this with a narrow field with ill-defined edges I decided I have to learn to wheel land it.I am more or less constrained to learn on my own.

QUESTIONS:
How much can I push the nose over and keep that heavy tail up?
How much speed should I add to my normal 3-point touchdown (about 50 mph)?
How heavy can I get on the brakes?
Is there a real chance of nosing over during my experimentation?

Thanks a bunch for any opinions.

[TimTall]

I taught myself wheel landings in my first tail dragger. Go for it. It’s a fun and important skill to have.

I can’t answer all your questions directly but I’ll give it a go. The answers do depend on the plane. I’m running a heavy engine so I’m usually on the forward CG limit when I’m light.

I can hold my tail up easily down to taxi speed. Even if I 3-point, I usually pick up the tail while I’m taxing on rough ground. The slower you’re going the more brakes you’ll need. Eventually you’ll need to add a lot of power and stand on the brakes. By then you’re going slow enough that you shouldn’t be trying to keep the tail up anymore anyway.

I don’t know how much faster I land in a wheelie. A little bit but not too much. Depends on the weight and CG.

If you need to stop fast, standing on the brakes in a wheelie is a bad idea. Once you’re on the ground, just pull the stick all the way back and hit them. If the tail starts coming up too far let up a little.

I just put new ABI brakes on. Now I’m pretty sure I could put the plane on its nose if I hit the brakes too hard. Especially if the stick isn’t all the way back.

[Nev]

To learn to fly a wheel landing in the BH on, try this:

Fly your normal approach for a 3 point landing and at the same speed (don't add any).
Touch down in the 3 point attitude briefly (the tailwheel will often touch first when at minimum speed), then ease the stick forward until the nose just dips slightly and you can see over it. The goal is to have the tailwheel about 4 inches off the ground. Don't use heavy braking (wait until more comfortable) - but you probably won't need to because you've touched down at minimum speed.

After a while you'll be able to ease the nose forward to the same wheel landing attitude just before touchdown (right when you think you're going to touch tailwheel first). This will give a wheel landing at minimum speed. Battson showed me this trick, he's got is mastered. The resulting touchdown usually gives a small skip or bounce, but it's a very short landing roll with visibility over the nose and the main gear shocks soaking up the bumps. With 2 POB and half fuel, (2200 lbs) nil wind, sea level density altitude and minimal braking, you'll be stopping easily in 350ft or less if you hit the aim point consistently.

That just leaves the issue of visibility on short finals. You can add a couple of knots which will lower the nose a bit, then put the aim point right on the top of the cowling works well. Actually I often aim about 20 ft before the touchdown point, because I use up that short distance as I do a quick flare.

I see Dirty Devil airfield is about 4000 AMSL, so the density altitude may be significantly higher (possibly over 6000ft in summer), particularly on hot days with low air pressure. This can increase groundspeed and landing/takeoff roll significantly. Check your groundspeed on finals and note if it's significantly higher than IAS.

[Utah-Jay]

Nev

I have had several people comment on my videos about high GS on my landings, even though I am Vs 1.1 on short final

With summer temps our DA’s are often in the 8000+’ DA which make for high GS

Utah is not a place to be complacent

[Bissetg]

I have never wheeled the BH (4-place) primarily based on all the great posts on this site.

Hi Chet

I’m not sure what your experience level on the Bearhawk or tailwheel time is so please forgive me if I’m telling you to suck eggs.

My experience is that a tail low wheeler is the best off airport landing for the Bearhawk 4.

My recommendation would be to get a suitably qualified instructor and go and get comfortable doing them. You will find the issue of forward visibility and therefore directional control/centreline tracking is easier.

Internet forums are a poor substitute for qualified flight instruction.

[John Bickham]

Hey Chet,

I second the tail low to main wheels technique. Slower speed for short, backcountry strips.

I'm pretty sure the nose over tendencies are different on my forward CG Bearhawk with O-540 and good double puck brakes vs your O-360 Bearhawk.

This was a work in progress (baby stepped) for a 100 or so landings for me. Took several months and I average +30 a month. I'm not a think about it pilot, it is all muscle memory for me. It takes a lot of cycles for me to build the correct muscle memory reactions.

I'm not an instructor but I can take you for a ride and demonstrate my technique. Got another oil change and some downtime for a mag change coming up shortly. Come visit.

460 hrs in 25 months. 90% of those hours are practice, skill building flights for the 10% of those hours to places like Dirty Devil. Those places are pretty intimidating for a flat lander born and raised in Louisiana.

fly safe and often.

[Chet]

Hey everyone,

Thanks a bunch for the food for thought. I will try these things. I should mention that I have over 1700 hours total time with a little over 300 tailwheel hours. My BH is a 4-place with an O-360 motor. When camping I usually have a max weight of about 2050 pounds but most of the time a little less. I always have 45 pounds of emergency gear in the tail. My home base is 6500 feet AGL and I frequently fly at DAs of 8500 feet and more. I have flown a fair amount to back country strips but I have to say that I am not happy with my tailwheel skill level. I did bend the BH once when a dust devil hit me on touchdown and caused a prop strike. Honestly that was not my fault.

John- Wow! Thanks a bunch for the offer. I was hoping you would offer. I will definitely take you up on it. I leave for Mexico in two weeks for the next 5 months so I hope we can fly some next spring.

Many, many thanks. Chet

[Bissetg]

Hi Chet.

Nice to hear you are enjoying the 360 powered Bearhawk, they sure are nice to fly.

One of the problems is that any deficiency in technique is harder to unravel once it becomes established muscle memory. Pilots tend to revert to primacy of training under pressure/stress, hence it’s really important to establish the correct technique and then practice, practice and practice some more.

None of us want frights or bent Bearhawks, neither do our insurance companies.

The guys have given some good advice here, and staying off the brakes and starting on a big grass airfield, experimenting with leaving a trickle of power on are all good things to try for a start, but I reckon learning from someone who has it nailed will save you in the long run. As they say about experience, you always get it right after you need it, and someone else’s is always cheaper to learn from.

Good luck, look forward to hearing how you get on.

[Nev]

460 hrs in 25 months. 90% of those hours are practice, skill building flights for the 10% of those hours to places like Dirty Devil. Those places are pretty intimidating for a flat lander born and raised in Louisiana.

fly safe and often.

Love it ! Great way to build muscle memory.

[Bissetg]

Nev, Seems to me that you and John are in a race to see who can wear your Bearhawk out first. The rest of us are envious!

[John Bickham]

I had a five year plan when I started building my Bearhawk. It took me 9 years, 10 months due to my lifes "inefficiencies". I refuse to say 10 years! So I'm catching up on my lost schedule. My President is trying to take away one of my flying days today with a TFR. Luckily it is one of the five bad weather days here in NM. His pilot is gonna have a challenge giving him a smooth ride into and out of ABQ. Hope he doesn't get a bump on his head.

My hope is when I'm PIC of a rocking chair, no regrets, especially about the days I didn't fly.

[Bissetg]

Good on you John, I like the way you think.