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.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Chris Beck
Subject: Re: Europa-List: wheel landings [was: Flying a heavy Europa XS?]
Jim Brown wrote:
>
>I would also suggest, to those of you who want to "TRY" to wheel land a
>mono wheel, you need to do one thing first. With the engine off, have a
>friend or helper raise the tail to normal flight attitude, then take a
>look at how close the prop is to the ground or pavement. One bounce on
>landing, and you may be buying new prop blades.
>
>The center of gravity is behind the mono wheel, which will make the
>tail drop down, as soon as the wheel touches the runway, if you counter
>with some forward stick, re-read the above paragraph.
>
>
>
Jim, what sort of clearance are we talking about?? 2"? 6"? I've got a
mile on the 140. I'd have to be looking straight at the dirt to get the
prop grounded.
Regarding the C of G, it's the same issue on any taildragger. It's behind
the mains, which causes the tail to drop when landing due to the inertia.
Trick is to zero out the rate of descent just as the mains touch, then nail
it with that bit of forward stick (as I'm sure you know very well from the
Pitts). Again, is it strictly a prop clearance issue that prevents wheelies
in the monowheel? Has this been beaten to death in the past where I can
look it up in the archives?
I'm just very curious about the mechanics of landing a monowheel. I've
flown in a few different ones (a Classic and an XS). Now that I'm flying a
tailwheel plan, I understand a lot more of what's going on.
Chris
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