Yes, Take the word of a man responsible for the demise of a couple warp
drive blades! ;-)
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 Thursby wrote:
>--> <jthursby@tampabay.rr.com>
>
>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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