sellener

OK so three points feel good, and general ground operations Im comfortable with.

Wheel landings? Not so much.

The approach is good, but when I touch down im always bouncing.

If I do happen to touch down on the backs of the mains, im having directional control difficulty which makes me go back to the three point position for safety/home base position.

Any tips?

rickair7777

Three point landings are bad unless you are in a taildragger. Eventually you strike the prop...$$$$$

You might want to try focusing on the fact that at the moment of touchdown, you are still flying the airplane and you need to keep doing that until you slow to taxi speed. Don't suddenly stop flying and relax control pressure or make any sudden inputs (unless needed for gust control). Whatever you were doing the moment before touchdown, you should still be doing pretty much the same thing after touchdown.

Land one main, keep the nose straight, gradually lower the other main, then slowly lower the nose. Don't release all elevator back pressure, just enough to get the nose wheel firmly grounded. Basically you are flying in formation with the runway...once you get all the wheels planted then you can slow and transition from flight to taxi.

Twin Wasp

I think we're talking conventional gear here Rick.

Some types seem happier three pointing, some wheel land better. When you do a wheel landing, you're still flying. When you land a trike or three point a taildragger, you try to run out of airspeed and altitude at the same time. When you wheel land, you've brought the altitude to 0 but you've still got some speed. So it's a two step process. While you're slowing, there is more time for a crosswind to do it's dirty work. So it's a different rudder dance than three pointing it.

Practice, practice, practice.

rickair7777

Note to self: Read The Question Carefully.

IC ALL

My experience with wheel landings and the dreaded bounce is you have to bravely lower the pitch attitude to stick it on. I always found it hard to do. Other options are turn it into a three pointer or just go around. The key to wheel landings is don't bounce in the first place by making ground contact with a very small sink rate and then lower the nose/raise the tail to stick it on.

III Corps

From the "Compleat <sic>Taildragger Pilot"

His point is that the bounce comes from a downward motion of the tail when the gear makes contact and thus increases the angle of attack and increases lift. The problem is at the top of the bounce, you are now running out of airspeed and close to the stall.

With a wheel landing IMMEDIATELY on contact, the stick/yoke goes slightly forward to pin the airplane with a wheel landing. Otherwise you get the bounce again. Going forward seems odd if not outright wrong. But it works.

Finally, too much speed on final or on contact also contributes.

oldveedubs

Have you tried any one wheel go arounds? It basically starts as a wheel landing but then power is added to hold the airplane in the attitude used for landing, and then a go around is executed. This may help with control close to the ground and keeping it on one main. I echo the point that a deliberate (but small) forward pressure on the stick will cure the problem. Let us know how it turns out!

sellener

Will focus my attention, and the deliberate but easy application of forward pressure on touchdown. Perhaps that will be the fix.

Thanks for the tips, will let you know how it goes.

ryan1234

I've found it was easy to milk the power for wheel landings and kind of fly the airplane onto the ground...in a tailwheel other than the Twinbee.

The Twinbee isn't really supposed to do wheel landings (because of the gear) so we always have to three-point it..... but if you do a go-around you don't push the nose forward like a normal taildragger.. you actually pull back - so I guess it's different for each aircraft. We just have to make sure that tailwheel is locked... because if not it's a rodeo (it actually unlocked itself once - it was interesting)

Left Handed

Depending on what kind of tail dragger you are in, I've found it beneficial to add just a couple hundred RPM in the "flare". As you come into ground effect, lower the pitch while simultaneously adding a little power. This will stop your decent rate and you will fly the airplane onto the ground. Use rudder to keep pointed in the right direction, and fly it until the tail touches the ground (and for that matter, fly it til you have it tied down). Good luck, and as someone else said, practice, practice, practice.