Wheel Landing - By The Numbers
 

(Portion taken from Bill's Blog)

For all of you diehard pilots who prefer the 3 Point Full Stall landing technique, stay with it since that's what you know best. The following explanation of a specific wheel landing technique is for the pilots who were never taught correctly, or for you 3 pointers with a curiosity. This IS the BEST way to land a C180/185 for most situations, in my opinion.

This specific WHEEL LANDING technique is so good, I've used it on short 800' Idaho dirt strips and in gusty crosswind situations - basically everything except a really soft surface that calls for a 3 point landing. And even if you only fly 20 hours a year, it's easy to maintain proficiency with this technique, provided you learn..it. correctly. For me, it is the most consistent, reliable way to land a C180/185. Why is it the BEST way to land? Because your cockpit workload is MUCH LOWER compared to the 3 point/stall method. ** WHAT CAN GET A PILOT INTO TROUBLE LANDING A TAIL WHEEL AIRPLANE? Poor approach, or flair technique at touchdown, and/or loss of focus on the rollout, in other words, high workload.

TOO MANY VARIABLES in your landing procedure (or routine) makes every 3 Point Full Stall landing a unique event. During a 3 Point Full Stall landing you have to recognize, adapt and overcome many potential problems, make quick decisions and constant adjustments. A few of these variables might be: a varying rate of descent just prior to touchdown, height above the runway, airspeed bleed off prior to the stall, crosswind drift in a stalled nose, high attitude at touch down, floating, bouncing, limited forward vision due to a nose high flare, drifting on rollout, and possible impaired directional control when you only have the side windows on rollout.

Why do all that, and fight a 600 pound tail with its own mind? With this technique you ELIMINATE most of these problems. You eliminate changing speeds on final, eliminate stalling, eliminate floating, completely eliminate nose high forward vision problems, minimize and view any drift tendencies immediately, and you can view the touchdown area all the way to touchdown.

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Bill (Comments greatly appreciated)

Has anyone here EVER landed in a "full stall"? I can't begin to describe how much I dislike that term...

Thanks for sharing that. I like flying the Skywagon and did many of both landings in my glider tow days. I liked wheel landings most, because I did not have to work as hard. A nice read on tailwheel flying is

The Compleat Taildragger by Harvey S. Plourde.

One issue in the Skywagon for tall folks is making sure their feet go all the way to the toe brakes. The instrument panel is very low hanging, and the tendency is to avoid rubbing against it by keeping the feet low on the pedals. That works great until you need the brakes, when all of a sudden you find you can't reach the tow brakes and are going 50 mph on the ground in an unstable airplane. The thing to do is be aware of this human factors issue and be ready for it. Make sure the seat is right so your feet can reach the toes brakes, on downwind.

Welcome to APC by the way.

Anyone who has flown a DC-3 or fast taildragger will always stick with a wheel landing.
Unless you really need every foot, then you drag it in...

Then why do you rarely see anyone wheel-land a Pitts?

If you are doing right you are. The airplane should be fully stalled just as it touches down in a proper three point landing.

Hoss- you certainly have more landings in this airframe than I do. Wheel landings are the easiest way to land a 180 or 185. Grease her onto the ground then let her ride for a bit. Ease down the tail when she slows down, and she will in a little time. Full stall landings are for showoffs who also own the airplane...

In a stall you get buffeting and the nose drops. Is that really happening as you are touching down? I would say the rate of descent associated with a stall makes that fairly impossible, otherwise you are collapsing the gear.

Maybe you are touching down slow, with the warning horn on, maybe using full elevator as it's becomming less effective, but "full stall"? Wing "fully stalled"? Come on, think about it for a few minutes...

It's definitly easier to make a smooth wheel landing than a smooth full stall.

I don't know if you've ever flown a light tail wheel airplane or not if you haven't it's pretty hard to compare to anything else. The secret is to get the airplane to quit flying at about 1 inch off the ground and yes the wing is done flying at the same time that you touch down. Now if you do it 5 or 10 feet off the ground you are going to have some issues. It takes skill, it take finesse, and it takes practice to do it right. And oh yeah, especially with students I've felt the burble just before touch down on many occasions. The next thing you feel is gear going into SPRONG mode!!

Not sure if I agree that that means it's a stall or even a little buffeting=stall. I've done those exact landings you describe in those exact airplanes, I've just never felt the need to say "I landed in a full stall", it just doesn't make sense to me, not with what I use to describe a stall. Agree to disagree I guess, I just feel the term is "thrown around" with little regard to what a stall actually is. Landing slow and being "out of energy" vs. "airflow seperating due to angle of attack".