Wheel landings

[Tim Berridge]

Hi,
I read about landing the Collegiate. The author asserted that three point landings are really the only way to land a Collegiate. Is this so?

[Andy Gelston]

Yes, as it is for most light planes like the Porterfield. 

Wheel landings are the norm for larger aircraft with conventional landing gear, like Beech 18s, DC-3s, and B-17s, as there's a lot of mass in the back to prevent them from going up on their props, but not so with our <2000 pound birds. 

You want that tail down as soon as possible so you have some tailwheel authority before losing rudder authority, and you want the CG as low as possible to avoid burying your prop, in case you have to brake sooner than you'd planned to, or you hit a rut, hummock, or other unseen obstacle on rollout.

Also, flaring into a three-point, just a few feet off the ground, will increase the angle of attack, increasing lift, while increasing drag, so the plane will slow faster and mush to the ground.  To get the hang of landing any Porterfield, I highly suggest you start out on turf to get a good feel for how she handled through the landing and get very good at slips, transitions to the flare, and what the world looks like through the windshield in the three point attitude, so your landings are greased on, because those wee rubber donuts will bounce your cloddish butt back into the air off an asphalt runway if you haven't mastered landings in the grass. 

If you do bounce your landing, keep the nose down and momentarily add a bit of power to maintain elevator and rudder authority so you can regain control and get back into a three point attitude and let the speed bleed off to a softer landing.

Read Langewiesche's Stick & Rudder...