Simviation Forums

How do you land a tail wheel aircraft?

It depends on the aircraft. The proper way is to do a 3-pointer. The idea is to stall the aircraft just above the ground & touch down on all 3 wheels at the same time. This takes practice but it's possible in the sims. Larger taildraggers like the DC-3 are usually wheeled on & the tail allowed to settle as it slows down. Be careful not to touch the brakes or you will nose over.

How do you land a tail wheel aircraft?

Carefully.

It's as Hagar says really.  Practice is vital, I have been flying flight Sims for a good few years but today at 10.15 ish I landed my Corsair, default 2002, hit the brakes and died an ignoble, fiery death.....

There are some screenshots of it on the "round the US race" thread on the fs2002 forum.  If you land with the main gear first you tend to bounce which unless you are very careful can develop into "ballooning" where the bounce develops until you stall at about 50 feet above the runway, and then hit it nose first.

Good luck.

Will

I just found this on Google. http://www.taildraggers.com/old/documentation/landing.asp
It explains it very well.  ;)

BX;

Speed is the trick!!
Land just above stall and get the flaps back up!!
This gets rid of the lift so you can ease back on
the stick and slow it down without brakes!!
Line up to the runway is important, unlike
a tri' it's hard to get it straight once you are
on the ground!!
Do it over and over and over!!!!

Brad

I learnt to fly on tail draggers, and all I can say is PRACTICE!
Keep the aircraft just above stalling, and practice slapping the main wheels down without bouncing.
Then move on to perfecting the 3 pointer. A good tip is to watch the replays of your landing so you can see how well it goes

Ozzy

If you have a Lancaster, it won't roll over it's props as soon as a piper Cub does when braking hard

with the DC-3, and with the other ones with flaps, i usually raise the flaps just before touchdown, you loose enough lift to settle whitout bumps

Brensec, better to live to see the court martial than eat a deckplate sandwich

Ozzy

Too right!

Yeah Bren, they are trying to get it back onto the deck. Its a Seafire III (basically a MkV modified for carrier work a hook added, and the airframe strengthened). With its narrow U/C it wasn't the best for naval use, but its effectiveness in the fleet defence role cannot be denied, however I wouldn't have wanted to try and ditch one! That Merlin pulled them straight to the bottom, normally with the pilot still strapped in

Mark

Straight to the bottom? - (Unless you were Ben Affleck in 'Pearl Harbour'!!.......... ).

Is that shot taken during he War??

If it is, I wouldn't have thought they would bother trying to salvage a ditched plane (it looks pretty banged up).
After all, from late 1940 onward (well before the MkIV) there certainly was no shortage of Spits.

I wonder why they are pulling it out. I felt sure they were 'scuttling" it because of the damage.  

The modified Seafire III airframes were in v.short supply at first. So they tried to save them. Not sure what happened to the pilot. Probably given some concrete wellies and encouraged to go for a swim
If you look closely you can see where the cable is, obviously it err didn't arrest too well

Mark

Looks like the pilot might be the one walking towards the left, immediately to the left of the 'officer' in the dark unifom, with his back to us (walking towards the plane0.
the one I mean, seems to still have a life vest on.

I do believe you are right Steve. Well spotted mate, I missed that.

Mark

[quote]Is that shot taken during he War??

If it is, I wouldn't have thought they would bother trying to salvage a ditched plane (it looks pretty banged up).
After all, from late 1940 onward (well before the MkIV) there certainly was no shortage of Spits.

I wonder why they are pulling it out. I felt sure they were 'scuttling" it because of the damage.