Jay Honeck wrote:




Nothing bad happens to your aircraft when you lock up the brakes on a gravel
runway, with the prop spinning? In a 182?

No stone chips in the prop?

How are stones going to defy the laws of physics? The plane is moving
forward. Rocks don't leap off the ground and jump into the prop.


No flat-spotted or gouged tires?

Not as long as you are not on pavement.

No stones
tossed into the paint?

Stones may or may not get tossed into the paint. That's a hazard of
flying off road.



Consider the added stress on the airframe. Motor mounts in particular are
going to be under great duress in a landing like you described. The
nosewheel structure will also be heavily stressed. Do that particular
landing "procedure" incorrectly in a 182, and you'll be buying a new
firewall. Many Skylane owners before you have discovered just how fragile
that nosegear-to-firewall connection really is.

My 182 was on its third firewall. You damage the firewall by landing
nosewheel first. There is no added stress to the airplane, matter of
fact there is probably less. The vertical speed is the same but the
airspeed is less.



I'm glad you have off-road fun with your plane, but you probably shouldn't
suggest a guy that is new to 182s do the same. What you described doing
with your plane is a high-skill,

You can't slow your plane to 10 mph above stall and hold that all the
way to the ground? That's a sad state of affairs.


and is probably
more suited for a tail dragger.


Nosewheel or tailwheel is irrelavant. A tailwheel can be limiting in a
crosswind. With the nosewheel I am not worried about operations on the
ground. The tailwheel guys don't start working until they are on the
ground.