Even 8 is begging for pitch diversion on landing if anything goes
wrong. A little bounce and you're off to the races. It doesn't have
to have that high nose attitude - just a longer, fixed nose gear. A
lot of the gear design is left over from the original design goal of
making it roadable.

Are you sure about that? Are you taking the delta wing's need to come
down
nose high, to slow down to reasonable speeds for landing? How about
getting
the nose high enough for takeoff? If the nose were much lower, how fast
would you need to go, to get enough elevon effectiveness to lift the
nose
for takeoff?

My guess, and forming an opinion from reading flight reports on the
Dyke, is
that the unusual attitude is not a problem. While landing, you land
nose
high, and the speed becomes whatever is necessary to get a good sink
rate.
You don't come down fast, because you won't, if you are too fast. If
anything, a bounce is a non incident, because you mush right back down
after
you bounce back into the air.

That is my take, anyway. I would want to fly one, before I went messing
with the landing gear geometry.


I have an Xplane model. Not the real thing, but eh...

I don't know the reason, but every delta winged aircraft that I can recall
ever having seen pictured has had a pronounced nose high attitude while at
rest.

From that observation, it is easy to infer reasons--and, of course, to be
wrong!

If anyone here actually knows the real reason, please post it. (Inquiring
minds want to know.)

Peter