(QDurham) wrote in message ...

Well said. Couldn't agree more. A good wheels landing is a total delight --
particularly in that miserable (in landing) Twin Beech.

Quent

Learning wheel landings were so much fun - having to push the stick
forward to pin the wheels right after touchdown is definitely an
unnatural act at first!

Here is a bit of a anomaly. Most taildraggers (my power tailwheel
experience is limited to Cubs, Citabrias, Cap-10s, and one fabulous
wheel landing in a 450 Stearman) are a bit squirrely after touchdown
due to the CG being aft of the main gear. Theoretically, the narrower
the gear, the more they will tend to want to groundloop - the P-47
with a really wide gear was much less groundloop prone than a Wildcat,
for example. Nowadays I fly high performance gliders, most of which
have the ultimate narrow taildragger gear - one main wheel on the
centerline. And in my experience, unless you get really sideways (or
snag a wingtip, which is the usual cause of a glider groundloop), they
have absolutely no tendency to switch ends on landing. My theory it
that the stability is due to the relatively long wheelbase (in
relation to gross weight), low CG, and (usually) a fixed tailwheel or
skid. Any ideas from you aero majors out there?


Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Kirk