"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
the wings stop an aircraft more effectively than tiny brake pucks.
thats why 3 pointing it achieves the shortest landing.
the actual landing speed is lower and the wing is generating lotsa
induced drag on the backside of the performance curve.

I dont believe that getting rid of flaps shortens the landing.

On Jul 10, 4:28 pm, "Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe" The Sea Hawk @See My
Sig.com wrote:
My _experience_ has been that brakes slow you down faster than floating
along the runway waiting for a three point.

Exactly. The problem, Geoff, as many don't see it, is that a
three-point rollout has the wing at a high AOA. The wing does not stop
lifting just because the wheels are on the ground so that traction is
minimal, and aerodynamic braking diminishes by the square of the
airspeed---half the speed, one-quarter of the drag. So a three-point
touchdown does not allow immediate heavy braking, and since the speed
is still high the airplane covers lots of runway before the lift has
dropped to the point that the tires have enough traction for heavy
braking. If we wait for the drag to slow us down, that's what we'll
do: wait. And use up runway.
Raising the tail gets rid of lift and places weight on the
mains. Modulating brakes and elevator slows the airplane quickly right
from the touchdown point, noseover tendency being controlled with the
elevator. Once the airplane is slowed the tail is planted and braking
increased further if necessary, though the loss of elevator
effectiveness determines just how much brake one can use.
Until one tries it he has no idea what it feels like. There was
no way I could stop the 185 in anywhere near the same distance three-
point as I was able to do with the tail-high braking. I'm not talking
the normal wheel landing here; that requires a higher airspeed to
reduce AOA so that the tail is high to start with at touchdown. That
eats up runway. I'm talking minimum speed touchdown, which will be
close to the three-point attitude, if not tailwheel-first, and then
the tail is raised after touchdown to dump the lift.

Dan