On 2010-08-19 9:56 AM, [email protected] wrote:
Easy to hit nose wheel first. Just don't flare. Use a normal glide
path of 3 degrees or a steeper than normal approach. Boing, boing,
boing.
Am I the only one that's ever experienced one of these things? . . .
I have not experienced one in the Ercoupe but this is a well-known
event in flying circles. I thought everyone knew about it.
Bart
Bart,
You should not experience one of these hit-nose-first, bounce, PIO
events in a Coupe. In any approach glide, your mains should be below
your nose gear whether your approach is 3° or 6°. The wing's needed
angle of attack should keep the fuselage at near level or slightly nose
up even during the glide.
And, with a Coupe, the landing gear was explicitly designed to prevent
this from happening. When the gear touches, there should be a full foot
of nose gear strut compression. The weight coming on to the mains
should force the plane to lose angle of attack after contact and never
let it increase.
I know the nose-first, bounce, PIO situation is a well known event in
flying circles. I suggest it's limited to less well designed aircraft.
Fred Weick, the designer, EMPHASIZED that landings should be made at
MINIMUM flying speed. He also designed the plane so that a landing done
at up to 90 mph would not result in a re-lift-off. (This requires the
landing gear to be properly maintained with level pitch when sitting on
the ground.) And, the always land at minimum flying speed rule seemed
to apply to me when flying other tricycle gear aircraft types.
Ed
