I don't agree that a wheel landing is the only safe way to land a KR. I did about a hundred three point landings in my KR before I even learned how to do a wheel landing.
You do need to keep in mind that you don't do a "normal" three point landing in a KR. In something like a Citabria you do a three poing landing and you keep the stick back and the tailwheel on the ground. In a KR you have to push the stick forward and get the tail back up as soon as the mains touch or you will bounce very nose high. This is different and takes some getting used to, but it is easy and safe once you get the hang of it. The big advantage of doing a three point in a KR is that you will be touching the ground at about 40MPH or less. When you do a wheel landing you will be at more like 70 and you will be much more likely to get into trouble quickly if things go wrong, it will take a lot longer to stop, and it is a lot easier to ground loop. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that wheel landings are less safe. I am just saying that three point landings are not unsafe. I recommend learning both and using whichever is best at the time. When you have a short runway a three point is better. On a grass strip three points are very easy and you will rarely bounce. When you are heavier than normal a wheel landing is better. One caution on wheel landings that I learned the hard way. You need to keep the speed up, particularly when you are heavy and have a more aft C.G. As you get slower on final you tend to increase your angle of attack. Landing near stall speed in a three point configuration is one thing. Landing on the mains at a higher speed with the tailwheel still a foot or two high is something entirely different. If you try to wheel land too slow your the inertia of the weight behind the mains will keep the tail coming down as soon as the mains touch. The sudden increase of angle of attack from the tail coming down combined with the much higher than stall speed and the ground effect will REALLY make you bounce in a very high angle of attack condition. It is easy to push the stick forward and prevent a bounce in a three point landing. Pushing the stick forward the right amount at the right time in a botched too slow wheel landing is not easy at all. -----Original Message----- From: Colin & Bev Rainey <[email protected]> Sent: Feb 26, 2004 3:53 AM To: KRnet <[email protected]> Subject: KR>Wheel landing vs 3 point Joel, Please pay close attention to the information provided by the pilots who have been flying KRs. They all agree that wheel landing the KR is virtually the only safe way to land this airplane due to the way it behaves, aerodynamics of this design etc... You will probably have to consider changing your home airfield if things are that tight, or choose a more suitable aircraft that has better STOL performance if you want to get in and out of that short of a field. Just as a reference, Cessna recommends that you calculate the takeoff and landing performance numbers from published information and then add another 50% as a safety margin for maximum safety. Most of the commentary about high speed taxi testing have been directed towards builder pilots preparing for their first flights. I feel it would be prudent, though not required to have a runway at least double what you think you will need, if possible triple for those first few flights. Even if the airplane can perform within the minimum standards I doubt the pilot can until he becomes familiar with his "beast". I fully intend to high speed test mine, as well as the take off hops, maintaining ground effect. I will let everyone know what I think of the process during and after I have done so. Soon as the rain stops, we are off to the airport with N96TA! Colin & Bev Rainey KR2(td) N96TA Sanford, FL [email protected] or [email protected] http://kr-builder.org/Colin/index.html_______________________________________ to UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to [email protected] please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html
