Mark said, > "Fix gear weighs less, and when properly faired with wheel pants, are faster, not to mention increased ground clearance."
Jason wrote, "I can't remember the last time I was that scared of landing an airplane. I did 3 low approaches before I finally set it down and I'm still nowhere near as comfortable with it as I would like to be. Running out of aileron in crosswinds was a new experience for me." Mark's post above and Jason's just below his are somewhat related so I'll use them as a takeoff point to write a very brief exposition about KR landing gear. I'm writing it not because I'm any sort of expert but rather because I enjoy writing on this laptop more than I'll enjoy tending to the chores which await me whenever I reluctantly turn this thing off and get back to reality. ****************** Mark could have added to his list of advantages of fixed gear over retractable gear, the fact that the taller gear allows the pilot to increase the wing's angle of attack when touching down. The reason so many people, myself included back when I got my first KR in 1984, have trouble when landing their tailwheel KR's is this: with retractable gear one can't get the wing anywhere close to the stall when touching down. When pulling back to flare, the tailwheel hits first, immediately bringing the main gear down onto the runway. If the contact is not captured with instantaneous use of forward stick, a bounce will immediately ensue. This bounce will likely be one of many unless the pilot, with uncanny skill he's not going to have as a brand new KR pilot, stabs the stick forward and holds the plane from bouncing again. Gaining the skill to make that stab takes time and so often, before that skill is gained, PIO excursions occur that often end with broken props or worse. My personal rule is if I haven't stopped a PIO sequence by the third bounce, I give it the gas and come around for another try. With RG KR's touching down tailwheel first, IF the pilot is ready to instantly pin it with forward stick such a landing will work - but it's kind of hard on the tailwheel. This is the type of landing I would use with a very, very short strip. It's what Langford does when landing at his dad's farm strip. There's no way to fix this predicament with the retractable gear KR's. (actually, that's probably not true - it just occurred to me some big spoilers would fix this.) Without spoilers, the only way to gracefully get a KR onto a runway is to use proper technique. With the KR RG, unless one is making a tailwheel-first, short-field landing described above, one needs to touch down on the runway so the main gear touches just before the tailwheel. This is called a "Jim Faughn tail-low wheel landing." There's a link to this document on the KRNET front page. The thing is, even with a perfectly executed Jim Faughn tailwheel-low wheel landing, the wing is still wants to fly and given the slightest opportunity, it will! The only way to discourage the wing from taking off again is to use - sometimes aggressively, especially on windy days with gusts - forward stick. If there's wind and gusts around, the plane is very vulnerable during this declerating phase - that is, from touch down to runway taxi speed. If the gear is not aggressively held onto the runway during this critical phase, gusts can blow the plane off the side of the runway or even pick the plane straight up and drop it like a rock. Props often suffer and retract gear gets collapsed or poked through the wing tops when these situations occur. Avoiding these calamities is precisely why Jason says he's "not comfortable in the early stages when he's getting his KR on the ground." Going now to fixed gear KR's, the nose sits higher and the angle of the wing in relation to the ground is increased, thus allowing the pilot to touch down at a speed closer to the stalling speed of the wing. Slower, safer, with less kinetic energy to burn off between touchdown and taxi speed. Even with fixed gear however, the tailwheel limits the angle of attack at time of touchdown. The length of that critical transition phase is lessened, but one is still vulnerable. So . . . Jim Faughn's tail-low wheel landing" remains the best method of getting a KR onto a runway without any drama. It wasn't until I did the test flight of Jim Morehead's beautiful tri-gear KR-2 several years ago that I learned that it is possible for KR's to be full-stalled onto a runway. Full stall means really slow and safe, with hardly any kinetic energy to dispose of between touchdown and taxi. I suppose KR's vary in nosegear height depending on who built the gear and how it was installed, so the tail of the KR varies a little in how high it sits above the tarmac, but I think in all cases with tri-gear KR's, the tail sits high enough above the runway that when touching down, the wing can be brought to a full-stall configuration. Instead of being a capricious little beast when landing, the tri-gear KR is as predictable and controllable and as easy to land as a Cherokee or any other tri-gear two-place aircraft. All pilots have it in our heads that with an aircraft with conventional gear, we hold that the ideal landing is a nice slow three-point touchdown. Outside of occasional flukes however, it's just not possible with KR's. ******************** Jason comments that "Running out of aileron in crosswinds was a new experience for me." I've never had that happen to me. If my memory is faulty and I indeed did have a crosswind strong enough to overpower my ailerons, it's possible I kicked in enough rudder to help the ailerons do their job. If this has ever happened to me, it was a situation that lasted for only an instant. If asked, I would say the KR's ailerons are effective enough to counter anything they might run into. Jeff Scott lands with strong, often extreme crosswinds on a daily basis . . . so perhaps he would comment on whether winds ever overpower his ailerons. *************** There's yet another way to land a conventional gear KR but it's to be used only in extreme situations - emergency forced landings into an extemely short strip or space - like a small field or piece of beach. Or, heaven forbid, over a canopy of trees. This technique is to stay just above the landing surface until you stall. The tail will be hanging very low and when the wing lets go you'll drop (or so it will seem) straight down. If you don't hit anything on the ground you've probably just saved your KR to fly another day. Engine mounts will need to be carefully inspected and all other points of stress. I unintentionally did one of these on my first landing after purchasing the plane in Omaha. I was on my way to Worland, Wyoming to spend the night with friends and was landing at Alliance, NE for fuel. When I left the little airport called Wahoo near Omaha saying goodbye to Steve Bennett and Jim Faughn (they were pickeling Jim's plane that day) it was hot and I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. As I went west I ran into some cold air mixed with rain that felt like it had just come down from the Arctic. I was shivering, plus I was mostly asphixiated from breathing gas fumes in that tiny cockpit. I mention these things as my excuse for misreading the wind direction. I landed downwind with quite a breeze blowing and stalled it at what I guess was about 15 feet. Whether it was luck or skill, I came down flat and didn't hit a wingtip or the prop and, although I couldn't believe I hadn't broken something, it turned out I hadn't. When I got home Sparky and I carefully went over the engine mounts and firewall attachments and could find nothing wrong. These KR's are tough little birds if they are built properly. When I plopped onto the runway I rolled about twenty feet and stopped. So . . . I mention this in case anyone ever gets confronted with an impossible landing situation. Mike Stirewalt KSEE ____________________________________________________________ How To Remove Eye Bags & Lip Lines Fast (Watch) Fit Mom Daily http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/59d80164bbc701646aa2st01vuc _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/. 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