This Beast of Burden

OK been reading post and watching YouTube clips on landing. Tried 12 times and still cannot land. Any thoughts that helped you able to land this beast. I try to land under 90 mph and keep the ball center and gently land but it seems I am off a fraction of degree and things go hay wire. I even watched a real pilot from the cockpit view to get some clues. When it come to the other props if you keep the ball center and land under 95 all goes well.

:helpsmilie:

I let it get down around 80 before I touch down. Makes it easier to control on the ground while I slow it down.

I my particular case, that's what it took for me to be able to land without beating up the plane.

I still have issues some of the time. It's certainly the hardest of the 4 WWII planes to land.

Yea Thanks. I got it down twice now with a full stop straight down runway. Tried to touch down at 80 also and have pitch and rudder trimmed for neutral. Now learning the dance on rudder when it slows down and loose rudder authority.

All three wheels should be placed on ground in same time, and try to keep pressure of wheels to ground by pulling the stick all the way. (You should taxi on ground all the time by pulling stick all the way to keep wheel pressure)

All three wheels should be placed on ground in same time, and try to keep pressure of wheels to ground by pulling the stick all the way. (You should taxi on ground all the time by pulling stick all the way to keep wheel pressure)

Thanks

After 3 days of training will be ok :D, not 12th times....

The Spit is easy to land, there's some difficulty to keep tracking true, but definitely straightfoward to land.

The easy way is fly it down until you're flying level ~1 ft/6" off the runway, then gently drop the throttle. It'll settle into a nice 3 wheel landing with no effort.

It's more akin to the Mig-21 than the other WWII birds in that sense.

So far landing this bird 2 out of 10. They must have gone through a bunch of birds damaged getting new recruits to land.

Hate to do it but I had to put takeoff assistance on to be able to land this Beast of Burden.

TwoLate,

This thread starting from HERE I posted a few documents and videos that may help you out.

You don't learn to fly a taildragger with 1800HP like we do, IRL it's more like the cub in the video below with around 50hp. practise, practise, practise.

Try to have zero side loading when putting here down too, see video at the bottom for example.

Once down, pull the stick back to your lap, this wiil force the tail down into the ground. Once you start getting slow you need to use some brakes, the brakes work by directing presure to each landing gear left / right, depending on how much rudder deflection and applied brake pressure. The slower you get the more rudder and more braking power needed to keep her going straight.

Cheat: Some like to pre add some brakes when landing 20%? This gives yaw authority once down because the brakes are already on a little etc. Pretty sure this would not have been done IRL tho.

David OC

 

Let’s go back a bit now before the runway threshold and talk about the initial setup, you have to have the aircraft completely trimmed out well or very close to level flight at around this 90 mph speed (plenty of up trim), you should be able to lightly hold the controls in your fingertips. Then only making slight adjustments and slowly sinking down to the runway when you think you’re about one meter or 3 foot off the runway slowly bring a little of the power back and try to hold the aircraft level, let her mini stall and drop herself onto the runway.

 

Take note in the video of the very very small sink rate (Mini stall) onto the runway, I do it similar to this for the 109 too. Just a quick video below, not my best landing here and my excuse is that it’s been a few weeks since I took the spitfire up.

 

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This video is one of best one around I believe that can teach this taildragger stuff.

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Try looking at the thread that I started here. It is full of useful advice.

I was pulling my hair out on this for weeks, but eventually got the hang of it.

Some people will mention the pre-loading brakes thing, but I personally would not recommend that. Firstly, as it didn't really make much difference for me, and secondly, I doubt if the engineers would be too happy coming back with shot brakes each flight!

Again, purely personal, but the best single piece of advice I got, was to 'let the plane land itself'. It's too easy to get locked into trying too hard to land it. Keep the nose just above the horizon at all times and let the natural speed (and hence height) loss take you down gradually.

Another mistake I made for a long time was preparing for the 3 point landing, i.e. bringing up the nose a little, too early.

This resulted in temporary lift off and/or loss of control. Just bring the nose up a few feet from the runway.

It's a fun and frustrating challenge to learn, but like everything in life, once you've mastered it, you'll wonder why you had so much trouble!

Try looking at the thread that I started here. It is full of useful advice.

I was pulling my hair out on this for weeks, but eventually got the hang of it.

Some people will mention the pre-loading brakes thing, but I personally would not recommend that. Firstly, as it didn't really make much difference for me, and secondly, I doubt if the engineers would be too happy coming back with shot brakes each flight!

Again, purely personal, but the best single piece of advice I got, was to 'let the plane land itself'. It's too easy to get locked into trying too hard to land it. Keep the nose just above the horizon at all times and let the natural speed (and hence height) loss take you down gradually.

Another mistake I made for a long time was preparing for the 3 point landing, i.e. bringing up the nose a little, too early.

This resulted in temporary lift off and/or loss of control. Just bring the nose up a few feet from the runway.

It's a fun and frustrating challenge to learn, but like everything in life, once you've mastered it, you'll wonder why you had so much trouble!

Thanks all for your time and input. imacken I am having the same problem you had in that post. I read that before you posted. I can get it down with no bounce. I love the Mustang the other tail draggers and have no issue. My rudder is trimmed and set down nicely at 75 no bounce rolling for two seconds and then all hell breaks loose and I am dragging a wing.

The problem is the time I touch down and it starts to veer off to the left within those first few seconds.

So it is those first 5 seconds after down that I have to master. I am no quitter and I remember when I first flew the Mustang and was having issues. I remember when it started to come together when I had the routine down. It is like dancing at the Prom with your first dance and you don't want to step on her toes.

Right now those first 5 seconds I am stepping on toes and need to learn how to dance with this lady.

 

The problem is the time I touch down and it starts to veer off to the left within those first few seconds.

 

So it is those first 5 seconds after down that I have to master. I am no quitter and I remember when I first flew the Mustang and was having issues. I remember when it started to come together when I had the routine down. It is like dancing at the Prom with your first dance and you don't want to step on her toes.

 

Right now those first 5 seconds I am stepping on toes and need to learn how to dance with this lady.

Literally, for me, that was all down to dancing on the pedals even just before touch down. Stabbing (not pressing too hard) on the brakes helps stop too, but if you can do it without too much brake, then all to the good.

 

The problem is the time I touch down and it starts to veer off to the left within those first few seconds.

 

 

Right now those first 5 seconds I am stepping on toes and need to learn how to dance with this lady.

It is essential to pull the stick right back and those first few seconds will roll straight.

Only when the speed drops right off do you need to dance, with some appropriate light braking as well.

Good luck..

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Another thing TwoLate, is that you will find that you get different, and sometimes conflicting, advice from people here. Nothing wrong with that, however.

What I discovered is there is no hard and fast way of achieving a perfect landing (or take off!) as what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. There are too many variables.

Good luck, and let us know how it's going.

It is essential to pull the stick right back and those first few seconds will roll straight.

 

Only when the speed drops right off do you need to dance, with some appropriate light braking as well.

 

Good luck..

 

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I wonder when I pull back on stick when on ground I don't pull straight back and might be off to onside just a little and cause a wing to dip.

I wonder when I pull back on stick when on ground I don't pull straight back and might be off to onside just a little and cause a wing to dip.

In my opinion, no. When I was having issues, I also thought that was a possibility, but decided that didn't really have any effect. I always seem to pull a little to the left or right rather than straight back, but it makes no difference to the post touchdown process.

I wonder when I pull back on stick when on ground I don't pull straight back and might be off to onside just a little and cause a wing to dip.

I touch down at 70 mph, stick hard back and centred and it will roll straight.

If you are using, T/O or landing, quick missions, remove the cross wind in the editor.

GL.

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Ok I think I have a small handle on this. I made three in a row. Yes I took my training wheels off. lol. I started my dance or rudder jabs like a boxer someone else made that analogy right before I touch down I mean split second. This way I am starting my jabs as soon as I am rolling and give no chance of slipping sideways. Then when rudder authority is lost keep jabbing with a touch of brakes. I was starting my jabs TwoLate. Now you know why I was giving that name. lol.

Thanks all and I will see how it goes from here.