Landing the P-40 and throwing the pogo stick away

[Uriah]

I stopped sim flying last April to pursue outdoor activities and was delighted to start up again with intro of the P-40.

Point being I was rather rusty. Even so. I could not land the thing without it looking like I was on a pogo stick.

 

After lots of practice I finally got it down with nearly no bouncing. I learned to bring it in at what feels like a crawl but keeping a steady speed of about 120 mph, a very low angle, 10 to 20 degrees flap and opening the canopy and sticking my head out.

 

Now if I can keep from doing donuts at the tail end of the landing.

[coconut]

To avoid donuts, try trimming your rudder to the right, I use 50%. That gives a slightly crabbed landing, but it helps. I also have to pretty much stand on both brakes to stop that truck.

You are probably already doing that, but full trim up also helps bringing the plane down at slow speed.

[Remontti]

Bringing throttle back up after touching down helped me to avoid spinning.

[Ace_Pilto]

Bringing throttle back up after touching down helped me to avoid spinning.

 

^^^This^^^

 

Control surfaces only work if air is going over them.

[Bullets]

Sure if you want to increase your landing distance! As already discussed having a proper sensitivity curve and not being afraid to quickly use large rudder control movements  you can land every aircraft in BOS/BOM without ground looping. 

[busdriver]

Sure if you want to increase your landing distance! As already discussed having a proper sensitivity curve and not being afraid to quickly use large rudder control movements  you can land every aircraft in BOS/BOM without ground looping. 

Your post confuses me. 115 to 120 mph "over the fence" (crossing the threshold) is the RL recommended approach speed. With the understanding you're making the Army Air Corps preferred "wheel landing" (two point to some folks in this forum) rather than a three point (stalled landing). What is your recommended speed on final?

 

What exactly is "a proper sensitivity curve?" That's a pretty nebulous statement? I'm not trying to poke you in the eye with a sharp stick. When does one know or how does one know they have "a proper sensitivity curve?" Upon further review, I suspect this was merely a rhetorical statement on your part.

 

I do agree with the need for being ready and willing to use rapid rudder movement to keep the rollout straight. But I must confess my RL tailwheel flying is currently limited to a 115 HP Citabria. I might move up to a 180 HP Super Cub next summer when I retire from my airline gig.

 

One concept that helped me in my RL tailwheel checkout is once the tailwheel is on the ground, aft stick to hold it down, and concentrate on keeping the tailwheel between the track of the main gear. Think of the rollout path of the main gear like a railroad track, then "happy feet" (rapid rudder application as required) to keep the tailwheel inside the track of the main gear. Once the tailwheel drifts outside the path of the main gear, you'll probably need a short burst of power to regain additional rudder authority and straighten out (or you're going to ground loop).

 

When making a "wheel landing" one needs to have very little sink rate and apply some forward stick right at touchdown to hold the mains on the runway. Throttle to Idle. Since the plane is above stall speed, any relaxation (even a tiny aft movement) of the stick will increase the angle of attack and result in becoming airborne. Hold forward stick, happy feet to keep going straight and let the tail settle on its own. Once the tailwheel is down, full aft stick...more happy feet.

 

Smoking Hole flies a Pitts I believe, he's a RL competitive acro pilot. Perhaps he might chime in.

[Bullets]

Ummm well I am glad you agree with the fact as airspeed decreases control surface effectiveness also decreases  .  If you want to explain what I meant about sensitivity curves I can do so. Essentially I believe the straighter the curve the better as it gives you a better stick movement to control surface movement ratio at the extreme ends of the stick movement. I do have a little curve however and that is only so I can make smooth accurate adjustments in game. However like I said increasing the curve reduces sensitivity the further you move the stick away from neutral.

ROF sensitivity curves were great as you could completely adjust them to create your own perfect curves unlike the simple ones in BOS. Kinda still wish they brought that feature over here!   

Anything else you want me to explain about my post? 

[busdriver]

Anything else you want me to explain about my post? 

 Yes, yes there is. Your very first line. "Sure if you want to increase your landing distance." Can you clarify whose post or what you replying to?

 

Cheers

[Bullets]

Ah, that was in reply to people resorting to applying some throttle while on the ground roll to increase airflow over the rudder to help prevent ground looping. 

[6./ZG26_Emil]

I find getting on the brakes early helps. I have zero problem with ground looping but the pogo stick is another matter!