ROOKIE landing mistake! Tailwheel Training: Part 3

it's funny because CF eyes everywhere tell students this all the time. I tell students this all the time when they land, which is a typical

rookie

mistake

and I just did it. Traffic on demand Super Cup Nine six five three dad taxi on the track three six are This will be the exit, like our traffic Super Cup 5-3. Place our cross on top. The airport right now. 1500 feet. We'll turn it around and bring it down with three, the art of six. This is

part

three of four of my

tailwheel

training

. With Keith and Lockhart Texas in the first

part

, we start with some basic aerial work and stick-and-rudder flying to get a feel for how the Super Cub flies, then we start doing some touches and get used to three-point

landing

s in the second part.

We took

landing

s to the next level and started executing wheel landings and that brings us to part three. It's been about a week since I flew the Super Cub, so the first step is to go out and do some more aerial work to get familiar with it. how it flies again almost like a warm up, then it comes back to the pattern to update the landings and we will start with the three point landings, then we will continue to review the wheel landings, like in part one and two, this video is everything will focus on review what I'm doing on camera, no extra footage, just raw

training

because that's exactly what it was and I hope you can learn something yourself from watching me watch all these landings and yeah, there was no shortage of landings that were.

So bad that I had to take a turn and then here the power, a shout out to our sponsors on this video. Lightspeed Aviation makes these amazing active noise canceling headphones that we are using. I have been a Lightspeed user for eight years and have good quality noise cancellation. A cabin allowed with the doors open is a great necessity to be able to hear each other through the intercom. A company called Flight Flicks is responsible for this super solid wing strut mount. I'm dying to try it and fly. the Super Cub with the door open was a perfect opportunity to use this shot.

The Fly Flicks website has a world of outdoor and indoor camera mounting solutions, so definitely check them out to learn more about these two companies and their products. The links in the video description really make this content possible and I'm proud to showcase and use their products here on Aviation 101. Glad to see Magna, yes, yes, no, not quite right. Hi, I had a great time last time. Let's put some things together and build on what we did last time. There's a little bit of wind today so we have to think about making sure we're taxing with the right cross checks and/or stick and stick and things like that and also, when we land, we want to make sure we're on the wing and holding it. on the road, yes, and remember that as you slow down, there is less airflow over the spoilers, so we will have to provide more information as they can see the traffic.

Super Cup nine or six five three dad imposing on a track three six will come out of the Lockhart when it's practically straight down the track, so we first start by going to the practice area and just doing some stalls, sharp turns and all that to familiarize myself a once again with the management of the super cup. When we were done with that warm up, we returned to Lockhart Airport, entered the pattern and began to refresh the landing techniques that we learned last time and we began by reviewing the most basic landing technique, which is the three point landing, super cup five traffic of cars, three Papa activating the ILS base for Emily, so the bricks shot up a little too high. grass is usually left out wisely now let's go through the thick, yeah just a little bit of power, if you don't like a little bit of eye, a little bit of dust, I'll keep you from really falling over, like our traffic super cup five does . you appear on a rolling runway three six on the left nearby traffic Locker we're going good and straight I know pretty well about it okay, it's not as bad on that landing as Keith said we were going straight I was very active with the feet on the rudder pedals Making sure the nose is heading toward the runway, I had a little bit of extra power in the flash and that caused us to go back up and actually hold on like we were momentarily going up a little bit right there on the runway while We were depleting our airspeed and energy and just like Keith said, what I should have done is give it just a little bit of power just to keep us in the air a little longer and stop that rate of descent as we fall back to the runway.

I also noticed based on the camera above my head here, I didn't pull the lever back soon enough. You can see I pulled her back abruptly at the last second. I definitely should have added some power and let the movement build up. If the back pressure was much more gradual on the plane it would have come back and kissed the ground much more pleasantly and that's actually what we'll see on this upcoming landing. I think Keith and I were very happy with this upcoming landing. Wave it back and forth right now, it's a left crosswind, why keep your flying eyes isolated on the brakes?

I gave it a little power, yes, I could start to see that I was about to believe it, very good, very nice, oh yes, that felt like it. Really nice, we took the plane around the pattern one more time and did one more three point landing and like this last one it was pretty good. I maintained positive control of the plane. I came down with a slightly higher sink rate than this last landing, but it was still perfectly acceptable, kept the plane in a straight line, maintained control, so now Keith is going to suggest that we go ahead and start working on the landings with wheels and this is where the lesson ends so start doing the turn so okay okay.

Those are pretty solid, so the last time Keith and I flew together in the Super Cub, which was about a week before this, my last two landings of that lesson were pretty good, one of them was a three point and the another was a wheel. landing and a light bulb had gone on earlier in the day and I figured out what I was doing wrong and both landings are pretty good and since the three point landings were going pretty well in this lesson I think that might have given me a little unearned confidence about what my wheel landings were going to be like, so I just got to work.

King, oh I did it last time, I just did what I did last time, so we went ahead and circled around. The pattern on my first wheel landing attempt was not good at all, basically I think I was paying too much attention to the actual landing point, the landing point, and I was just anticipating that the ground would touch the tires too much because as soon as As you touch the tires, you want to bring the power to idle and just push the stick forward slightly to stick the main wheels to the ground so you don't bounce and lift the nose and possibly start porpoising.

That was horrible, my motor skills were just completely ruined and we had to just crank up the power and do a lap, so we ran through the pattern and tried again. We wanted to do a full landing because it was time to change tanks and we don't want to do that while we're in the pattern, so I was going to hit the wheel again to try it. This one was a little better, but I think I got lucky for the most part. in this case and when I say that I mean that I was lucky in the sense that it wasn't bad enough that I had to take a spin, but that had absolutely nothing to do with my skills, it was just kind of luck that I didn't bounce very strong because at this point I still have no idea what I'm doing wrong or why I think I was going to break lately, so earlier I said the landing was a bit lucky and I agree.

I don't really know what I did so that it didn't end up being a go-around at least at that point in the plane, but now reviewing the footage I can see that compared to that previous landing attempt which turned into a go-around on this one. as soon as I hit the ground I pulled the power to idle Albay still a little late but I did pull the power to idle on the previous attempt. I think I was concentrating a lot on trying to move that lever slightly forward as soon as the wheels hit the ground to make sure it didn't bounce.

I was completely forgetting to take the power off so what I was actually doing is just putting more downward pressure on the tires and they act like springs and just pushed us back. in the air and because of our extra power configuration the plane has extra power to get back into the air and that's why it ended up being a roll so I'm noticing this on that landing you just saw now after reviewing the footage. However, I didn't notice it on the plane and we'll see us screwing that up two more times before Keith takes the controls and demonstrates a wheeled landing for me and it's going to be very important for us to watch it and then I'm going to give it a couple more tries later. of that and then here the power like I haven't added enough power, its time to fade out a little bit too, yeah, Keith wants me to take a break from flying and he's going to demonstrate a wheel landing now and I want to pay close attention to exactly when and how much you reduce power and go forward when the plane hits the ground by turning the left base billet - clapping your hands, okay, perfect, I don't want to throw up with my so I'm not trying to disagree, basically, keep it straight towards down in the ranks.

I think you've been carrying too much power. I don't think so, so Keith thinks I'm carrying too much power while trying to get these wheel landings. on the ground and I certainly agree and not only am I carrying too much power and therefore carrying too much energy so when the plane hits the ground it tends to want to bounce upwards, I am also not putting out enough power if even do it now in the previous lesson on wheel landings, it really clicked on how quickly I need to bring the stick forward as soon as the wheels hit the ground, however, just as important or maybe I would even say that a little more important is to actually put the throttle to idle just as quickly, because if you don't get that power to idle, it doesn't matter if you hold the stick in neutral or push it forward, whatever you do, the airplane will use that energy.

Jump off the tires and it will basically keep flying and then you have to balance a potential porpoise balloon and ultimately something that will make it spin, so I'm carrying too much power and not putting it down nearly. fast enough and there's another very common

mistake

that I'm making on all of these landings and it's a mistake that's not unique to

tailwheel

flying and it's actually a mistake that I talked to the students about all the time and I trained them and I think which is funny to see myself making the same mistake because it totally puts me in the students shoes and in my opinion makes me a better CFI since I'm making

rookie

mistakes here and I think that says a couple things first. all of this puts me once again in the shoes of a student and as a CFI that really helps you understand your students when you are teaching them and also that shows that no matter how experienced you are, you can certainly be prone to any mistakes and I think that That's a very good example of that, so Keith will hand over the controls to me and I'll do the next two landings and after we take care of the next landing, listen to what I have to say about what I just realized about being down, yeah, you know what I did, definitely, hell, I look down, the damn race, oh wow, yeah, I was looking, it was like Aviation 101, I know right, that's why I love training, oh yeah, okay, yeah, No, it's really a bummer. tempting look close at the right time traffic super come on, walk around my three six one close Lockhart so there it is I realized I wasn't looking down at the end of the runway, we say this to the students all the time and We're teaching them about rounding and flaring and when judging the distance with your peripherals to the runway, you don't want to look directly at the front of the plane and of course you don't want to look directly out the side window to see how far you are from the ground. and all you want, use your peripherals and just look towards the end of the runway when you're in the flare and when Keith was demonstrating the final landing, I was sitting there and watching. what he was doing and I was thinking about what he had been doing and what he could possibly be doing wrong and I thought, wait a second, I was actually looking at the track and I said to myself, "I'm not totally sure." if I've been like this on this next landing Let me just look down at the end of the.track, so you can turn the idle lever forward when you have the wheels on the ground and while you are in the camber.

I'm keeping it off the track and just trying to play softly on the track. I need to have my eyes completely down at the end of the runway, basically on the horizon. Keith had also mentioned that when you hit the ground in a wheel landing. It should almost be a surprise when you hit the ground, like if you try to anticipate it you're going to be screwed and I think that's part of the problem with what I was doing. I'm definitely doing a multitude of things wrong. here, but I'm trying to at least pick that part out and maybe you know that if not for your own good, I'm doing it for my own good to try to figure out exactly what I'm doing wrong and really master these skills and get They're okay, but In addition to the forward stick and idle power, I need to look toward the runway and we're going to make one more landing.

I'm going to exercise that technique and let's see if that holds true and stays consistent on the last landing in the final. Now here is number two for the super cup, for the nice soaking and I had to kick. the power there right at the last penny walks our traffic 59 eternal hotel a fraudulent Lockhart Lockhart traffic picks up abruptly I'm going to do this in a full stop exit at Charley Hawker we shake the hangar Oh quick, do you think with the only thing that did I do both? one of those landings is putting my eyes further down the runway, right, I wasn't doing that before, well, that was a really educational flight, we headed back to the hangar, we're just taking a break here, my three-point landings and wheel landings They went pretty well last time because I felt so good about the last two landings I did in the last lesson, so naturally that it built a little bit of confidence in me for this flight.

Today's three-point landings felt pretty good. Keith agrees and then when I started doing the wheel landings they were just messing me up and this is what we came to the conclusion I was doing first. I was trying to perfect the landing attitude and make sure the plane was in a perfect straight and level attitude when the wheels touched. the ground and said it doesn't have to be like that, we're not going to do a three point landing where we want to touch the main down and then keep the tail up, but it's okay if we're just a little nose up. , I was thinking too much about it and I was trying to like the flare, you know, move the stem and move the lever to try to get the nose to have that right attitude and I was doing it too much and it would end. mess up my landings, the biggest thing I was doing wrong was that I wasn't looking down at the end of the runway, it's funny because look if eyes everywhere tell students this all the time.

I tell students this all the time when they are landing. At the end of the runway you're basically looking at the horizon, but looking down at the end of the runway is a very good reference point for that. I was looking at the stripes right in front of the hood and I was trying to judge the distance of the runway from the tires. It's a typical rookie mistake and I just made it, so let's take a break, hydrate, get back on the plane, try this again and then head to San Marcos and try some crosswinds, partly for Keith. and I make the 8 nautical mile flight to San Marcos to choose one of three cross routes so we can ensure we have a cross wind.

Crosswind operations are part of tailwheel training, so we need to include this part and it could be said to be one. One of the most important parts about flying a tailwheel airplane is that I have to make sure I have the necessary power on tailwheel landings and looking down the runway during flare, and that goes for any airplane, not only to the tail wheel. I know I do it when I'm riding a tricycle, which is where I'm comfortable, but it's amazing what you stop doing when you're overwhelmed and stressed and I think an even more important lesson for all of us is that none of us are immune to mistakes, regardless of how simple they seem, an example of that.

Here I am, a 1500 hour cfw. I'm making a mistake, I guide pre-solo students when I teach them how to land. It humbled me when I realized this and that's one of the many things I love about learning if you like this video hit the like button subscribe and turn on notifications if you don't have full cuts of the flights and parts of my tailwheel training dirt school will be posted to my cockpit club members. and I will be hosting a livestream and headphone giveaway for members in early November. If you'd like to learn more about cockpit Club and how it supports the channel, you can head over to 101.com aviation, cockpit club bar and check it out.

It's a great way to support the channel and get even more involved in helping create this content. If you would like to purchase a cap or shirt, I also sell products in the aviation 101.com store and new products will be on the way soon. until next time i want you to go out and learn something new i want you to be happy, healthy, stay updated and most importantly stay competent, see you in part 4 of this tailwheel training series, fly safe.