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Old 05-26-2003, 06:58 PM
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Ed_Moorman
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Default Ultra Sport Landing

The Ultra Sports I have owned and flown were not fast landing airplanes. They were faster than a trainer, but not for a sport plane. They do tend to be hard to slow down and can go sailing past you at 3 or 4 feet until you learn how to make a larger pattern and give them time to slow to a good final approach speed.

I realize you may not be doing this, but if your plane is falling out of the air at 2 feet you are rulling out of lift or control. If it's control, you are probably nose heavy. If it's lift, you are doing something wrong because an Ultra Sport should be able to 3-point with a tail wheel or grease in a tri-gear nearly every time.

Now having seen you land, I can't say for sure, but if your plane is dropping in, I suspect you are landing like many people do with a trainer. That is, you are flaring too high and getting into a high sink rate condition.

I have seen numerous beginners flying trainers get the nose up on final 20, 30, 50 feet in the air and the plane sinks safely to the ground. This is due to a light wing loading and the rectangular wing on a trainer.

Here are a couple of things you can do to check.

If you are seeing the bottom of your US40, you probably have the nose too high. With low wing planes, when you are on final approach, look at the wing and stab. Play the elevator to put the stab just above the wing, a small gap. This is an approximate attitude for a good final.

Also, have a couple of your buddies stand off behind you and tell them to watch your approach and check if you are flying nose high on final.

Let one of the local test pilots or experts fly the plane. He can tell you if it is nose heavy or not.