For many, many years now, I have flown birds with the gear moved forward of the wing. Four Stars of all sizes, Dragon Ladies, Super Sportsters, Giant Super Sportsters, and all tail draggers. You name it, we've flown it, with aftermarket gear or the stock gear moved forward onto the fuselage. We flew on a grass field, with the requisite number of bumps and things you'll find on any grass field.

Neither I nor any members of my club have ever had any issues with bouncing from gear forward of the CG, though I read in here all the time that it's attributed to the gear being forward of the CG.

In my experience, that's just not so, if you land properly. I taught the guys in my club how to set up their planes so that they slowed down for landing, with proper low idles leading the list of requirements. Attention to detail, mostly, so you're not dealing with extra factors while on approach. Minimize those extraneous factors, and landings are a much friendlier process. Of course, I wasn't satisfied until every one of them learned how to land under the most demanding conditions, dead stick being the least of them. All of our club members had reputations for consistent greased landings, even under harsh conditions.

Okay, thirty out of thirty-one did. You'll occasionally find a guy who is truly hopeless, but that's not the point here.

Anybody can bounce from coming in too hot, of course. Nobody likes landing a rocket.

If the details have been addressed, most planes cease being "rockets," and become much more user-friendly. There are usually reasons why a plane doesn't land well, and often those reasons have to do with the setup. I absolutely believe - through many years of experience - that having the gear forward of the CG is not a real reason for a plane bouncing. There are a dozen other factors that should be looked at first.

~ Jim ~