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Old 06-07-2015 | 04:44 PM
  #33  
dabigboy
 
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 299
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From: Oklahoma City, OK
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Disclaimer: the biggest scale RC model I've flown is my 40-size GP Cub.

Just a thought....in the full-scale Decathlon, I was taught (and discovered firsthand....) that for a wheels-landing, you really need to dip a bit of down-elevator as soon as the mains touch and weight is transferred to the wheels. This is because the gear are in front of the CG.....upward force at the gear will tend to stop the nose while the tail continues to drop. NOT doing this increased the likelihood of a bounce. It seemed to be especially pronounced on grass vs asphalt (I was told it was because the gear were able to spring out more in the soft grass, then rebound of course). For near-stall landings (three-points, or at least nose-high), it's not as critical.

As I recall, I may have actually tried this landing method with my 40 Cub (several years ago, before I stripped it down for a restoration). Seems like it made landings more consistent....I shall have to experiment again when it's finished, especially now that it has scale bouncy-bouncy gear.

I would also be very careful about pulling power right before touchdown. Think about it: if you are nose-high at all, then your prop is contributing to lift. Pulling power will instantly kill some lift, and possibly result in a rough touchdown. Of course, if you are almost completely level in a wheels-landing, then maybe it won't be such an issue. But my experience is that most aircraft, if they are in slow-flight (as they are during landing), the nose is pointing up quite a bit. This is something that is not discussed enough even in real flight training, IMO. We are taught (rather rigidly) that wings are for lift and prop is for thrust, rather than shown a vector-based approach.

Matt