Well guys, I guess my “approach” to landing is a bit different from those described above.

Because we have some trees off each end of the 600’ grass runway I prefer to make a carrier approach with the touch down about 100’ from the turn on final. Because of the side viewing angle of the model I can better judge the speed and decent rate. I don’t like long straight in approaches because of the trees for one and because the down the throat viewing angle makes it difficult to judge the speed on final. Plus when the sun is at the right angle and you are looking right down the throat, the model may not appear to move at all. Add that to the trees in the background adding to the clutter and sometimes the model just about disappears.

So my approach will be to throttle back to idle on downwind and play the throttle to maintain my altitude and decent rate on base and final. I have my models balanced to be a bit tail heavy so that as I slow down the nose comes up naturally. I make my turns with a good bit of rudder and try to keep the wings fairly level in order to give better pitch control. When I am on final, I am already over the runway and 1/3 of the way down from the threshold. Depending on the wind and how far away I am from my intended touchdown point I will keep a bit of throttle on until the model is right in front of me then ease the throttle back for the landing on the mains. I may use a bit of elevator for a full stall landing or keep the throttle on for a wheel landing.

The short field approach works well for me if there is a cross wind because the model will not be subject to the wind as long as it would be on a long straight in approach. Plus, using the rudder on final will help set up the crab angle on final. With a cross wind, I will try to hold a little more speed on final.