I'm trying to learn how to land a taildragger on RF G2 and i can't seem to get it right. I either come in too fast and bounce down the runway or too slow and plop down too hard. i come in with about 20% throttle until i'm over the runway and then cut back to idle to bring it in. even when i think i am going to do it perfect, or close to it, it ends up bouncing and then crashing.

Any advice?

Thanks

Depends on the plane.

Basically, you land tail draggers the exact same way you land anything else. The approach and flair are the same.

The trick is to watch the gear and the fuse alignment. On some tail draggers, you can get a "three point" landing, where you touch the tailwheel at the same time you touch the mains. That's cool looking and fun to shoot for, but often close to stall. So, get the descent rate as low as possible, get the fuse level, and touch the mains as softly as you can, and let the plane roll along on the mains. As the speed bleeds off, add a bit of up elevator to lower the tail, and you're down. If you're on grass (something the G2 doesn't simulate at all), and you don't get in the up elevator, you nose over. If you go too much on the elevator too soon, you pop back up in the air. You just want a little bit.

the problem is i can't get it to roll along on the mains and get the speed to bleed off that way, i always bounce up and down before it settles down. i have been using down elevator when i hit the runway to make sure i "stick" but i think in the real world this will lead to a nose over.

Which plane are you tring in RF G2? The Spacewalker is pretty forgiving so start there and work your way up. It seems to me that the others are more touchy, need more speed, or need flaps to land well. FWIW, I also have found that landing a model tail dragger is easier than on the Sim, especially for wheel landings. My guess is that you don't get enough cisual cues for the fine depth perception on the sim...

Mark

Scienceiscool - Don't be trying to cheat the simulator with the down elevator :-) What I could recommend is trying to trim the plane for slow flight. If you have the plane trimmed for WOT (Wide Open Throttle) it's bound to come in either too hot or too fast. Try to trim the plane for half or quarter throttle. This will allow you too use the throttle to gently set her down. Trimmed to quarter throttle level flight, you might even be able to set her down just with the throttle and let her run out on the mains.

I agree with eaglelope on the sim landings. I can land any plane for real save a jet (haven't tried) and I still have some problems with landing on Real Flight. I can't seem to put the Twinstar down with any kind of consistency... And that dang gust of wind that flips your plane over all of a sudden... WHAT IS THAT?

There is a pattern plane from Hobbico I think... can't remember to name that is pretty easy to land, too.

One thing that G2 gets wrongwrongwrong is rolling friction. Esp on "grass". When you touchdown a taildragger, the friction of the wheels on the ground will tend to nose over the plane. G2 doesn't get that right, so you don't get that nose-over tendancy at all. So, your using down elevator to get an effect that would show up naturally on touchdown. Combine the friction with the downelevator, and over you go.

(you should have seen the landings I was getting with my Waco last weekend. Smooth touchdown, rolling along on the mains, then *spash*-tumble, as the wheels catch a @$#! puddle.)

G2's lack of rolling friction + always-perfectly flat ground + always perfectly aligned gear means that tail dragger take offs are much easier on the sim as well.

thanks alot for the responses guys, i really appreciate it.

It also sounds as though you are keeping power on too long. You mentioned you keep 20% until you are over the runway. By that time you should probably be around 2 or 3 clicks above idle.

Remember when landing:

Throttle controls rate of descent

Elevator controls attitude (speed)

What KWB above said--ditto from me. when I roll out level on final, I've started pulling power back, and I'm watching my sink rate. I'm usually 2-3 clicks above idle as I cross the threshold, and I hold that setting as I continue to settle, just nudging the elevator to keep the nose level, when the mains touch, I pull back to idle, but hold the elevator where it is, and watch to see where the nose goes, if it starts over, I have two choices, either bump the throttle a click or two, or nudge the elevator back just enough to keep it from ground looping, and let the tail settle on its own.

As an aside, I was watching a documentary on Lindberg the other night, and it had a ton of flying footage, Jenny's, mail planes, and the Spirit; Every landing it showed of the Spirit of St. Louis had Lindy setting the tail wheel down a split second before the mains. Thought that was interesting.

Science - I had the same problem as you. I can land the real thing and grease it in but on the G2 I will do the Bunny Hop ... its only after like quite a while can I land decently on G2. The software is not like the real thing.

whew.... so i'm not retarded. hehe i kind of thought the software wasn't simulating the friction of hitting the ground as realistic as it should.

I know that someone mentined it above, but it sounds to me like you are comming in way to fast.

Try even before you line up with the runway to chop the trottle to a little above nothing and just coast her in...