Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

Greetings!
First off I love reading posts on this site! Alot of good brain power going on. I have been out of flying for ten years, and now getting back in. Closest active flying club is about 40 miles away, but where I live in south Texas, have plenty of access to some great grass farms. I now have 3 planes and waiting on my latest toy, a Sig Rascal 110, with the sometime cursed Supertigre 3250 I plan on mating to it. I have 3 high wings, 1 taildragger and 2 tricycle.
Being I usually fly by myself, or people just as dumb as me, I don't get to see common pratices, with good pilots. Sorry for long leadin, but question is: Is it common for most pilots to land under power? I deadstick mine fine on landings, and although sometimes I may walk 50 yards to fetch one, I hadn't broke a prop or anything else I couldn't fix, yet. Give me your imput on what you consider the proper way of landing!! Thanks, Larry.

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

To me, logic would dictate that powered landings would be preferable since that would give one a chance to abort or pull out of trouble or simply having more control of the landing speed. Otherwise, I feel you should land how you feel most comfortable with. Dead sticking all the time will keep you sharper and it won't be such a surprise when your engine quits. I often kill the engine when I need to get the plane slower than the idle will let it. I thinks it's quite fun dead sticking to practice stopping the plane right in front of me.

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

Kinda funny, what got me to doing this! First plane was sturdy birdy with ailerons. Most landings were w.o.t. directly on the engine spinner. Yes, plane is still flying today! But once learnt better control, got my prop breaking on landing down to about 1 a weekend. Of course this heavy plane crashes better than it flies!!! So,, my reason for deadstickin is to save props, plus I have 1/4 mile area to land in! But I still want to learn the right way!!!!!

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

UM...

There is no need or advantage to purposely gliding-in without power. Land on the mains and taxi back. What you are doing is forcing bad approaches because you have no other option. Learn to land, it's pretty important.

That being said, at least you know you can land a plane that loses power in flight. You just need to learn to land with power. It's very helpful to stretch an approach or combat crosswinds etc...

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

Found it,, I'm north of Houston and I instruct, if you'd like we can meet up and I can work with you. You'll be greasing them in, in no time, engine on.

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

Hey, if you got a throttle, use it.

Shoot some touch-and-goes. If you like that, then MOVE UP to doing some "touch-and-stops". ;)

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

Some models actually land slower with the motor idling - it has a braking effect greater than a motionless prop. As mentioned earlier: dead stick gives you one chance. No way to blip it back up for another/better line-up. You also risk stalling if you try and stretch it out. It can be poison to use up elevator in some models on a dead-stick approach if your coming in short. I assume you are talking about killing the engine after it is lined up and on final.

When I was suffering through my SK .50 engine I got lots of refresher opportunities for when I flew gliders. It's good to have practiced dead-sticks. I know some pilots who flat-out panic when the engine stops.

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

Dead stick land if you want... it's dead stick take offs that'll cause you trouble and strife!

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

I've had my share of dead sticks, back in the day when I had trouble tuning a certain 2 stroke 60 size engine I have. Now I know the engine, I make very few dead sticks, but when I do, there is no panic and I haven't damaged an airframe because of one. The only time I do it intentionally now is when I fly at certain places where I have to land in tall grass. Then It's idle in, and cut the throttleright before touch down to prevent my prop from braking. My advice? Land how you want to. They are YOUR planes, and it makes for some great practice.

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

I usually land deadstick the last flight of a flying session just to run the tank and engine dry.nothing wrong with landing deadstick,only drawback is you only have one shot and if you have a headwind you may not make the runway.I am assuming you intentionally kill the engine at some point on final?

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

Depending on how busy your field is, I personally think its more courteous to other flyers in the air to be able to taxi off the runway under power. Keeps the runway clear for other pilots. If you have to walk out on the field to retrieve your plane, other pilots will need to stay clear. Usually not a problem. I also think the ability to land safely under power is a good indication of the pilots overall skill.

Brad

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

Go out to a slope and fly.
You'll learn all about everything there is to know about flying, and since each launch is "dead stick", you'll stop worrying about it.

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

There is something to that. In college avaition club (late 70's) EVERYBODY started with two-channel gliders. We used rubber Hi-Starts instead of a slope, though.

Now that I think on this I may have to build me a glider this winter. Been a long time.

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

Thanks for all your insight. I just hating eating props on landing because most of flying areas are grassfarms and between taller grass [at times] and the unevenness [at times] I would deadstick. [tightwad buying props]. But with my .60 high wing and my 1.98 Rascal with larger tires, I totally agree, and will go to power landings. And to Skull1971, Thank you for the offer! I'll see how it goes once I get the Rascal in hand! Since I started flying again in September, I have landed my three different planes probably total of 20 times with just one tip over. [Deadsticking], so probably be easier with power. All motors now I have are O.S.'s and all run and idle SWEET!
You guys are scaring me about the Tiger 3250 but I can tinker with anything! Thanks Again! Larry.

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

I'm a member of the Tri-county Barnstormers, in New Waverly, and your welcome anytime.

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

Love to dead stick.
I started flying 1/12 scale planes with no landing gear (AKA combat). If you pratice it you will never fear it. The first time I dead sticked my Twist everyone at the field was waiting for me to crash. Came in with a beatuiful smooth landing right in front of me about 5 feet away. Everyone was amazed that I didnt crash.
One thing is important keep up your speed (dont stall).

Now I'm not braggin, I have crashed my share of planes in my early days, but the experience with the smaller planes now makes me feel comfortable with any size plane I have on a dead stick.

Larry

RE: Dead stick landing, pros and cons
 

i had a crap engine on my first trainer (replaced it in short order) and any time i put the throttle below 1/4 she quit on me. kinda hard to learn when the engine doesnt work properly. my instructor and i tried tuning one day, and killed two glow drivers and still didnt get it working properly. so, i learned to land deadstick! the learning curve was alot steeper this way, but b/c it was a common thing, i just bring herin and land it. no panic, no sweating, nothing. it is a bit trickier than with power (especially in wind, even worse when the wind is gusting really bad) but its a skill that everyone should master and practice. ive even had the engine quit on climbout and still brought it in safely (only a broken prop) i was sweating a little on that one b/c i was only about 75 feet in the air and had to land in the rough close to the runway.
I would definately learn power and deadstick landings. good to be prepared. even the best engines will quit on ya at least once.
i try to practice at least one deadstick on the last flight of the day (unless its crappy flight conditions) or even more if its a calm day.