Twitchy handling on rollout

[AUcary]

I think that almost every tailwheel airplane out there flys differently and you pretty much have to sort out what works best with time. I find my 3 to be an easier airplane to fly than most of my prior TW experience. It's very sensitive and small corrections work well and I prefer that. For me I typically fly my approaches half flap, over that numbers around 75-80, tail low wheelie, slight forward pressure on the mains to plant them, flaps up, as soon as the tail stops flying I plant it stick back and NEVER let up till the mags are off. I think Van got it so right with these little airplanes and they make us look good. I came home from a long trip the other day and had a runway closed at my home airport leaving me with 18Kt gusting 24 direct crosswinds as my only option if I wanted to tuck my little guy in that same night. The PC-12 in front of me was complaining and it gave me terrible anxiety. It took a ton of aileron down to the pavement and once I had the mains on it took full deflection and a lot of rudders to maintain centerline but it was amazing, I NEVER felt like the airplane was out of control or that I lost authority. It was a huge confidence builder in the airplane and its ability. I don't think I would ever go search for these conditions again but it certainly made me feel better that its not a problem for the airplane. I think the one big thing I do is run a lower PSI in the tires, which seems to help my bird.

I look at TW flying like golf, the secret is in the dirt. When I go fly my 3 I usually go to another quiet airport and fly patterns for 20-30 min. You can literally make 10 landings in that amount of time in a 3. If you want to get really good at something you have to go do it a lot. At the end of the day you should not fear landing these little airplanes, its one of the most fun things you can do with them IMO. Learn how to land it power on, power off, full flap, half flap, no flap. I hope I never experience it but I no longer fear the off-airport scenario in my 3 like I did when I first bought it.

[dlomheim]

Sounds like you have discovered the problem as poor build from the beginning with too much toe in/out. I'm not sure what you mean by "twitchy", but If you encounter a gear "shimmy" on one side; make sure to check the engine mount for a crack on a lower cross tube. My 3A developed a shimmy that a friend also noticed when I took off, and a careful inspection found a crack on the mount, and once that was repaired the shimmy went away.

Doug

RV-3A sold
RV-9A FWF

[sblack]

Originally Posted by Cloudboy

Bill
Thanks for your experience with the Rocket link. It confirms my belief that it is too direct a link. Lots of people swear by them and say they get better control. Me, I overcontrol. I'm going to have some sort of hookup to the tailwheel so I don't have to use brakes all the time to steer on the ramp but I will have plenty of slack in the cables.

I think you are jumping to conclusions. He changed several things at once. If the basic alignment was off there will be directional control issues. I don’t think this proves that the rocket link was the culprit.