What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Landing with a flat, and how to patch a tube with velcro and superglue

CATPart

Well Known Member
I didn't land with a flat, as it happened in the 30 seconds I waited for my takeoff clearance. Clearance granted, I tried to taxi to the runway, but could not roll at all, just did a 360 around my right leg, regardless of how much left brake and rudder. I was convinced my right brake was stuck. Tower let me shut down and hop out for an inspection, wheel pant is on the ground, tire as flat as can be.

My first thought, "there is no way they can tow this tail dragger (RV-4)". Tow cart shows up, and yea, not going to happen. So I hitch a ride back to the hangar (3/4 to 1 mile probably), load up the FBO golf cart with my tools, borrow a jack and air tank from them, but we can't find a tire patch anywhere. The fbo guy looks in the toolbox and sees some tape, superglue, adhesive backed Velcro, windex, we grab it all.

Back at the plane, I go into pit crew mode and have that wheel pant off in 2 minutes. I fill the tire just to see if it will hold long enough to taxi away, nope, flat in 30 seconds. I have the wheel and tire off in about 10 minutes, all while planes taxi in and run up (luckily I was safely tucked in at the corner of the runup area). Inspect the tire, find nothing. Pull and inflate the tube, find a small hole in the tread area.

Now for the patch. Oops we forgot sand paper, so the fbo guy grabs a rock and scuffs the area. I clean it with windex and paper towels. He dabs some super glue on the hole. We put a small square of the Velcro over the hole and squeeze it for a little while. We air it up and it seems to hold. 10 minutes later I have it all back together and we set the plane back on the ground. Still holding! I hop in and taxi back to the hangar, and 2 hours later, still holding air! Rest assured, the plane will receive a new tube and also a new tire before I fly again.

All this had me wondering, I taxied all that way just fine, and the tire went flat in the last 30 seconds as I waited for clearance. What if I didn't have to wait that 30 seconds, and took off a right away? The tire would have gone flat in the air and I would have only known upon landing. What is it like to land a tail dragger with a flat? I expect it would be a really bad time. This also makes me wonder, can I put one of those tire pressure sensors in there, just like my Honda has?
 
Let's say that you're flying along and everything's fine. Then the tire pressure indicator says one of the tires lost pressure.

Then what?

I'm asking because I don't know either. But my expectations are the same as yours.

Dave
 
I have had a couple fo flats while landing taildragger RV's, and they ere never a big problem - tire went flat, you pulled a little that way, steer the other, and bring it to a stop - but try as hard as you can to get it off the runway, becasue once it stops - that where it sits until you get a new tire on it! I don't recomend practicing it, but as long as you apply whatever control necessary to make the airplane go where you want, it is fine.

I flew a certain "Heavy Glider" with tire pressure indications, and we had three of them on each tire in order to have confidence in them. In general, if you only had one, and you saw it slowly drop off, you were probably more likely to have a real leak than if the indication just suddenly went away. Sudden loss was generally the sign of an instrumentation failure (or a micrometeorite strike, but that was areally low probability). Two indications? A man with two watches never knows what time it is.......
 
Just had a flat right after landing two weeks ago. Fortunately it happened as we were taxiing off the runway. Unforutnately in continuing to move the plane forward so it didn't block the area off the bottom of the wheel pant took the brunt of the damage and wore it down. Time for some FG work.

Having had a few flats I now always carry an extra tube in the plane as part of the field repair kit in the back of the plane. It's easier to find a jack and friendly helper at a remote field than a tube.
 
Had a flat on my nose wheel. Landing Not a problem but taxi was "difficult"
The real problem was about a month later when doing a preflight, front wheel did not look right. Put my foot on it and it wiggled. Turned out the wheel was cracked circumferentially though the bolt holes. Do not know if related but suggest everyone check the wheel after a flat!
 
Had a flat a couple years ago during an annual. Added air to one tire, and as I went to top up the other side, the first tire went flat. Yes, it was a hole in the tube, and it couldn't have happened at a better time. It does make you think--maybe worry a little. It wasn't an old tube, either, and no previous damage.

Bob
 
In my on-board tool kit is a little inner tube patch kit (got it at a bike shop, IIRC) and a bicycle tire pump. If I'm going on a trip out of town, I carry one main gear and one nosegear spare tube.

Only flat I've had so far (knock on wood) was returning to home base, and it went down after pulling up by the hangar and getting out!
 
I've managed to get two flats in an RV. Last one was just like yours in my -12. Scrubbed paint off the wheel pant until my brain checked in and figured what was wrong. Just like you, I took it apart in the run-up area and took the tire back to the maintenance hangar to get a new tube.

I once landed my Rocket with a flat that I didn't know about until I touched down. It gets your attention fast and if you are not on the rudder pedals, you'll be in the weeds pretty quickly. Fortunately, when landing a tail wheel airplane, you are on the rudder all the way so it's not that much of an issue. However, be prepared to replace the wheel pant. You'll pretty much shred it.
 
Landing RV-6 with flat tire

I landed my RV-6 with a flat tire just last week. I can't say for sure just when it went flat. Might have been right after touchdown, but I suspect it was low to flat when I landed. It wasn't a "blowout" as the tube only had a small hole in it. Luckily, I happened to have the wheel pants off at the time or there might have been some damage to the pant or worse if the tire got really snagged in the pant. I wheel land the plane about 98% of the time and this was a wheel landing. The only thing that happened that could have been a big deal was the tail went up more than usual, due to the dragging tire, so there was potential for a prop strike or nosing over. It did pull in the direction of the flat, but didn't feel like it was going to ground loop. I didn't realize what was going on until I tried to taxi back to the hanger. No problem doing a 180 on the runway, but no way was the flat tire going to roll anywhere. A couple of airport maintenance guys came out with a dolly, helped me get the crippled wheel on it, and towed me back to the hangar. Luckily I was at home base. The plane had a 10 ply tire and I'm thinking that it was low and I didn't notice it because of the stiffness of the tire. I plan to run a test sometime to see if that's possible. Perhaps others already have the answer and I would welcome hearing it. By the way, a friend of mine with an RV-8 landed with a flat and it did get snagged in the wheel pant. It pulled him off the runway, but the only damage was to the wheel pant, tire and tube. If I had known I had a flat, I would have three pointed the landing while trying to keep as much weight off the flat as possible for as long as possible.
 
Last edited:
Temporary Tube Sealants

Anyone ever used Slime tube sealant as a temporary fix to seal a small leak enough to get you home?
 
Last edited:
Happened to me too

Me to, but fortunately on the ground. Taxied out for run-up when it went flat. My problem was a pinched tube. I think that when I pulled into the run-up area and pivoted around the left wheel, it caused the tube to rip. The FBO came out to air it up but the tear was too great and the air just leaked out as fast as it went in. We had to drag the plane back with the tire flopping around which cut the sidewall.

Fortunately I was on the ground when it happened and at my home airport.
 
Back at the plane, I go into pit crew mode and have that wheel pant off in 2 minutes. I fill the tire just to see if it will hold long enough to taxi away, nope, flat in 30 seconds. I have the wheel and tire off in about 10 minutes, all while planes taxi in and run up (luckily I was safely tucked in at the corner of the runup area).

One of those would have been me in a Cherokee 4255T knocking out a couple of approaches. Probably ended up being lucky that 28L is closed and 28R usually gets backed up when the weather's good. Looked like you had it under control. If it hadn't have been busy dive jumped out and helped.

Anyone ever looked into tire foam or the balls the off-road guys use in motorcycle tires? After a few flats on my bike deep in Baja I thought about it but they were still new a few years ago.
 
Good to hear some survivor reports from tire flat landings. Perhaps the centrifugal force while still light and rolling is enough to keep the tire from collapsing for the most part.

Bluelabel, yea we had it under control. It was a little make-shift for sure, but all is well that ends well. Was a fun perspective seeing everybody taxi by. Especially when the big twins came in, and swung their tails past me, big breeze. I think the TFR kept traffic light that day.
 
Flat Repair

I carry a new tube in my -8 and also a little Co2 filling thing I got at a motorcycle shop. Two Co2 cartriges and the filler is very light and small. Cheap insurance. I used it once for a buddy in his -6 that went flat at a formation flying event. Works well.
 
I landed with a flat tire in my Pacer at Sun N Fun several years ago. It was one of those fast wheel landings since there was a fast plane right behind me running up my butt. Landing was fine, just had a **** of a time taxiing.

Thought it would be no problem finding a new tube since I was there for a few days, but it was at the time there was a strike or something at Goodyear or Firestone which was the only company making the tubes for th8 800 x 4 tires at the time. Tube was ripped right by the valve stem so no fixing it, but fortunately I called someone that was coming there anyway and they had a spare wheel and tire.

I thought hard about it before I got the new wheel and my backup plan was going to be buying a can of the Great Stuff spray foam insulation at Home Depot, removing the core from the valve stem, and filling up the tire with no weight on it until it dried. I never did get to try this, but I still think it would work good and hopefully someday it will save someone.
 
I've had flats in an RV-6, 7, and 8. It's not a big deal, although it can sure be inconvenient. The RV6 flat was at SMO on a Saturday morning. I couldn't move the plane without help and it blocked the runway for a while.

I once lost a tire ? literally ? while taxiing a Pitts S-2C. I had stopped for cheap fuel in Limon, Colorado, a paved but little-used strip on the edge of a small town near the Nebraska border. After a great landing in a 25 knot crosswind, I refueled and started to back-taxi on the runway when the left main tire slowly deflated. I shut down and opened the canopy, but as soon as my feet came off the brakes, the airplane weathervaned into the wind, taking the tire right off the rim as it pivoted. Now I couldn?t even move the plane.

Oh, and did I mention the sun was setting soon and the runway had lights? Suddenly the flat tire was less important than ensuring some wayward pilot didn?t attempt a night landing with my disabled, unlighted biplane sitting on the runway.

Light aircraft flats are more often caused by the failure of the tube than the tire itself. The Pitts incident taught me the value not only of proper tire inflation, but also of alighting at airports with maintenance services when flying cross-country. Making that trip today, I?d at least carry a spare tube.
 
Back at the plane, I go into pit crew mode and have that wheel pant off in 2 minutes. I fill the tire just to see if it will hold long enough to taxi away, nope, flat in 30 seconds. I have the wheel and tire off in about 10 minutes, all while planes taxi in and run up (luckily I was safely tucked in at the corner of the runup area). Inspect the tire, find nothing. Pull and inflate the tube, find a small hole in the tread area.

I could have told your story, except I had my car back in the Hangar a short mile or so away.

How did you get the wheel and tire off in 10 minutes!? It took me all day and several trips to Home Depot and Harbor Freight to get supplies. I was a brand new owner though and had no experience, but all I was trying to do was get the plane back in the hangar.

I carry a tube now and a bottle of slime that I hope will work in a pinch. But I also carry a small 12V inflator made by Slime as well. It works like a champ for all my car/motorcycle/plane needs and only cost about $16 bucks. My biggest fear though is I still don't have a way to lift the wheel off the ground if I am away from my hangar. I have a nice lever jack that works in the hangar but is too heavy and bulky to carry.

How did you get the wheel in the air and off in such a short amount of time? Thanks. Andy
 
Andy I guess it just went really smooth, nothing got stuck, and I had the right tools. We had a wing jack, so that was quick and easy to get the tire off the ground. I removed the wheel pant before jacking, and it only has 7 screws and 1 bolt. Then the axle nut and cotter pin came right off. Then 2 safety wired bolts to split the brake caliper. Now the wheel slides right off the axle. Three more bolts to split the rim, and that's about it. Only tools needed were a phillips screwdriver, one end wrench, one socket, a socket wrench with extension, a crescent wrench, wire snips, and pliers. I also had my torque wrench for reinstall.

Also, just checked today and the tire is still holding air with the goofy patch! But it is off the plane.
 
You did well. My line guys where not able to help. I also tried a couple cans of fix-a-flat from Wawa but unless you can spin the wheel, I guess it doesn't spread. My hole was in the side wall of the tube too. Lessons learned. Thanks for the info!
 
We got a flat taxiing out for takeoff on Runway 3 at Albuquerque International on a Sunday morning. It was a long day.
ztud7p.jpg
[/IMG]
 
Back
Top