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Another "landing an -A" question

Dugaru

Well Known Member
So I've seen several people recommend holding the stick full back until the nosewheel decides to come down on its own. That makes sense to me aerodynamically, and I started out doing that, in part because it matched my muscle memory from taildragger training. :)

But I noticed that with the stick full back, the nosewheel can stay pretty high and then drop with some.... authority. Is it better to just sort of ease the nosewheel down to the ground (and/or not hold it quite so far off the ground in the first place)?

Or maybe there's some other aspect of my technique that could be tweaked?
 
Doug,
I think there’s a variable amount of “it depends” in whether to keep the stick full aft. It depends in CG, decreasing airspeed, individual aircraft flight characteristics, winds, etc. Some of the “several people” might require full aft stick to protect the nose strut. You may not.

As for KELLI GIRL, I land with the nose up although that doesn’t require FULL aft stick. However, as she slows, I must keep adding aft stick to keep the nosewheel off the runway. And then, about the time the stick gets FULL aft, I slowly relax the aft stick and let the nose wheel settle (not fall). Your technique for your airplane may vary.

For your consideration.
 
Pretty much what Sid said. Clearly just letting it fall to the ground from 6" or more doesn't exude the finesse that most of us strive for in this most skill demanding phase of flight.
 
There's not "-A" definitive answer

Agree with Sid and Scott. I have 7 landings on my -9A now and there's so many variables on this equation that each landing is unique. Bottom line is that you have to take a sight picture of your nose wheel off the ground and once you land, try to keep that, exactly like Sid said. You will find yourself at a very low speed with full stick back, then slowly relax.
Just make sure you don't "flare" not too high trying to protect the nose wheel.
Try to find a friend that flies an "-A" model and ask him to fly with you and then you can see some other techniques.
Have fun and keep the RV grin. :D
 
I keep the nose up until I'm almost out of stick travel - then use the remaining travel to make a somewhat more graceful nose drop.
 
I don't land with the nose that high and just aim to keep it off the ground, similar to my takeoff technique. It slows down pretty quickly and when the stick is all the way back, it doesn't have enough authority to keep it in the air so it settles. It happens so fast, I'd be tempted to just say pull it back all the way but the truth is just keep it off the ground until you can't.
 
Agree with what Sid and others have posted.

First things first, a good landing starts with a stable and established approach.
One thing that clearly should be done differently in an RV (7A) is properly flying pitch/power, establishing speed mainly through pitch and not how it is often done and taught in Pipers and Cessnas with speed via the throttle and just pointing the nose at where you want to go.
Much more stable approaches can be had if you control the angle/distance via throttle and speed via the pitch attitude.

Secondly, even if the "textbook" approach speed of 1.3 x Vs0 / AoA system orange is more like 65ish kts, i only ever target that when a really short landing is required. Otherwise my Vref at the threshold is 70kts, possibly 1-3 kts less when light. This gives slightly more energy reserves for a nice flare and to correct for gusts/wind effects.
A 65kts approach requires a perfect flare at just the right moment to arrest descent without running out of energy too early or touching down firm with a possible risk of a bounce. 65kts to me just doesn't feel comfortable and feels like you're already starting the flare "on the backside of the curve".
So 70kts it is :)

As to how much stick to keep the nose up after the touchdown, that really depends a lot on the c.g.! When tail heavy/lots of baggage, both the flare and the rollout thereafter i find need very little back stick, whereas at solo weight with a lot of fuel and little baggage, the stick needs to hold a lot more backpressure.
As others have said, simply keeping the nose as high as possible until the stick runs out of authority is not the best idea as the nose then drops quite violently. I hold the nose off until the elevator runs out of pitch authority (stick all the way back at the end), but with the nose off only by a few inches.
Once the nose drops and the aircraft further slows down, there is a "sensitive" speed range on our nosegear where fore-aft shimmy tends to develop. So i either keep the taxi speed above or then actively brake through that speed zone and taxi slower.
 
This a great thread for an aspiring RV-9A owner like me. I've never landed an RV of any kind, but I hope/plan to be picking one up this weekend...purchase is imminent. I'll be flying it back some 500 miles to get home. Fortunately my CFI is going with me so it will be about 3.5 hours of dual (insurance company only requires 2 hours, but it will likely take me all of that just to figure out the avionics).

It appears that there is a wide range of landing technique, just as with other planes. I'm excited to see what works for me.
 
This a great thread for an aspiring RV-9A owner like me. I've never landed an RV of any kind, but I hope/plan to be picking one up this weekend...purchase is imminent. I'll be flying it back some 500 miles to get home. Fortunately my CFI is going with me so it will be about 3.5 hours of dual (insurance company only requires 2 hours, but it will likely take me all of that just to figure out the avionics).

It appears that there is a wide range of landing technique, just as with other planes. I'm excited to see what works for me.


Probably 200+ landings in my 1 year old 160 Hr 9a now. A couple months ago I took my old CFI (non RV guy) for a flight. He landed it very flat, so just be aware just because someone has a CFI label the RV does take a bit different technique to do. Not hard, in fact my wife is taking her pilot pilot lessons in my RV9a and has never even been in a typical training airplane.

I think the best way to describe landing is "don't let it land, and when it does don't let the nose land"
 
Probably 200+ landings in my 1 year old 160 Hr 9a now. A couple months ago I took my old CFI (non RV guy) for a flight. He landed it very flat, so just be aware just because someone has a CFI label the RV does take a bit different technique to do. Not hard, in fact my wife is taking her pilot pilot lessons in my RV9a and has never even been in a typical training airplane.

I think the best way to describe landing is "don't let it land, and when it does don't let the nose land"

He's owned a couple of tricycle-gear RV's over the years. Lucky break for me... he's not actually a CFI, he's an Anesthesiologist colleague who also happens to be a CFI. We're the same age, but he's smarter than I am....he recently retired.
 
Drop Violently?

About 300 hours on my 9A and a few landings. Never have I had the nose wheel drop violently on landing. Holding the stick back, and progressively pulling to keep the nose off always results in a gentle lowering of the nose to the surface.
Dragging the bird in at a lower than Vs 1.3 or faster - gets pretty much the same results. No violence at all.
 
On the 14 my speed is the factor that drives that nose wheel to "slam" down when the mains touch, I did this a lot at first. After some experience managing my speed on final the nose wheel holds off and finally touches like a feather. 5kts can make a huge difference.
 
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