Side slip
steve murray said:
Just started flying my RV8 (I am a new tailwheel pilot) and have expereiced an unpleasant event twice.
(My guess is it is my technique)
I have got the touchdown part working pretty good, but twice with a crosswind coming from the right, and the tail now on the ground, I have found myself going to the right edge of the runway. I keep adding more left rudder but it feels and behaves like the rear wheel is not engaged to the steering mechanism at all. On the last event, I had full left rudder but no effect and I had to apply breaking action to the left wheel to prevent egressing the runway into the grass.
I checked my rear wheel tonight and it appears to be functioning correctly, it locks in place when straight and breaks free when put into a sharp turn.
I am wondering if something in my technique is causing the wheel to break free and I am losing steering capability?
Would really appreciate some thoughts
Well you are taking a good first step, self critique and looking for help. You are clearly not in total control and either landing not aligned with the runway (Crab) or in a drift or a little of both.
Look you should NOT have both main gear tires on the ground until the wing has almost stopped flying. You literally are rolling out ON ONE WHEEL with stick into the wind and anti-weather vane rudder (opposite of stick). The down wind wheel should not touch down until you have almost ALL of the stick into the wind. Rudder is only half of the battle. That just keeps the airplane aligned with the runway, but the ANTI WIND control or dirft is from BANKING, even while on the ground. You can be BANKED on TOUCH DOWN AND ROLL OUT. Not only you can but should. It seems radical at first but its a must to master.
YOU NEED THE HORIZONTAL COMPONENT OF THE WIND TO COUNTER DRIFT. The rudder is only used to align the longitudinal axis of the plane with direction of travel or direction wheels roll.
Suggest you find a cross wind day and practice low passes down the runway with some power and no attempt at landing in a SIDE SLIP. That is the KEY SIDE SLIP.
There are two types of slips,
FORWARD SLIP is when the side of the plane is FORWARD
SIDE SLIP is when the side of the plane is on the SIDE (meaning no crab, airplane fuselage is aligned with its flight path).
With a Fwd slip you have way more rudder in and the side of the of the airplane is going forward or into the wind.
A SIDE SLIP requires a balance of aileron and rudder to counter the cross wind component. The only way to counter cross wind is with the Horizontal component of lift, meaning you are banked. You can practice side slips away from the airport. Find a straight road you can fly fairly low over 500-1000 feet safely, that has a good cross wind. Than fly up and down the road in a side slip (fuselage aligned with road). It helps if the road has a land mark at the end to uses to detect drift, yaw or crabbing.
You can't or should not land in a crab and you can't or should not land in a forward slip. Trikes are forgiving, taildragger may get you Mr. Toads wild ride.
Practice as I suggest over the runway or over a road. Learn to fly wing low (windward side) with the fuselage aligned with the runway. Fly down the runway 5-20 feet above with some power. Altitude is not important but drift and longitudinal alignment is. If you drift, more aileron. If your fuselage is not aligned with runway, add more or less rudder. Look down to the runway end to judge drift and alignment. Play with them until you are COMFORTABLE WITH HOLDING CROSS CONTROL and making fine adjustments without thinking about, while keeping the wing low, no crab tracking of runway, in a SLIP. What kind of slip? Side slip of course.
Now the touch down. COMMON mistake is to relax the anti-wind side slip controls when the first (windward) tire touches down. The trick it to HOLD the side slip on touch down and KEEP the controls PRO side slip and increase those cross control deflections (aileron and rudder) to keep the down wind wheel OFF the runway as long as possible. YOU NEED BANK TO KEEP FROM DRIFTING, EVEN WITH ONE TIRE ON THE GROUND.
Pilots are afraid to land in a bank or on one wheel. Its a must. However keep in mind x-winds can exceed plane limits. In large Jets with wing mounted engines the limit is dragging the engines. In a RV the limiting factor is probably a little of everything, rudder authority, wing tip clearance and just its low weight, but the real limiting factor is pilot skill. There is always GO AROUND, add power and takeoff. Cross control IS NOT natural for many pilots but is a needed skill for landing in x-winds.
The other method some use is the KICK it straight in the last foot before touch down. That may work in a Trike but will get you in trouble. The other TRICK is landing in a crab. Tail draggers are not that hard and will tolerate a little "kick it straight" and a little landing in a "Crab" technique but you should learn to land aligned with the runway in a controlled way. With large jets some time you have maxed out the slip and can't bank any more and need to land in crab or kick it straight, due to engine clearance. You may use all three in a Jet under severe conditions, side slip, crab and kick in. With Jets we have the advantage of landing spoilers that kills the lift and plants the plane firmly. Of course 300,000 lbs does not hurt.
You will touch down at say 50 mph but you should not stop flying until you are to taxi speed (or tied down). So you'll hold that down wind wheel off until you have almost ALL the aileron in. Of course if windy, you need to hold the controls in the common anti0wind positions.
TAXI: I think some one on these fourms said picture the direction a HAT would blow in the wind: Winds from the Fwd quadrants, Opposite the way the hat blows (up elevator & into the wind). Winds from the aft quadrants, In the direction the hat would blow (down elevator & away from the wind).
In years of flying RV's there was ALWAYS enough rudder.
Good Luck and pick your days for cross wind and limited to smaller cross wind components. However do not accept any (ANY) drift or forward slip on landing (crab) and hold that down wind wheel OFF as long as possible. IT IS FUN TO ROLLOUT ON ONE WHEEL. Once the down wind wheel is on the ground you have full weight on the wheels and and control of the plane.
I did not mention, but I land in a tail low wheel landing attitude, especially in cross wind. You don't want to over do it, but a little extra speed gives you a more control. Trying to land in wind near stall in a three point is not the way to go IMHO. When you get good you can do a wheel landing touch and go and even with out a X-wind you can "fly" down the runway while rolling on one wheel. Bob Hoover did this in his act, but he would hop up and put the other wheel on the runway and dance back and forth on one main or the other. Not suggesting you do that, just illustrating what can be done. I never tried it, but do think I achieved proficiency in cross wind landings. The trick? Practice.
