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Old May 31st 06, 03:27 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Newbie Q: Blanik L-23 Landing


Mitty wrote:
I am learning to fly a Blanik L-23 and my instructor is telling me to
"fly it on" with no flare.

1) I am commercial/instrument rated with somewhere north of 1000 ASEL
and a few ASES landings in my logbook. I am _programmed_ to flare.
:-) To not flare is very hard for me.

2) The Blanik AFM refers to flaring on landing.

3) The instructor is very concerned about the fragility of the tail
wheel, so possibly this is the reason for his technique.

So ... to flare or not? When solo, I mean.

BTW, this is pretty neat stuff. I wish my first few hours of training
had been in a glider. Certainly I would have learned to use the
rudder much sooner!


The main answer is 3. The rubber 'donuts' in the tail wheel fail from
rough contact and banging by overbraking on the main gear putting the
glider on its nose. The little ground contact bubble under the nose is
likely scraped also. If the donuts fail, the resulting collapse may
damage the surround which is relatively expensive. The donuts should
be inspected daily and after each tail slam. The instructor is
postponing the inevitable.

In general, two-pointing your landing is preferred and low energy
landings when landing out on XC flights are highly desirable.

Soaring is the domain of the seeker. Words mostly fail to convey the
experience to the uninitiated. If you keep seeking, you'll explore
places and see sights most uncommon. Welcome aboard.

Frank Whiteley