Mitty,

I just got done looking through the Pilots Notes for the L-13, looking
for a 'wheel landing' recommendation. I couldn't find it, but I feel
it's in there some where. I can tell you the POH for L-33
specifically states to 'land on the main wheel before the tail wheel'.

I think in general, Let products are designed for 'wheel landing'.

I can tell you from experience, if you flair an L-13 or an L-33 close to
the ground, you are very likely to strike the the tail boom on the
ground, very hard, way before the main wheel.

Sincerely,
David Walsh


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!