Tailwheel Crosswind Landing

Wheel landing or full-stall?
How wide was the runway?
Did you keep the rudder and aileron in or relax and neutralize the
controls once the wheels were on?
Did you suck the stick full back into your gut?
If you don't pull it all the way, you don't get enough pressure on the
tailwheel.

wrote:
I am a long term lurker and have a question regarding landing tailwheel
airplanes in a crosswind. I have about 250 hours in a Piper PA-12 Super
Cruiser. The other day during a very routine crosswind landing I
started heading for the weeds faster than I new what to do.

I had a fairly gentle cross wind from the left. I had cancelled out all
sideways drift by lowering my left wing and aligned the plane with the
runway with right rudder. At touchdown, everything seemed perfect. That
is when all hell broke loose. As soon as I touched down, I started a
very fast turn to the right. At one point I was headed right between
two runway light. As I was deciding that "between" was not a bad place
to be, I finally managed to straighten everything out and managed to
stay on the runway.

In talking to my mechanic as soon as I touched down (I was sure there
was a mechanical problem), he figured that with all of the right rudder
needed to keep things straight, that my tailwheel just sent me to the
right once it touched down.

My question is, what was really going on here? Should my tailwheel
have released (castored) when I touched down? Your thoughts are greatly
appreciated.

Thanks.

Tom

In article ,
says...
Wheel landing or full-stall?
How wide was the runway?
Did you keep the rudder and aileron in or relax and neutralize the
controls once the wheels were on?
Did you suck the stick full back into your gut?
If you don't pull it all the way, you don't get enough pressure on the
tailwheel.


Landing was three point.
It was a big wide runway, 75 x 3500. Sussex, NJ (FWN)
Hard to recall, but I was probably not relaxed enough.
The stick probably could have been back further.

Here is my scenero as to what often happens in this situation.

As you flare the Fuselage Blocks some of the airflow over the Rudder
thus reducing its effectiveness. So just as you touch down the Rudder
becomes less effective. If the Stick is not pulled all the way back
the Tailwheel is just barely pushing down on the pavement and
contributes very little to steering. And there you have it, a good
cross wind, reduced rudder effectiveness and an ineffective tailwheel
leads to loss of directional control. As the airplane slows down the
weight on the tailwheel increases and so does the steering
effectiveness, And you may regain control, before something bad
happens.

Wheel landings, keep the rudder more effective until you put the tail
down, But there is less going on when you put the tail down and you
are more likely to maintain directional control. But be sure to really
put it down, Pull all the way back on the stick.

Or just get the stick all the way back to start with.

Or, be more prepared for a go around. When a landings starts going
bad. Throw power at it. This will increase the rudder effectiveness,
plus switch your thinking from "got to land it" to "got to fly it."


Brian
CFIIG/ASEL


wrote in message m...
In article ,
says...
Wheel landing or full-stall?
How wide was the runway?
Did you keep the rudder and aileron in or relax and neutralize the
controls once the wheels were on?
Did you suck the stick full back into your gut?
If you don't pull it all the way, you don't get enough pressure on the
tailwheel.


Landing was three point.
It was a big wide runway, 75 x 3500. Sussex, NJ (FWN)
Hard to recall, but I was probably not relaxed enough.
The stick probably could have been back further.