One Wheel Touch and Goes

[Slick Goodlin]

Who decided these were cool?

I thought I was going to have a relaxing afternoon in one of my favourite airplanes until I saw someone scuffed the sidewall completely off a nearly irreplaceable tire. So much cord showing it looked like a whitewall. It’s fixed now but all my flying time was converted to tire changing time. Lame.

[David MacRay]

Wasn't me. I have been practicing zero/zero landings. Zero last week, zero this week..

[Colonel]

Who decided these were cool?

um, er, uh .... Bob Hoover?



We don't need no chicken strips!

my flying time was converted to tire changing time

You fix them, I fly them?

I have been practicing zero/zero landings

Not sure if you believe me or not, but I envy your tranquil life.

[Slick Goodlin]

Who decided these were cool?

um, er, uh .... Bob Hoover?

Fair. Still a pain to have to do this. There’s a finite supply of 700x4.00 smooth tread tires too.

You fix them, I fly them?

All work and no play makes Slick a dull boy.

[Guest]

I have this argument with my employer all the time. What’s worse worn out tires or a ground looped airplane ? I was always under the impression that changing breaks and tires is cheaper than a rebuild.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Even cheaper is being able to land on one wheel with no sideways drift caused by a x/wind, and not dragging the wheel with brakes.

But that might asking a bit to much of a lot of the pilots out there.

[Liquid_Charlie]

checking out newbe required safety gear was a helmet to protect the side of your head from impacts with the side window

[Colonel]

The only thing that matter with a taildragger, is keeping it straight. This
is actually easier if you don't land in a crab, but a lot of people like to.

All else is unimportant. Oh yeah, sometimes the tailwheel will shimmy
bad enough to disconnect the horn springs and break the fuselage tail post
and break the leaf springs. Seen all of that, many times.

Learn to do wheel landings.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Can anyone here think of a better way to practice x/wind touch and goes than repetitive landings down the runway going from one wheel to the other until you run out of runway and go around and start all over again?

I can't think of a better way.

[Slick Goodlin]

This is actually easier if you don't land in a crab, but a lot of people like to.

That’s my point. Going the length of the runway on one tire with calm wind forces you to push that poor tire sideways along the asphalt.

Landing with one wing low in a crosswind doesn’t scrub the tire in nearly the same way.