Scudrunners

yes, I wear 4 bars, wonder if I am one of those terrible 4-bars that keeps getting talked about?

Probably not.  Not everyone that wears 4 bars
is a pejorative "four bars" who by definition is
someone with style but no substance ... an
impostor in a costume that cannot rise to the
occasion when required.

Al Haynes, for example, might have worn 4
bars but was not a "four bars".  Born in 1931
his flying days would have been over in 1991 -
he was part of the "old breed" who have almost
completely vanished.

I am remarkably unsympathetic to posers
and imposters in costume.  You can find them
everywhere ... civilians in flight suits, baby
boomers on Harleys dressed up as Hell's
Angels ... I can only imagine what the real
Hell's Angels think about the posers on Harleys
in their black leather vests and chaps.

Decorum prevents me from repeating here
what I think of posers in shiny new leathers
standing beside their literbike crotch rockets
with chicken strips a mile wide.



PS  I fly airshows in a t-shirt and a bathing
suit.  Not a Speedo ball-sac mind you, just
a nice pair of trunks.  I don't wear a pink
spandex flight suit, like some other pilots.

Chuck Ellsworth wrote:Can you elaborate a bit more.

Sure.  I was new to tailwheel flying and probably hadn't even cracked a half an hour of solo circuits.  I was in a borrowed plane, a very very early Cub to be specific, that I had a single circuit checkout about an hour prior.  It wasn't a complicated plane so a good discussion before taking it up would have sufficed, but again I was new.

Anyways, it was a getting on a decade ago but I think I didn't hold the stick all the way back for the three point landing I wanted.  What ended up happening was a very tail-low wheel landing with a bounce, causing the tailwheel to hit while the mains were back in the air which in turn bounced the mains back on and so on.  There were no PIO as I just pinned the stick all the way back and rode out each successively smaller cycle until it stopped.  Maybe not as good as going around but I don't know if the forty ponies up front could have pulled me out of my predicament.  The important thing is every landing since then has gone much better.

Colonel wrote: ..baby boomers on Harleys dressed up as Hell's Angels ...

I look rather dreadful in my Joe Rocket suit (grey and black) with my black full face helmet and black sneakers - so I like
to girlie-up the look with pink socks :D  (my valve stem covers are also little pink flowers)

My bike just barely qualifies as a crotch rocket - has the look, but is only 500cc.  It's a GS500E and is a good size for me - only 400 lbs dry weight so I feel good control when I'm sitting on it (i.e. doesn't feel like it'll fall over if I lean it too far) and I can pick it up if have to.... It fell over in my driveway once cause I parked it in a bad spot and the gas started pouring out the cap over the hot engine, so I was panicky enough that I just yanked it up again - I was sore the next day, though

Colonel wrote: PS  I fly airshows in a t-shirt and a bathing suit.  Not a Speedo ball-sac mind you, just
a nice pair of trunks.  I don't wear a pink spandex flight suit, like some other pilots.

So glad you qualified the statement about the bathing suit... >shudder< speedos!
Are aerobatics as tiring on the body as they look?  An airshow performance looks like it might be quite the work-out if you end up pulling a lot of Gs....or should I say, if you end up pulling Gs a lot.....

Sure.  I was new to tailwheel flying and probably hadn't even cracked a half an hour of solo circuits.  I was in a borrowed plane, a very very early Cub to be specific, that I had a single circuit checkout about an hour prior.  It wasn't a complicated plane so a good discussion before taking it up would have sufficed, but again I was new.

Thanks Slick G. you did just fine.

When I get in the mood I plan on looking for an article I wrote on Pprune some years ago about height judgement, the most important thing in making consistent safe landings in anything especially when wheel landing a tail wheel airplane.

Eventually I hope to see a lot of the old timers on this site that quit posting  because they are a wealth of experience and information.

HiFlyChick wrote:It's a GS500E

Hey! I got me one of dose! Mine's a 550ES, looks just like this one, but Hindle pipe. Co-worker said his son was selling it, well, I just couldn't resist:



I weigh 250+, this thing feels like a bicycle. Haven't ridden it in years, hope I ain't too old now.

Now about that bathing suit... contemplating the Colonel doing acro in a Speedo is quite frightening!

Good point about the speed, SSU - carrying too much into the flare can contribute to other problems as well.  I knew a guy who was not doing really well with crosswind landings in a twin even though he started out ok, because he was carrying too much speed into the flare and during the time it took for it to bleed off he'd drift off centerline.

Good point about the speed, SSU - carrying too much into the flare

In a nosedragger, too much speed on short
final is almost always a really bad thing.

As per the lift equation, lift is a function of
velocity squared, so to produce the (same)
required lift on short final, the AOA is really
going to decrease, esp with a flat-bottom
wing with lots of camber.

All that gibberish means that the delicate
nosewheel is going to contact first and
that's really bad.  It must contact last.

Despite the fire-breathing reputation of a
taildragger, you can be at pretty well any
speed you want on short final.

The very best Pitts pilots will be at 200 mph
(no typo) on short final, throttle back, 3-blade
c/s prop does it's drag thing, and you plop the
mains on the numbers at 120 mph and drive
down the runway with the tail in the air to
stick the mains on.  Minimum 4000 foot runway
required - these are jet speeds, you need a
jet runway for that very strange landing technique.

So if you approach too fast in a taildragger,
no problem, a wheel landing is in your future
and all is ok as long as you have the runway
length for it.

In a tiny little taildragger - this is NOT a good
idea in a Beech 18, DC-3, C-46, Ford tri-motor
or Lancaster for many reasons - you can actually
slow it down so that the tailwheel touches first,
before the mains.

Slower airspeed on approach means higher
AOA.  The Pitts POH actually recommends
this technique.  Old B.D. Maule (he liked me
for some strange reason that I've never
understood) called this the "double whomp"
landing, and it is a very good thing in a tiny
little taildragger for oh so many reasons.

The first reason is that your kinetic energy
is down - it's a function of velocity squared -
which means that you landing distance is
drastically reduced, which might be useful.

The other thing about the "double whomp"
tailwheel-first landing is that it reduces
your AOA after touchdown, so no skip -
you are on the ground to stay.

PS  I don't fly airshows in a speedo - a
dignified pair of swim trunks  ;D  I'm
drenched in sweat after I land, always
on a hot summer day to boot.  It's
hard work.



I remember doing a summer airshow in
Honduras, sweat was running off me even
before our delayed head-on takeoff.  We
waited so long, oil temp was 260F on that
poor S-2C AEIO-540.  Had to shut down. 
I really enjoyed that hot start.

That's me, upside down in the yellow S-2C -
in swim trunks!



Oddly, Rui, Arlo and the rock-throwing four
bars were not there performing.  Can't figure
out why not.

^ Is that CatDriver up in the right hand corner?

There is no doubt that airspeed, AOA, and directional control are all important when landing.

However without this you will not be able to consistently make good controlled landings in my opinion.

It is all about height above the runway judgement...or lack thereof.

I train them to be able to judge between a foot off the runway and six inches, if they can do that their chances of " Landing " instead of " Arriving " is far better.