Landing a Taildragger

Overview

If there is really one word that sums up all you need to know about landing a taildragger, that would world be "straight".  You must touchdown with the airplane absolutely straight with no drift or crab (which are really the same thing).  Since the center of gravity (CG) is behind the main wheels of the taildragger, if you are not straight when you touch down, that CG will be offset and will try to swing the tail around.  If the drift is slight, you can fight it back with the rudder.  If the drift is significant, or if you have a crosswind, you may not have enough rudder or brake available to straighten things out, in which case you may find yourself upside down the the weeds along the side of the runway faster than you can say "groundloop".  The bottom line is you want your wreckage to go straight down the runway!

The other big issue with landing a taildragger is that given the CG being rear of the main wheels, when the main wheels touchdown, the CG will want to continue its downward momentum, thus pulling the tail down, which increases the angle of attack, thereby increasing lift and causing the airplane to fly again, or appear to "bounce".  This kind of bounce in a taildragger is different than that in a nose wheel airplane.  Usually a bounce in a nose wheel airplane is caused by landing too hard and the spring in the gear pushes the airplane back into the air.  There is no increase in lift so the airplane settles back down.  In a taildragger, the airplane wants to stay up in the air a little longer after the bounce, yet it's slow, so a stall higher off the runway than you really want is possible.  Sometimes you may have been carrying a little too much speed and the bounce leaves you 20' or more up in the air, and slow!  This bounce may require some quick work to keep the airplane flying and get it setup for another touchdown attempt, or to make a go around.

To avoid this "bounce", you need to either make a proper stall or three-point landing, or a wheel landing.  Basically, with a stall landing, you stall the airplane just a few inches off the runway.  The taildragger is designed to sit on all three wheels at about the stall attitude, so when you actually stall it, the airplane will touchdown almost on all three wheels, probably a little tailwheel first.  Since the tailwheel is down now, the CG cannot bring the tail down any more, so your angle of attack will not increase, and the airplane will not lift off the ground again.  Even if the angle of attack could increase, it's already at or exceeding the stalled angle of attack because you did just stall it, so it would be impossible for it to gain any lift and fly off again.

The three-point landing is actually very similar to the stall landing.  Most taildraggers will sit at their three-point attitude just slightly shy of the stall.  When you really get familiar with a particular airplane, you can learn that exact attitude and touchdown so that all three wheels roll on at the same time.  Usually it's just shy of a full stall.  It requires a little finesse to do this nicely.

The wheel landing is actually pretty easy to make once you get the hang of it.  This landing simply requires that you make easy contact with the runway on the main wheels first, with the shallowest rate of descent possible so the downward momentum of the CG is slight.  At the moment of touchdown on the main wheels, almost with a slight anticipation, you apply forward stick/yoke to prevent the downward momentum of the CG from pulling the tail down.  You actually want to raise the tail at that instance, decreasing the angle of attack, maybe even to zero or slightly negative, so you really stick the airplane down onto the runway.  As the airplane slows down, the tail will come down and you end the landing rollout the same as if you had made a stall or three-point landing.

Is either the three-point/stall or wheel landing any better than the other?  This is a good topic of debate among taildragger pilots, but the answer is simply no.  Of course there are exceptions both ways for particular airplanes as specific airplanes have to be approached differently for all kinds of reasons, including how you might land it.  Overall, either type of landing is fine if executed properly.  What really matters either way is that you touchdown straight with no drift/crab.  If you can't get it straight, you must go around and try again, or go find another runway.  The bottom line is that for your typical taildragger you should remain proficient in both types of landings and make whichever one you feel most comfortable with in any given condition as that's going to be the safest type for you.

Keep the Stick Back!

With all landings, you must keep that stick back when the tailwheel is down on the runway!  Keep it all the way back during landing rollout, without exception.  If making a full-stall landing, you want to work the stick all the way back so that it hits the stop the moment the airplane stalls and touches down, then hold it there until you shut down and get out.  With the three-point landing, you want to do the same if possible, or immediately get it back at the moment of touchdown (it will be almost there if not already).  After making a wheel landing, as soon as you get the tail down, immediately get that stick back and keep it back.

In the following sections, we will break out into more detail each type of landing.

Stall Landing

Stall Landing Outline

• Make normal approach to runway.
• By short final, eliminate any drift by lowering the upwind wing and keep the airplane straight with opposite rudder as necessary
• Make a normal flare to level flight just inches off the runway
• Keep working the stick/yoke back so as to not let the airplane land and keep it a few inches off the runway
• Strive to get the stick/yoke all the way back to its stop
• Allow the airplane to stall just inches off the runway
• Keep the stick back!!!
• Keep looking straight down the runway and steer the airplane with the rudders
• DO NOT let your attention drop one instant from maintaining directional control
• Keep the ailerons turned into the wind as necessary
• Keep the stick ALL THE WAY back!

Three-Point Landing

Three-Point Landing Outline

• Make normal approach to runway.
• By short final, eliminate any drift by lowering the upwind wing and keep the airplane straight with opposite rudder as necessary
• Make a normal flare to level flight just inches off the runway
• Keep working the stick/yoke back so as to not let the airplane land and keep it a few inches off the runway
• Strive to attain the exact attitude at which all three wheels will touch at the same time.  This attitude will probably be a little shy of the full stall attitude.
• Try to hold that attitude with the wheels just inches off the runway until the airplane settles onto the runway.
• Once the airplane is solidly one the runway, get and keep the stick back!!!
• Keep looking straight down the runway and steer the airplane with the rudders
• DO NOT let your attention drop one instant from maintaining directional control
• Keep the ailerons turned into the wind as necessary
• Keep the stick ALL THE WAY back!

Wheel Landing

The wheel landing is very easy to make once you get the hang of it.  You are basically just flying it onto the ground, touching on the main wheels as gently as possible.  Once the main wheels touch, you apply a little forward pressure to the stick/yoke to stop the downward momentum of the CG so the tail does not come down, thus increasing your angle of attack and causing the airplane to fly again.  You can even apply enough forward stick/yoke so as to reach a zero or even slightly negative angle of attack to really stick it on the runway.  This technique might be useful in gusty conditions.

Don't worry too much about the touchdown attitude as it will vary depending upon your speed.  Some folks like to approach a little faster for a wheel landing, but that's not necessary.  You should be able to decide between a wheel landing and a stall landing during the flare!

Wheel Landing Outline

• Make normal approach to runway with normal final approach power
• By short final, eliminate any drift by lowering the upwind wing and keep the airplane straight with opposite rudder as necessary
• Make a slight flare to near-level flight just inches off the runway, but keep the nose down a little
• Let the main wheels settle onto the runway - be patient.  Use the elevator control to achieve this
• Once the main wheels are one the runway, chop the power and stick it on with a little forward stick/yoke if necessary (often chopping power will be good enough)
• Keep looking straight down the runway and steer the airplane with the rudders
• Hold the tail up with more and more forward stick/yoke until it settles on its own
• DO NOT let your attention drop one instant from maintaining directional control
• Keep the ailerons turned into the wind as necessary
• Once the tail comes down, immediately bring the stick/yoke all the way back into your gut and keep it there
• Keep the stick ALL THE WAY back!

In the bigger Cessna's (180/185/190/195) and probably others, you can actually get on the brakes the moment both mains are planted. They won't nose over like you might think, and the brakes are very effective. You can get on them pretty strongly and pull back on the yoke and really stop quickly once you get the hang of this technique, and just let up on the brakes a little at the end and really put the tail down softly. If you've never done this, ease into it, or get instruction from someone who knows the technique.

A good article on wheel landings for the Cessna 180/185 can be seen here. This technique can probably be adapted for other types.

Crosswinds

Folks, we'll eventually complete this section.  Please bear with us, but feel free to bug us if you're tired of waiting!

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