As a new M-7 owner, practicing wheel landings was one of the most frustrating yet funnest time that I have ever had.

Once I got over being afraid to push the yoke hard forward prior to touching the wheels, the landings improved quickly.

Straight track, slight power, shallow descent and fly the nose thru the runway was the trick for me.

wonderful airplane but demands attention to the chalks.
Wont trade it for any other Tail wheel airplane.

Welcome to the party!!!!!

It's a difficult and counter intuitive art to master but very worthwhile in the long run . Has a very real application in high gusting crosswind like we have in South Africa , just make sure you have enough runway, as the tail comes down your feet will dance on the rudders

fly the nose thru the runway?

can you expand for newbies like me?

I'm just getting the hang of it as well

thanks

I can only tell you what I do. I keep about 1500 rpm. And fly my approach at 65 mph. I deliberately fly the plane onto the ground, usually a power on approach, dragging the plane in. On touchdown, kick her straight, positive stick forward to keep the tail up, shut down the power and dump the flaps, always keeping the aileron into the wind. I like to apply brakes early on to help me through the transition speed as quickly as possible. As soon as the tail sinks pul the stick as far back as you can and hold it there, you can now apply heavy braking and bring the plane to a stop.
I have found that with wheel landings, I use about 50% more runway. There are expert out there that can do a wheel landing much shorter, but I haven't mastered that, I am still a bit sensitive on the brakes.
Good luck with your flying, the maule is a great plane

chris erasmus wrote:I can only tell you what I do. I keep about 1500 rpm. And fly my approach at 65 mph. I deliberately fly the plane onto the ground, usually a power on approach, dragging the plane in. On touchdown, kick her straight, positive stick forward to keep the tail up, shut down the power and dump the flaps, always keeping the aileron into the wind. I like to apply brakes early on to help me through the transition speed as quickly as possible. As soon as the tail sinks pul the stick as far back as you can and hold it there, you can now apply heavy braking and bring the plane to a stop.
I have found that with wheel landings, I use about 50% more runway. There are expert out there that can do a wheel landing much shorter, but I haven't mastered that, I am still a bit sensitive on the brakes.
Good luck with your flying, the maule is a great plane

Kind of resembles what one does when taking off in a Maule, just reversed!

...don't fly the nose through the runway... You can land on the wheels at any speed! Trim slightly forward, and relax the back pressure where you would usually flare to stall. After a while you won't need to trim...or even think about it.....also, you certainly don't need power. Any "setup" can give you either landing.

Well said Rob, I normally bring it in full stall and roll up to wheely as needed, high approach speed will get you in trouble if you are not on the ball... well so can too slow.. Heck just fly the airplane..hahah

"just fly the airplane". I like that. Some professionals out there that could use that advice.

"Just fly the plane" is the bottom line the mighty airbus has 246 processors seven different operating systems and five different programing languages "it takes multiple failures of redundant systems for a catastrophic failure" unless you hit a couple of geese then all bets are off. I see it every day some one expects the same technique to work every time. It may get you close but always be ready to adapt to the changing situations. Jeremy says there are 40 plus ways to land a Maule have fun and practice them all.

Kirk, you might especially appreciate this old training film.

Vimeo.com/m/64502012

captnkirk wrote:"Just fly the plane" is the bottom line the mighty airbus has 246 processors seven different operating systems and five different programing languages "it takes multiple failures of redundant systems for a catastrophic failure" unless you hit a couple of geese then all bets are off. I see it every day some one expects the same technique to work every time. It may get you close but always be ready to adapt to the changing situations. Jeremy says there are 40 plus ways to land a Maule have fun and practice them all.

Who's Jeremy?

Yep gbarrier they have start showing that one again . With the merger and retirements we are starting to hire some pilots for the first time in years. Some of the young guys have always flown glass and most of our procedures use autopilots pretty heavily. Automation is great until it isn't and then it boils down to" just fly the plane". Something I think everyone here will agree is the most fun anyway

Actually capnkirk, its 80.
5 flap positions
4 primary wind directions
4 primarily differentiated landings
5x4x4=80 to enable pro-active landings instead of the usually taught re-active methods.

MauleMechanic wrote:

captnkirk wrote:"Just fly the plane" is the bottom line the mighty airbus has 246 processors seven different operating systems and five different programing languages "it takes multiple failures of redundant systems for a catastrophic failure" unless you hit a couple of geese then all bets are off. I see it every day some one expects the same technique to work every time. It may get you close but always be ready to adapt to the changing situations. Jeremy says there are 40 plus ways to land a Maule have fun and practice them all.

Who's Jeremy?

Well that's embarrassing

Was suppose to be the one next to it