Tailwind effect

[Skystrider]

I was flying Young Eagles most of the day this past Sunday. Winds were 5-8 mph at 90 degrees to the runway. Of course the sock was waving back and forth. No big deal on a long turf runway well protected by trees.

Late afternoon, just after we shut down Young Eagle operations, I offered a ride to one of our older EAA chapter members. We go up for a short while and return to the airport. Just as I am about to touch down the sock swings around and I get a burst of tailwind. I try holding it off to let the Maule slow down but we still touch down faster than I would like. I get two good bounces and then add a little power to smooth out the third bounce. Got stopped straight with no problem. However, in retrospect I probably should have gone around as soon as I sensed we weren't slowing properly. but I was quite surprised how quickly and severely that tailwind affected me. Not to mention the damage it did to my ego! Ugly landing!

I have owned and flown other aircraft and never encountered that challenge. I had only one notch of flaps on just because of the variable crosswind and still got quite a boost. Is the Maule a bit more affected by a tailwind? Anybody with that experience?

[TomD]

From "Mountain and Canyon Flying Tips" by Amy Hoover:

Rule of Thumb: Every 2 kts of tailwind will increase takeoff or landing distance by approximately 10%

That is across all aircraft.

Let's say you land in 600 ft. standard conditions.

6 kt tail wind

600 x 1.3 = 780 ft.

[Lowflybye]

As Skystrider mentioned, it will effect all aircraft although some seem more touchy in the flair than others. I have had the same sort of experience in our Maule as well a Supercub and a Stearman. In all of thse aircraft the elevator seems to get very touchy. The Cessna 210 on the other hand seems to stay more steady in pitch, although it still eats up runway.

[a64pilot]

210 is just heavy in pitch