Short Field Technique

[AK Mauler]

I attended a short field clinic that was hosted by the 99's at the Palmer Alaska airport. Some hot shot bush pilot explained his technique that he uses. He drops off sheep hunters on mountain tops at 10,000' in a Super cub and does remote bush drop offs in the Wrangle Mountains. I thought I would pass on what he said that made a lot of sense to me. Rule number 1 is to give yourself a displaced threshold. You will land short sooner or later - and it's nice not to miss the landing area. He uses a slow steep approach, keeping the attitude level and adjusting glide path with the power. Dragging the plane in slow and low does not give a good site picture or provide obstacle clearance. He always 3-points his short field landings, once on the ground he gets on the brakes hard and gets the tail up on braking pressure while holding the stick full aft. The other thing he stressed was practice. The brave ladies in the 99's marked off the gravel strip with a threshold 100' displaced and cones every 50 feet and had voluntiers on the side marking landing distances. This was great practice. Very good to know what you and your plane can do consistently.

Now for my numbers... I fly an MX7-180 on spring gear and no VG's. I had 40 gal of fuel and myself (170 lbs). I tried to keep my approach at 55 mph with full flaps and attitude level. On my first attempt, I landed short, expecting some float on the flare, once you cut the throttle below 50 mph with full flaps she comes straight down. The second time around I hit the mark and applied the brakes hard with the yoke all the way back. The tail came up, but was easy to manage with brake pressure. I was able to consistently stay less than 500 ft ground roll with my best effort 340 feet, longest was 450 missing the threshold long by 50'. My best short field TO was 375 feet and worst was 450 feet. I got too agressive and tried to rotate too soon and sat the tail wheel back down, had to get the tail wheel up again and burned a lot of runway. I wanted to try 2 notches of flaps on TO, but did not get a chance. It was great to actually get some numbers and practice. I am sure VGs would be great for the slow approach speed. Now, do I think I can land on a 500' runway? Maybe, but I will keep my minimum around 900', unless I have some emegency situation.

[maules.com]

Keep up the good work Jon, gradually as you practice you'll whittle the landings down to a steady 250ft, the trick being able to hit the desired touchdown spot or you have to add the overshoot to the rollout distance of course.
It was good to meet you and the others at the AK tradeshow.

[Hottshot]

THat' s it now I'm gunna have to start REALY workin the 180 to see what it will do. Sounds like you are getting it dialed in pretty well.

[akloon]

The key mentioned that I found was practice. More money into the gas tank will do you better than most mods. I had three of us in the M7 with a full load of moose camp and 15 gal. About 1000 pounds or so. The strip was 350 feet with no obstacles so I drug it in low on the back side of the power curve and had the brakes depressed when the mains hit, then power off. Brought the tail up, managed that with the brakes and stopped with room. We improved the runway during the week and I used it all since I had it (about 850). Ran it up with 0 flaps to the end of the runway then rotated and brought in full flaps at the end. We flew easily with no stall light (usually comes on 5-10 knots above stall because of the VGs). I was too busy trying to keep on the narrow strip to check the takeoff speed, but when I finally looked it was 55 and climbing. The takeoff weight was about the same as landing since we traded food and gear for caribou meat!