I finally got it

[John Ashcroft]

I know have about 40 hours in the Maule and about 50 hours total tail wheel time.
I have not been able to land the Maule without bouncing virtually ever. I flew a Bonanza for quite a few years and so default back to that when under a bit of pressure (landing)
Yesterday I finally got it, even on a hot approach. Final at 55kts with power on and just fly level a foot or so above the ground and let it settle in the three point attitude when its ready. The landing roll was I guess about 300 feet or so. I never thought I would get it.

[MAU MAU]

Congratulations John!

Don't be surprised however if you still have the occasional problem in a tail-wheel.

When I used to fly tail wheels on a regular basis, I found that when I started to get 'lazy' was when the plane had the potential to get ugly real quick.

Compared to many here, my 1130 hours in a variety of tail wheel aircraft is nothing, but I a sure even those with thousands of hours can tell a story or two.

Keep up the good work!

[Danws]

Its nice to roll one on!! I have about 1500 hrs TW and it doesn't happen very often. keep up the good work! And remember never stop flying till its in the parking spot.

Dan

[iceman]

i had the same problem for many hours and landings... I kept landing the Maule like I did my old Tripacer... I would get close to the ground, round out and cut throttle... trouble is the site picture is totally different and I would cut throttle too high off the ground causing a bounce or hard landing...then one day I decided to keep power on about 1200 RPM or a bit higher as I flared above the ground and lo and behold soft landing... after many more landings I've found I can cut throttle to idle and add power just before touchdown accomplishing the same thing... what I really was doing was getting a different site picture than what I was used to and learning a totally different technique... just don't get complacent and go back to the same old technique as before...it's easy to do...

[truthinbeer]

John, are you saying you were trying "not" to land it? i.e. keeping back pressure on yoke to keep it flying as long as possible. I have not flown TW and this is how I have been taught to land NW. I only ask because most youtube TW landings I have viewed seem to be on the deck so quick I figured the techniques must be completely different.

BTW, Congratulations!

[John Ashcroft]

I wasn't necessarily trying to land short like in many of the Youtube videos, I was just trying to land.
I just flew straight and level a foot or so above the runway and arrested the sink with the elevator, it was still landed and stopped in a short distance.

[truthinbeer]

I am yet to fly TW to test the difference.
Your strip is an uphill land isn't it?

[John Ashcroft]

Uphill yes, I don't have any footage of the Maule but this is with the Beech I used to have.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pntPDTWFzI

[Beamerpilot]

John don’t feel bad and read this (lol)

My technique for what it’s worth:
Flying with power on to landing one foot above the surface is OK if you have lots of runway.
I found that with this particular bird (M4) a 3 degree descent at 50 MPH with 35 flaps to a touchdown spot kept steady in the windscreen is easiest. Looking to the end of the landing area or strip, as the landing spot below me suddenly moves up in my vision I gently flair to a three point attitude arresting the 100 fpm descent. As the mains (cheating with ABW 31s) touchdown I push the control column forward to pin the mains on the surface keeping the aircraft in a level attitude until the tail drops. The wheel landing attitude during the roll out allows me to go around any ground obstacles, holes and rocks, missed during the aerial inspection.
With a severe crosswind I normally pin the tail wheel as well right after the mains touch and the plane slows down, this will stop the wind from weather cocking the aircraft as the tail drops. Ailerons inputs keep the wing into the wind down until stopped.
I will occasionally in severe conditions try to touch down on the tail wheel a second before the mains and pin it first to prevent the wind from ground looping the plane(modified three point landing).
So far so good on a variety of TW aircraft and many hours over the years.

The above procedures allow me to perform perfect landings on the home ranch strip and anywhere else with no onlookers. Landing in front of the Club House with fellow pilots, family and town landing critics watching on a Sunday afternoon will guarantee me a perfect three bounce recovery landing....every time!!!
Comment from one of my previous First Officer: “Wow, you have bounced every landing in the last two days!” That summarises landings in general.

[iceman]

yep exactly... they're all different... with an occasional shitty one .... in retrospect it's probably what I do also although I almost never wheel land...power is your friend.....