Dan and fellow KR people, I have copied the section from my account of landing the KR below and I have hit return so the part that Dan is referring to is separated:
The entire article is located at: http://members.socket.net/~jfaughn/kr/uniquepartsofmykr/kr_landing.html Phase 6 - Float - The KR is so close to the ground that you will encounter ground effect in a VERY big way. You can and should use this to your advantage in making the "perfect" landing. Patience is a huge virtue during this phase. I will NEVER land my airplane above 60 mph. If I try, and for the first 60 hours I tried all the way up to 80 mph, I WILL bounce!!! The reason for this is very simple. When you touch the main wheels down, the tail will lower, your angle of attack will increase and you will go back up in the air. This will continue until you are at the appropriate speed. What we want to do is make the landing once rather than getting current (bounce 5 times) every time we decide to land. Remember, we had just crossed the end of the runway decreasing speed out of 70 mph. At this time I pull back the throttle all the way and try to hold my KR inches off the runway. The more I concentrate on holding it off by inches the better landing I am able to make. I will glance, VERY quickly, THIS IS THE PART..... at the airspeed indicator until it is below 60 mph and then I will continue to pull back on the stick concentrating on NOT touching down but instead maintaining the inch or two above the runway. When the stick is approximately one half the way back, we are now somewhere between 50 and 55 mph, I will let it then settle on the runway. Then I will raise the tail to decrease the lift and allow me to see over the nose. I have seen airspeeds, solo, as low as 40 mph before I actually touch the wheels down. I will continue to apply forward pressure on the stick keeping the nose up until I am almost to the limit. Next I will allow the tail to come back to the runway and then apply full back pressure on the stick to ensure the tail wheel stays on the ground as it takes over directional control from the rudder. If you are landing in a crosswind most experts agree you should wheel land the airplane and raise the tail to ensure the mains are securely on the ground. Ensure you apply the appropriate aileron going all the way to full as your speed decreases. These controls of aileron and elevator must be managed as you complete your landing and as you taxi. You will learn how much of a crosswind component you and your KR are capable of over time and I recommend all early flights are with a crosswind component of less than 5 kts. I have found that the crosswind component I am capable of handling is more a function of my piloting ability (practice) than the airplane. If I follow my own procedures, I will make a good landing every time. However, I seem to make exceptions when concentration lapses. For example, if I lower the nose on final I will gain speed very quickly, usually to 100+ mph, and this makes the landing more difficult unless you are very good at using slips to decrease speed. Another point that should be made is that when flying with two people I will raise the speeds on final by 5+ mph compensating for the increase in weight and stall speed. JIM NOTES What I am saying is that you must use a climb control (pulling back on the stick) to hold the airplane off the runway until it settles down. Once the main wheels touch down then you "raise the tail" which means forward pressure on the stick. This KILLS lift. So, what just happened is that your plane stopped flying on its own (mains touched down without being pressured on) and you raised the tail which decreased the angle of incidence and then you keep putting forward pressure on it until the tail/elevator can't fly anymore and then you let it come down gently with full aft pressure on the stick. As a side note, I was trying to be succinct in my description because I wrote this as a handout for Oshkosh and a post for the net a number of years ago. Also, to answer several other posts. My stall speed is 44-45 mph. Ground effect works and it does lower your stall speed when you are that close to the runway. (Remember I'm talking inches) Also, I have found that so does weight in the airplane. In other words, two big people will increase the stall speed too and you don't take off and land with two people on board the same as one. With all of that said, I just got back from the weekend so congratulations Mark on another flight. Jim -----Original Message----- From: krnet-boun...@mylist.net [mailto:krnet-boun...@mylist.net] On Behalf Of Dan Heath Sent: Sunday, May 29, 2005 4:40 AM To: kr...@mylist.net Subject: KR> Perfect Landings in a KR Mark L, Thank you for referring to: http://members.socket net/~jfaughn/kr/uniquepartsofmykr/kr_landing.html by Jim Faughn. I read this some time ago, but as I read it again, I realize that those of us who are getting ready for that first flight, should read it many times, until it is cemented into our brain and transferred to our muscle memory. This account is EXACTLY what I remember about the way I used to land my KR. Jim talks about PATIENCE. I think that is the KEY word. When we run out of it, is when we begin to make the EXCEPTIONS that he talks about. EVERY time I made an exception, I paid for it. I did not realize, when I read this before, how much the same, his account was, to the way I had to land mine. I did not expect this, because my KR was quite a bit different from his, but I guess it makes little difference. I think there is one typo, where he writes about keeping the nose up during roll out. I think he meant to say keep the TAIL up. My one rule, and one I paid heavily for when I did not heed it, was to keep the tail up until it would no longer stay up on it's own. I am writing this because some out there may think that their KR is so different that they don't need to follow these instructions. I strongly urge you to follow the instructions at least until you are so familiar with your plane that you can play around and experiment without getting into trouble. Daniel R. Heath - Columbia, SC -------Original Message------- Yes, I flew it again, and lived to tell about it. There are a few details at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford/first_flights/subsequent.html ... _______________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at http://www.maddyhome.com/krsrch/index.jsp to UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@mylist.net please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html
