I recently had a tube pop and tire go flat just after performing a wheel landing. I felt the plane slowly tip to the side as the air drained out. I applied more and more opposite rudder and brake to try to keep the plane going straight, but once the tire was completely flat the pull to the side was too much. I ended up in the weeds with a bent wing, elevator, and landing gear.

I had not rehearsed this scenario in my head before hand, so I was not prepared with any quick tricks to save the day. My only thought was that the slower I was going when I departed the runway the less the damage would be. Since then, I have rehearsed the sequence in my head to try to be better prepared if this ever occurs again.

About two weeks before the accident, I noticed during the pre-flight that one of the tires had leaked down about 5 psi. I didn't think anything of it, but grabbed the compressor and aired it up. Lesson learned here is that I will never again just air up a tire on a tail dragger. I will air it up enough to taxi to the shop and replace the tube.

I have wondered if I could have held the plane on the runway with a little throttle to give the rudder more authority? Then again, power will just make you go faster when you hit the ditch, and potentillay cause greater damage. I also wondered about holding full left/right aileron. Ailerons create lift, and therefore drag, and could have been a help keeping the plane going straight (in the same way you use ailerons in a cross-wind).

So, How do you (safely) land a taildragger with a flat tire?

No help here....I landed at Hood River Oregon once with a totally flat main gear tire on my first Rans S-7, and other then a quick slowdown nothing happened at all. The winds were strong, 20+ right down the runway, no doubt that helped due to the slow speed touchdown. I did not know the tire was flat before landing, so for better or worse I did'nt do anything different then my usual full flap 3 pointer. Ignorance CAN be bliss sometimes.

Tis an accident waiting to happen!!
WOW what a question, lots of things to do, from angling across the runway lots of aileron and rudder and brake and power to keep it going as long as you can then when it insists on going around, change everything and fly it into the ground loop so the power keeps you in some control. Trying to keep it on the pavement is the main thing as things get shitty as soon as you get it digging into the dirt! But that said in the dirt will slow you down quicker??
Keep flying it until stopped, just don't be along for the ride!
Sounds like you did a great job tho as it was only bent iron and no injury's.
Like you said, find out where the air went. Best way to do it.
There should be a little advice out there as I'm sure you are not the first one to do it.
Have a Great New Year
GT

Sorry to hear that there was damage but glad your okay! Sounds to me like you did what you could. And that is a very good question about what to do. A couple of years ago I had a tab holding the left spring on the tailwheel break off on landing. Ended up damaging a wing tip. I am with you on getting it as slow as possible as fast as you can. When I read about other accidents with the same problem, the ones who applied power really damaged their airplanes severely. I am really interested in seeing who else has had a similiar tire situation and any advice they may have.

Thanks for the input. Good to know that not all flat tires result in loss of control. I think angling across the runway would have helped some also, since it would have given me more time to slow down before the good wheel dug into the soft dirt.

I have wondered if I could have helped the situation by rolling aileron one direction or the other. If I rolled hard aileron to lift the wing with the flat tire I am adding additional yaw forces on the flat tire side compounding the problem. If I roll aileron to the opposite side, the aileron drag helps keep me straight, but I put more weight on the flat tire.

DEGJR

DEGJR wrote:I have wondered if I could have helped the situation by rolling aileron one direction or the other. If I rolled hard aileron to lift the wing with the flat tire I am adding additional yaw forces on the flat tire side compounding the problem. If I roll aileron to the opposite side, the aileron drag helps keep me straight, but I put more weight on the flat tire.

DEGJR

I only fly a tricycle gear plane, but I can definitely steer it on the ground with the ailerons. My flight instructor always got on my case if I used ailerons on the ground, except for cross wind opps, but I've gotten used to using them as I turn off the runway, because I can do it faster without tipping. Seems like a flat tire is a lot like having a cross wind; strong tendency to turn, so I bet it would help. It would also reduce the load on the flat tire side, making the drag lower.

tom

The following is training and theory, but not invalid. I'm sure a lot of guys went through your similar ordeal to come up with some of these ideas....

Keep feeding opposite aileron until max deflection. That'll keep as much weight as possible off of the tire (hence less drag on the ground) until the slowest possible moment.

Cheat the landing to the side of the runway opposite to the flat. It'll help keep you on the runway and from hitting the lights or a ditch or digging in and flipping.

Try to find a wet grass runway.

Try to land with a crosswind coming from the opposite side of the flat tire. The wind will try to weather-vane you into the wind and help keep the plane from yawing into the blown tire.

Bury the stick full-up to keep as much down force on the tail as possible. It'll help keep the prop out of the asphalt and will provide as much traction on the tailwheel for steering.

Here's an off-the-cuff idea that needs to be debated a little. Lock the brake on the flat tire. Dragging it on the ground will cause less resistance than allowing it to do a flopping roll.

CrazyIvan
That sure sounds better than shoving, with your feet not sure of which one first while tapping with your toes on the opposite brake and trying to make the stick or yoke do this 360 degree reversing spiral while shoving the throttle in and pulling it out at the same time and not cussing into the radio because you have the mike button in a death grip!!
GT

On a cold winter afternoon four years ago, with a passenger, and tires that should have been at higher pressure because of the cold, I flew from my farm strip to another farm to look at a Stinson 108 on floats hangared there. The 108 was hangared near a paved county road that terminated under water and had been abandoned to flooding for the past 10 years. It is now used as a landing strip and launch for the float plane. The low air pressure in my tires on that day combined with the "no slip pavement touchdown" caused the tires and tube to slip on the rim and cut off the valve stem very cleanly from the right tube. The tire did not blow but rapidly lost air and deflated causing the 701 to veer hard to the right. I was able to keep it on the road with hard left brake and aileron only because I had touched down perfectly centered on the road crown and so did not have to also fight the down sloping half of the right hand lane of the county road. Tricycles are a bugger for heading off down hill. Snow and darkness made us leave the plane and call for a ride until I could repair the tire. Fortunately there was room in the hangar for my plane also. As soon as I could I converted the tires to tubeless and secured them with sealant. Some also turn a screw through the rim into the bead to keep it from slipping. I pay more attention to pressures now because of that experience. I can only imagine that the heavier the aircraft the more difficult it would be to control. A tail wheel could make it even harder. You did well.

In March of 1988 I was landing at 20V (Kremmling,CO.) my home base in the 185. It was near dark, light snow and snowpacked. The left 800/6 tire went flat right after touchdown in a wheel landing. I couldn't keep it straight and it slowly drifted of the runway to the left. I just missed a runway light and the tire went thru the snow and muddy ground and ended up about a foot deep. My son, wife and I got out and walked to hanger and son and I dug out our coveralls and took a jack and gear leg adapter and went and pulled the tire and swapped out a used tire and tube. Never could see why the tube split, less than a year on tire and tube. It was a mess jacking it up in the snow and mud with the jack wanting to go down instead of plane coming up. Finally got it back to hanger in a heavy snowstorm that came up. There was no damage to anything. Thats the only time I've ever landed with maingear tire problems, don''t ask about tailwheel tire problems. I don't think a pilot could hold a 185 on the runway when a main blows. Want to hear the kicker, on the way home several deer ran out and my son nailed one and the car had about $2,000.00 in damage. That was better than hitting one on the runway. We've now got a game fence around the airport.
Ron