This idea of "holding a bit of power," is some of the best advice.
For some reason, most of us have the overpowering urge to pull the power to idle just before we touch down.
I know I have to resist this, and consciously not pull the power until I'm planted. It makes for some beautiful wheelies.
If one really wants to stop short, and is on a short strip, then maybe a full-stall at the slowest speed with the yoke/stick all the way back and aggressive braking is in order.

I prefer wheel landings ONLY because the mains take the brunt of the landing and the little tail wheel is safe(r). This is, I think, especially true when landing on rough "airstrips." I watch some of the YouTube videos of guys landing in rocks and areas with gopher holes and cringe when I see the tail wheel slammed onto the surface.
Every bit of "oil-canning" on my fuse is from hitting the TW too hard on landing.
One last part of this "rant."
When a TW airplane is taxiing about, and the elevators are flopping up and down, or laying down, it looks awful, to me at least. If one wants to look like a competent TW pilot, keep the yoke/stick back and look good.
It also has the added benefit of holding the steerable TW on the ground actually helping to steer the aircraft. Even if it's not steerable, the elevators still look better than bouncing, flopping about whenever the TW hits a pebble. (Of course unless you have a good tailwind. Then it looks like one really knows what one is doing when the elevators are positioned correctly.)
I see TW instructors at my airport doing this with students.
Rant Over ...

S39Pilot wrote:This idea of "holding a bit of power," is some of the best advice.
For some reason, most of us have the overpowering urge to pull the power to idle just before we touch down.
I know I have to resist this, and consciously not pull the power until I'm planted. It makes for some beautiful wheelies.

I was always told that you pull the power to stop the plane flying, otherwise if you are still "flying" (lift ~ weight) on the ground, which makes for softer landings, but you risk a gust throwing you back into the air, or lifting a wing, blowing you sideways etc.
I dont really have enough experience to make a definitive comment, that's what I was taught, and have seen similar things happen to pilots out of currency with short strips and 'bigger' aircraft e.g. C185. See P.s.

FWIF coming from a low time pilot.......
I usually close the throttle about 10ft up, unless she's really hanging under the prop for some reason (normally my less-stabilised approach). In which case I gradually reduce power into stabilised situation then close the throttle, but that eats up airstrip pretty fast.

P.s.
We used to have the a Skywagon club fly in at my home town (village) every year, and we boys would sit out and "judge" the landings. It was a short/medium length grass strip with a few idiocyncrasies.... thermals on short final, trees messing with the wind and such.
You could always tell which piltos flew often, and which hanger queens were dusted off for the occasion!

yes Battson but you are flying a Cessna, I take it, and as you know Cessna's will float mor readily than Maules, which is what I fly... WHen I chop power close to stall the aircraft Drops, and i mean it quits flying.. that's just Maules so each plane is different and landing techinques vary accordingly...when I go to idle power just above the runway at flair I can put it exactly where I want it give or take a few feet...there's no float for another 100 feet...but holding power till the mains touch makes for a very smooth no bounce landing in most cases....

It also depends a lot on the airplane, they aren't all the same. When I was flying the Maule (it was a C model with the aluminum spring gear) I could do pretty decent wheelies. Sometimes when I tried a 3 pointer with full flaps I would be in a perfect flair, ready to set it down and then those flaps would come the rest of the way down off the bungee and I'd balloon. People told me that they wouldn't create any more lift at that point but I swear that's what it seemed like. When I was alone with no baggage, half tanks and hadn't eaten lunch yet the Maule was like a big Cub but put three well fed guys and a bunch of gear in the back and it was a completely different animal.

Then I got the Champ with the "no bounce" gear. Now here is an airplane that just plain doesn't want to do wheelies at all. Nor does it want to be eased down by carrying a touch of power. It's most happy if you stall it dead in the 3-point attitude anywhere from 10 to 30 feet off the turf and let it drop like a sack of potatoes - I kid you not. The system was designed for the military version and that's what they asked for. Even from a ridiculous height It feels like you just dropped onto a field of Charmin bathroom tissue. The oleo's have at least six inches of stroke and the thing looks like a pigeon-toed Helio Courier when it's in the air. There are two springs in each oleo, a short stiff taxi spring and a long willowy landing spring. So if you are going down the runway at anything over about 22 mph those landing springs extend and conversely they collapse when you slow down but they don't always do it together and it took some getting used to that. (imagine your right wing raising a foot and a half but the airplane still tracks straight down the runway) One thing they definitely do not do is bounce so they are aptly named in that regard but if you try to ease it on you get this squishy wallowing as well as some gawd awful squealy noises from the tires as the gear spreads back out to grounded position. It just, absolutely does not feel or sound right.

Anyway, back to 3-point vs wheelie - when I was a kid, learning how to fly in a J3 I don't recall my instructor ever even mentioning wheel landings. When my brother bought his Maule and got instruction from Ray Maule he flat out told him to never do wheel landings. Personally I don't see a need for them other than to lessen wear and tear on the tailwheel if you are landing on rough terrain or even asphalt. I don't buy into the idea that they can make crosswind landings safer. But I still do them occasionally because they are fun.

iceman wrote:yes Battson but you are flying a Cessna, I take it, and as you know Cessna's will float mor readily than Maules, which is what I fly...

Quite right! And same with the Cub too. Although at max gross the Cessna does drop a bit more violently on occasion...

Ray is a nice man, but probably not the best Maule pilot.

Everybody is different. I prefer tailwheel low wheelies for average landings. I can grease them and see forward good. If I want short I slow slow slow 3 point, dump flaps, stand on the binders, yoke full back and the tailwheel will still come off the ground.

G'Day...Rob

OregonMaule wrote:Everybody is different. I prefer tailwheel low wheelies for average landings.

You've got that right, last time I did one of those with an instructor on board, he bent my ear so bad I thought he was gonna tear it off
I thought it was quite a nice way to land....

If you are flying a Maule and want to land well and land short, Go to Kalifornia and get in touch with Jeremy, He can show you how to do both at once very consistantly and with a full load or empty, makes no differance.
All ou gotta do is listen to him.
And that instructor that chewed your ear off for landing tailwheel low, don't ever go up with him AGAIN, He is going to teach you SHIT you don't need to know!!
IMHO GT

+1 on Jeremy, he's an outstanding resource for both flying and wrenching on Maules. My brother and I got our first demo flight with him, must have been 10 or 12 years ago now. Another character, if you're out in Florida, is Rich Hensch and I do mean character - he's got some stories to tell! We got our SES ratings from him in a Maule as well as a week of guidance after YB bought his M7 through him. Those were some fun times.

I would like to throw a little gas on the fire.

Next time you takeoff, get a permanent sight picture of your plane's attitude and position to the runway. Look outside and burn it into your brain. As you get to the point of touchdown, duplicate that attitude and position. Keep your feet moving and guide your plane to that spot.

You have to know how far below your ass the ground is, where your tires are, and what it looks like from your pilot position.

I don't trim for glide, it is a bit more work, but you can damn sure feel your plane. I think this helps on stopping the balloon effect. It will take more backpressure to cause the jump. The neutral or cruise trim seems to stop me from overcorrecting my sink, I have a more consistent, solid feel of the yoke.

According to Dave Doolin in his book "Contact Flying" it will also give you a smoother transition to flight for a go around.

Just a reminder, Golf Digest gives a person all of the written instruction a person needs to become a Master's Champion. Take what makes sense and throw the rest of this shit away, and then practice, practice, practice what fits.

If this don't work, please refer to the signature.

Try steepening your approach (higher), and fly short short final slower. Just as you are getting into ground affect, kick her straight and control drift with ailerons. Rudder keeps her straight, ailerons keep her from drifting. If you find her ballooning up as you flair, or leaping back into the air once you are on the ground and pin her by pulling back on the stick, you are landing at too high a speed - she can still fly, she wants to, and she will try. Again steepen and slow your approach, a million times easier to land her well, rather then dragging her in low, and with power. Hope this helps.

Windknot,

Don't over think it. One of these days it'll just all happen. You are on the right track. Heck there will always be those days when you can't buy a decent landing---then there are the days you look like----and pretend, you know what you are doing.

submoa

And the buf came from where? Zim, RSA?