Shortfield landing tecnique

[Newkid]

Oh ya! Sorry forgot to tell you, I got about a week and a half ago. It works great. Thanks a ton.

Getting behind the power curve also tends to lower your stall speed a bit.

[jtpitkin06]

We seemed to have gotten away from the original question of short field landing technique for the Kitfox.

It doesn’t matter if you are flying the heavy iron or a 1000 pound rag wing, short field landings should not be out of the ordinary.

Did you know every landing in a B-767 is a short field landing? It just takes more concrete than the dirt required for a Kitfox. But the technique is the same:

Configure for minimum approach speed – Use full flaps.

Use a stabilized approach – In the Kitfox, speed and sink rate should be constant from about 300 agl and below.

Touch down in the intended landing area – if you find yourself floating too far down the runway, go around.

APPROACH SPEED
The best place to practice your technique is at altitude. For the Kitfox, find a chunk of airspace about 2000 to 3000 agl. Slow to approach speed with flaps extended. Begin a descent carrying a little power and stabilize the airspeed. Pick a “landing altitude” and level off at the altitude. Flare the airplane holding altitude until the first indication of a stall. Recover and climb back up for another practice run.

The next time use a slower or faster approach speed noting the amount of elevator you have left in the flare. Note the effect of carrying a small amount of power vs. power off.
Note how far you can slow before the onset of stall. Find the slowest approach speed that still has elevator authority for the flare. Practice several times.


The goal is to get comfortable with a slow approach speeds with flaps extended. Yes, roll rate is decreased with full flaps in the Kitfox. So what? Use lots of aileron and coordinated rudder.

Note: The practice done at altitude has you recovering from the first onset of a stall and climbing back up. That’s a go around!


STABILIZED APPROACH
I cannot emphasize this enough. I see far too many approaches with wild variations in speed and sink. Consistency in stabilized approaches will result in consistently good landings.

Plan to make a stabile approach with no configuration change below 300 feet in the Kitfox, 500 is even better. This gives you time to trim the aircraft, get a feel for the slow speed with full flaps and ensure you are on the proper speed for the landing. If speed and sink are stabile it’s easy to make small power corrections for the landing zone.


If you’ve done the above you will arrive at the touchdown zone at a proper speed with sufficient elevator remaining to flare.

TOUCH DOWN IN THE LANDING ZONE
As you approach, make note of your go around point. If you are not on the ground in the touchdown area, go around. There are far too many accidents where the pilot attempted to land too far down the runway when it would be easy to go around.

If all looks well flare the aircraft and smoothly reduce the power to idle. Do not get in the habit of “chopping power” as it will cause abrupt pitch changes in the flare. Smoothness is the key.

Whether you are landing an F-18 on a carrier deck, driving a 757 into Providenciales or dropping your Kitfox into Uncle Elmo’s farm, the technique is the same. Proper speed, stabile approach and know when to go around.

So go up to altitude where you can’t hit anything and practice some “landings.” Then come down and do some real nice short field landings.

Enjoy.

John Pitkin
Greenville, TX

[akflyer]

John, While I agree with 99% of what you said, There are a few differences that will probably come into play on the landing of the kitfox type AC (atleast for me). Obstacles on approach (be it trees, a sharp turn in the river or a mountain side).

1. It is impossible to keep a steady approach in most of my landings, however; this bring us to your advice on practicing the slow flight right up to stall at altitude so you know exactly how your aircraft will handle and react.

2. Most of my flying is done well below 300' so the landing phase starts at about 15 to 20 AGL unless I am at the home airport.

3. Smooth power reductions.. Well when hanging it on the prop and you only have a couple hundred feet with trees on the end rapidly approaching your aircraft with the intent to destroy it, once across the threshold power is cut in a big way right now as you should only be a foot or two above Terra firma at that point. If you are out of airspeed as you should be, there sill be no big bounce, just a quick settling. I come off the power and the second the wheels touch the flaps are off so she is not going to fly again and I can stand on the brakes!

Everything else you posted is sport on, with more emphasis on being familiar with YOUR air craft! People that ask what approach speed others use is VERY subjective. I would venture to say that all of our ASI are off a pretty good bit from reality, and damn sure off from each other. The weight that you are flying at will drastically affect the approach speed you need to be able to flare should you loose power. Each scenario will require a different approach speed. Are the winds steady? if so drag it in at minimum. If they are gusting, you better leave a buffer there (these planes are so draggy that an extra 5 mph will bleed off in a very few feet of forward movement. Is it a cross wind? if so, keep the speed up a bit so you have better roll control, especially if it is cross wind and gusting.

It can not be stressed enough to know your aircraft! I regularly spent time jumping back and forth between my Avid C HH, a buddies MK IV Speed wing, My brothers KF II or his Pacer and a buddies KF I. All three planes handle similar but each had it's own quirks that can bite you if you are trying to come in super slow and put it on the numbers.

There is no amount of reading you can do in a book or on the internet that will replace or help you out more than getting out and burning gas! Practice at altitude slow flight, very slow flight (and not in a straight line). I do alot of practice with steep turns, full flaps, and a ridiculous deck angle just to keep me on top of the game when I need it down low! I will practice and push it right up to the break (and through the break) when I am at altitude so I know the very bitter edge at which I can fly and still remain in full control.

[Slyfox]

All this in very interesting. the big one is the altitudes we fly. I here guys with the RV's fly at 10000 ft. Nose bleed stuff. Than I here the guys with kitfox's fly 20ft off. Watch out for that bug.

I fly both these machines and many times I fly one and land and jump right into the other one. The RV is nose and the kitfox is tail. You may think this is a real challenge, it ain't. In fact I feel they both fly the same on landing, sure one has a stall of 37mph and the other 50kts. but in reality they are the same. One thing I did is put the IAS in the Rv at knots and the kitfox is mph. I have a constant speed in the RV and with full flaps can be almost landed with a short like the kitfox. I land the kitfox at 60-55 mph for wheel landings and 55-50mph for 3point landings coming over the fence. The RV is 60kts over the fence. With the setup I have I don't have any trouble at all knowing what speeds to land, even if I do 70 on final in either airplane I have a great landing in either, so that is what I do.

I generally put 1000 ft as a cap in both airplanes and I also do the low and slow in both airplanes. The only advantage the RV gives me is to get out of dodge. I can be down to johnson creek in less than 1.5 hrs. kitfox twice that.

I generally use flat turns for the kitfox when landing(use of rudder only) what that does is allow me to turn around trees without banking the aircraft, these airplanes do this very well, I say it again, I hate the kitfox flaps, just to much to do on landing, I have everything set up so all I have to do is move the aircraft throught the trees and land it with touching nothing but throttle and stick. I've had to dodge big birds and other things on landing, just want all the controll the kitfox gives, I hang on the prop and have VG's so flaps are just not needed.

[ackselle]

I was just cruising the site looking at various old posts when I came upon this thread...... As per john's post, I spend man Sunday afternoons practicing my "landings" at 4500' AGL. I've found that practice has helped me build My landing skill far quicker than circuits because mistakes don't hurt, and I can do 10 "landings" in the same time as a normal circuit.

Just my $0.02.... For what it's worth.

[SkySteve]

Ackselle,
I totally agree with you. I continually spend hours and hours in slow flight at 3,000 AGL without flaps, 1/2 flaps and full flaps practicing flat turns, banked turns, 360's, S turns, 180's, slow descents, flairs, etc. Why? Two reasons: One, I like to fly into and land in places, as they say, "Boeing doesn't go". And two, if I ever have to set my plane down in an ugly place due to an in-flight emergency I want as many odds as possible on my side.

However, as some here do, I do not. I read about those who land short by hanging on the prop. Personally I think this is just asking for a future landing crash. Our planes will land very short when flown at a proper angle, which varies in multiple situations, using flaps as the situation and winds require and, of course pilot skill (provided by learning and practicing proper techniques).

Did I mention I love this plane?

[awi55]

I like these comments. I am looking to buy a kitfox. The speed is critical. I had a mooney super 21 and any extra speed would place you well down the runway. I flew it out of 1600 ft grass strip and the approaches were not great. My first plane there was a PA-22 with 150hp great for this type of flying. I really want something back to just flying and the kitfox super sport seems to fit the bill. Trying to decide between radial, 912s or 914. Really enjoy all of the good info from this site. Keep it up all.

[SkySteve]

Here is a technique I copied from a backcountry site long ago. I liked it enough that I copied it into the Notes section of my iPhone so I could re-read it multiple times when I would go out for practice flights. It was written for heavier planes than ours but the technique works and I like it/use it:

"Short Field Landing Techniques:

|: I have a lot of 180 time and have landed it in less than 300 ft over 1000 times with this safe and consistent technique. Go fly your 182 at 50 mph with full flaps and hold altitude and you will notice that it is flying fairly level. Now reduce your manifold pressure to get a 500 ft per min decent and get the feel of that. Now pull back on the yoke just enough to reduce your decent to 200 ft. Now this is the amount of yoke movment "from 500ft to 200ft" that you MUST remember, more later on this. Now go to a airport with a marked threshhold or numbers ect to focus on. Here we go , get out on a little bit on a high final and settle into that 50 mph no decent attitude and "DO NOT" move your yoke for pitch "At All" then pull your power back to 500 ft drop per min as practiced , still not moving the yoke. You want to pretend that you are on a string aimed for 75ft before the intended touchdown area. Adjust to stay on the string with throttle only. At 20 ft AGL pull your yoke back that amount that you practiced for the 200 ft then freeze your yoke again and let the airplane fly gently onto the ground right where you wanted to. Dont chase the flare around. You wont believe now consistent this technique is and the airplane will never bounce. You need to get on the brakes right away and pull back on the yoke all the way below about 30 mph . Bet you use less than 400 ft the first try.


||: Take your aiming point and make sure it doesn't move up or down on the wind screen. It should stay put, no movement. If it does that then you're stabilised. As for descent rate you want a 3 degree path. Take your ground speed, add a zero and divide by 2. ie, if you come in at 50 mph add a zero and you get 500. Divide by 2 and you should descend at 250 fpm to maintain a 3 degree. If you're high notch it up and if you're low shallow out. Like I said, you DO NOT want to be staring at the VSI. Look outside the whole time. In the beginning you can sneak a peek at it every now and again just to see how your doing. Once you can get on glide and make it stable (remember that aiming point not moving) then you simply need to adjust speed to hit your mark. Fly at 1.3 Vref til over the numbers and then let it bleed to Vref in the flare. With practice you can time it to where you are out of lift right in the flare and the plane will fall out right on your mark."

[ackselle]

Thanks Steve.... I know what I'm doing next time I'm "landing" up at 5000 AGL.

Like you, I just copied the text to my phone for reference. I'll report after I try.