Piper J3
Well Known Member
The private strip where I’m based is 9/27 - 2100 x 75 turf. About fifteen years ago the neighbor to the east planted pine trees right on the threshold of 27. Nice guy. Now the trees have grown to about twenty feet and cause significant obstruction. +1 for the neighbor. I will often land from the opposite direction, which is a wide-open farm field, even with moderate tail-wind, to avoid the trees. Landing with a tailwind adds to relative speed at touchdown and longer ground roll. The technique works but it’s not desirable. Most often the prevailing wind is from the west so downwind landings have become the norm.
So, this year I have changed my mindset and developed a short-field landing technique that works quite well. I have been practicing stabilized approach speed of 63mph (55 KIAS) with full flaps and hands-off stab trim. The 12 does this extremely well. What I do now is start a full forward slip as I come over the pine trees and hold the slip well into the landing flare. I hold full rudder and balance opposite aileron to track centerline. The slip scrubs off speed and the increase vertical decent allows a shorter touchdown and rollout. Directional heading in the slip is about 15 degrees off-centerline. The 12 flies in ground effect really well because the low wing traps and compresses the air against the ground. As the landing flare starts to become nose-high I release rudder and neutralize aileron. The aircraft heading smoothly returns to centerline just before the main wheels touch the ground.
I will try to make a video from inside the cabin and maybe a drone video from outside to show what this technique looks like.
So, this year I have changed my mindset and developed a short-field landing technique that works quite well. I have been practicing stabilized approach speed of 63mph (55 KIAS) with full flaps and hands-off stab trim. The 12 does this extremely well. What I do now is start a full forward slip as I come over the pine trees and hold the slip well into the landing flare. I hold full rudder and balance opposite aileron to track centerline. The slip scrubs off speed and the increase vertical decent allows a shorter touchdown and rollout. Directional heading in the slip is about 15 degrees off-centerline. The 12 flies in ground effect really well because the low wing traps and compresses the air against the ground. As the landing flare starts to become nose-high I release rudder and neutralize aileron. The aircraft heading smoothly returns to centerline just before the main wheels touch the ground.
I will try to make a video from inside the cabin and maybe a drone video from outside to show what this technique looks like.