Scott, those long, flat, powered finals scare the crap out of me. Please take some time to practice and get proficient in pulling ALL the power off abeam the numbers and glide to landings without having to add power.
A couple things - I don't normally have power in on the final, I am at idle for most of them (keep in mind this video has landings from a year of flying, including some from when I just first was learning to land it). I pretty much pull the engine to idle abeam the numbers (sometimes before then), and it stays there. The airplane is slippery and does not want to slow down and come down at the same time. Second, I have actually very recently gone up and done a bunch of landings (14, if I remember correctly) using a more traditional approach angle and close-in base and final turns, just to work on this specific issue. While I can do it, I definitely used up a TON of brake linings, because I was coming in over the numbers at 80+ kts. If I try to bleed off speed in the "flare", I end up with insufficient runway remaining, because the plane will just fly all day. So...I'm still working on it.
The ailerons are always a compromise. Make them too big, and the aircraft is too twitchy and hard to control at high cruise speeds. Make them too small, and you run out of authority at slow speeds. When you get down low on final, you're slow, and it gets gusty, so you need a LOT of aileron input to compensate. The ailerons are definitely smaller than you would find on a Cessna.
thanks for sharing this. the sight picture is so unique, it's like having a reverse taildragger with the nose falling down so much after landing. 1:208:15 love this approach over the trees. 6:00 wow, that's amazing light. 9:26 whoa! what a cool location for 6L4. 14:40 freaky, I bet the back seat on a landing like this would have a similar feeling when the shade is closed. I assume you have a better sight picture though?
That over-the-trees approach always kept my attention - I wanted to be low, because the runway is short, but not TOO low. :) And yes, I have a much better sight picture when the shade is down - the camera is higher up than me.
Depends a lot on my weight (and of course density altitude) but 1500-1600 foot rollout is about right. 3000 feet is normally my minimum, and that's based on the north/south runway at my home airport, which is 2900 feet. I am fine with that unless it is hot and/or I'm heavy, in which case I'll use the east/west runway which is 3600 feet.
Scott I was wondering if in all your landings you use the speed brake or if you need to get to the end of a long runway you land without the speed brake ?
I always use it. The airplane accelerates very quickly (it's slippery) and it is difficult to hold your airspeed consistently on approach without the brake deployed.
You know, just today after this video went live, I read the title and thought; "hmmm...it could be interpreted that way, which would be really crazy." I suppose if you count bounces as a landing... :)
I very much enjoyed that, and you can see your landings approve a lot. Could you please make something to always get the camera angle at something similar to 4:37? That way we can see everything including your control inputs and the instruments. I find the videos where you can see those the more entertaining than just seeing the outside.
I’ve been curious about why the Vari-Eze, Long-EZ, and Cozy always seem to drop their noses like a sack of potatoes when the mains touch down. Do the canards carry so little lift at landing speeds that they simple give up when the mains touch and the wings are unloaded? [ed] Do they land in a relatively flat attitude, only a few degrees nose-up? Do VGs on the canard and main wing help with land speeds and attitude?
Correct. You have to land flat, if you pull the nose up into a flare like you would a Cessna, you risk a prop strike. With the mains on the ground, the nose will fall a bit, and it only takes a very slight drop on the nose to make the canard angle of attack such that it is no longer producing usable lift at the current elevator setting. It's possible to land gently at lower speeds and hold the nose off...but it takes finesse, and it's not going to happen in gusty conditions.
Awesome, seemed like there was one particular strip where you had to land fast every time. It was the one with the road just before the runway afyer the trees
That's Columbia, and that runway is not particularly long - plus there are tall trees. So I have to come in close over the trees (which makes it look faster than it is), then dive for the runway, which makes the speed jump up, to get the wheels on the ground so that I can brake.
Very interesting Scott. I can't read the indicated airspeed on the PFD. What is your target airspeed for when the main wheels first contact the runway?
Ideally, it would be 68-69 kts, a little above stall. A lot of these are more like 75-80 kts, especially if it's gusty. When you see me landing on long runways in this video, you can see I hold it off to bleed speed. In this video when I touch down at KLAL, I wait until I'm at 69 kts before touching down. On shorter runways, I don't have that luxury.
@@CanardBoulevard Thanks. Ideally, you would bleed off speed and touch down at the same speed and position on all runways. Forcing it onto the runway at a higher speed on short runways just compounds the problem of having a shorter than desired runway and eats up a lot of brake pads (and hammers the nose wheel). Do you think that maybe your brakes are on when you touch down much of the time? I keep wondering why the nose gear slams into the runway almost immediately after the mains touch down on most landings. On my Long-EZ, I touch down as close to the numbers as possible at about 70 mph (61 kts) and carry the nose wheel in the air just off the runway for at least 1,000 ft until the indicated airspeed reaches about 55 mph (48 kts) when I can no longer hold the nose wheel off the runway with full down elevator.
@@LGEZ53S I definitely know what it feels like to land with the brakes on - I did it just the other day, when I was holding the rudders out for deceleration, and didn't get off them in time for touchdown. It slammed the nosegear down and was not pleasant! I can touch down and hold the nosewheel off, but it needs to be at a much lower speed - or hold it off and let the speed bleed off, like you mention. But on a lot of runways, you don't have the luxury of thousands of feet of length with which to do that. That's definitely preferable to scrubbing my brakes away...
Scott, those long, flat, powered finals scare the crap out of me. Please take some time to practice and get proficient in pulling ALL the power off abeam the numbers and glide to landings without having to add power.
A couple things - I don't normally have power in on the final, I am at idle for most of them (keep in mind this video has landings from a year of flying, including some from when I just first was learning to land it). I pretty much pull the engine to idle abeam the numbers (sometimes before then), and it stays there. The airplane is slippery and does not want to slow down and come down at the same time. Second, I have actually very recently gone up and done a bunch of landings (14, if I remember correctly) using a more traditional approach angle and close-in base and final turns, just to work on this specific issue. While I can do it, I definitely used up a TON of brake linings, because I was coming in over the numbers at 80+ kts. If I try to bleed off speed in the "flare", I end up with insufficient runway remaining, because the plane will just fly all day. So...I'm still working on it.
Forgot how bad the old runway was ! Very lucky not to have crashed your baby there ! Joy to follow along and watch 👍😉
Also interesting to watch how your control inputs get bigger and bigger as the airflow slows down !!!
The ailerons are always a compromise. Make them too big, and the aircraft is too twitchy and hard to control at high cruise speeds. Make them too small, and you run out of authority at slow speeds. When you get down low on final, you're slow, and it gets gusty, so you need a LOT of aileron input to compensate. The ailerons are definitely smaller than you would find on a Cessna.
So pleased you don't use that short, obstructed and bumpy runway any more. That runway is unnerving. Thanks for the compilation.
Me too!
Is it just me or are all these landings extra hard? How often do you replace the front landing gear?
thanks for sharing this. the sight picture is so unique, it's like having a reverse taildragger with the nose falling down so much after landing.
1:20 8:15 love this approach over the trees.
6:00 wow, that's amazing light.
9:26 whoa! what a cool location for 6L4.
14:40 freaky, I bet the back seat on a landing like this would have a similar feeling when the shade is closed. I assume you have a better sight picture though?
That over-the-trees approach always kept my attention - I wanted to be low, because the runway is short, but not TOO low. :) And yes, I have a much better sight picture when the shade is down - the camera is higher up than me.
Once you touch down, what is your average rollout? and what is the shortest runway for your comfort level? great videos !
Depends a lot on my weight (and of course density altitude) but 1500-1600 foot rollout is about right. 3000 feet is normally my minimum, and that's based on the north/south runway at my home airport, which is 2900 feet. I am fine with that unless it is hot and/or I'm heavy, in which case I'll use the east/west runway which is 3600 feet.
It seems like you really get thrown around when landing, or is that just a weird camera effect?
Depends on the runway - you do get moved around a bit, but I think the camera exaggerates it somewhat.
Scott I was wondering if in all your landings you use the speed brake or if you need to get to the end of a long runway you land without the speed brake ?
I always use it. The airplane accelerates very quickly (it's slippery) and it is difficult to hold your airspeed consistently on approach without the brake deployed.
I read the headline and thought geez, that's gotta be some really tight pattern work.
You know, just today after this video went live, I read the title and thought; "hmmm...it could be interpreted that way, which would be really crazy." I suppose if you count bounces as a landing... :)
I thoroughly enjoy all your videos Scott. Nice 🛬🛬🛬🛬🛬!
14:30 👌
Oh I remember that one, that was a late afternoon fuel stop after the Rough River Canard fly-in, and it was extremely gusty going in there!
I very much enjoyed that, and you can see your landings approve a lot. Could you please make something to always get the camera angle at something similar to 4:37? That way we can see everything including your control inputs and the instruments. I find the videos where you can see those the more entertaining than just seeing the outside.
I do have a new camera (my old one died) and I am trying to keep the instruments and controls in view with it in future!
@@CanardBoulevard thank you!!!
Fun watching you fly that thing.
Fun flying it!
@@CanardBoulevard 👍
Man the crosswind on some of the landings was scary
Not scary, but it definitely gets your attention and keeps you on your toes (literally).
@@CanardBoulevard little rudder dance 😂
Thanks for the video. Nice job.
Making it look easy.
-- 😊👍🛩️
Landing: A controlled collision with a planet.
- Cool.
I’ve been curious about why the Vari-Eze, Long-EZ, and Cozy always seem to drop their noses like a sack of potatoes when the mains touch down. Do the canards carry so little lift at landing speeds that they simple give up when the mains touch and the wings are unloaded? [ed] Do they land in a relatively flat attitude, only a few degrees nose-up? Do VGs on the canard and main wing help with land speeds and attitude?
Correct. You have to land flat, if you pull the nose up into a flare like you would a Cessna, you risk a prop strike. With the mains on the ground, the nose will fall a bit, and it only takes a very slight drop on the nose to make the canard angle of attack such that it is no longer producing usable lift at the current elevator setting. It's possible to land gently at lower speeds and hold the nose off...but it takes finesse, and it's not going to happen in gusty conditions.
Канард как бы въезжает в посадочную полосу..
Awesome, seemed like there was one particular strip where you had to land fast every time. It was the one with the road just before the runway afyer the trees
That's Columbia, and that runway is not particularly long - plus there are tall trees. So I have to come in close over the trees (which makes it look faster than it is), then dive for the runway, which makes the speed jump up, to get the wheels on the ground so that I can brake.
Very interesting Scott. I can't read the indicated airspeed on the PFD. What is your target airspeed for when the main wheels first contact the runway?
Ideally, it would be 68-69 kts, a little above stall. A lot of these are more like 75-80 kts, especially if it's gusty. When you see me landing on long runways in this video, you can see I hold it off to bleed speed. In this video when I touch down at KLAL, I wait until I'm at 69 kts before touching down. On shorter runways, I don't have that luxury.
@@CanardBoulevard Thanks. Ideally, you would bleed off speed and touch down at the same speed and position on all runways. Forcing it onto the runway at a higher speed on short runways just compounds the problem of having a shorter than desired runway and eats up a lot of brake pads (and hammers the nose wheel).
Do you think that maybe your brakes are on when you touch down much of the time? I keep wondering why the nose gear slams into the runway almost immediately after the mains touch down on most landings.
On my Long-EZ, I touch down as close to the numbers as possible at about 70 mph (61 kts) and carry the nose wheel in the air just off the runway for at least 1,000 ft until the indicated airspeed reaches about 55 mph (48 kts) when I can no longer hold the nose wheel off the runway with full down elevator.
@@LGEZ53S I definitely know what it feels like to land with the brakes on - I did it just the other day, when I was holding the rudders out for deceleration, and didn't get off them in time for touchdown. It slammed the nosegear down and was not pleasant!
I can touch down and hold the nosewheel off, but it needs to be at a much lower speed - or hold it off and let the speed bleed off, like you mention. But on a lot of runways, you don't have the luxury of thousands of feet of length with which to do that. That's definitely preferable to scrubbing my brakes away...