Landing at an imac competition

[Flying freak]

Hi

There was an imac competitojn last weekend so many great piloits but i did notice some thing how come alot of these great piloits have a hard time landing i mean a few of them actually stalled on landing (causing damage), most of them came in with a crazy wing rock right on the edge of stalling. Once most of them got it down on the ground they would bounce for a good 60+ feet our runway is what i would consider large (460'x30' plus just beyond the ashfelt runway there is a 600'x40' grass so its a total of 70' wide) is this too small for the bigger planes and is that why they were haveing such a hard time? is it the stress of competetion?

im thining of getting into imac next year but dont want any suprises.

[DKnippen]

At our field we have a 50x800 foot paved runway with grass and we still have people end up in the beans. Go figure.

[DKnippen]

I think sometimes with long runways if you try to land 200 plus feet away and your looking directly at the nose, it's had to see the actual landing speed until it drops or stalls.

[wizard]

It could be any number of things. The way you describe them coming in on the verge of stalling the aircraft can be caused by a number of things. Remember larger aircraft require a longer approach than smaller glow powered aircraft. Also the larger planes normally have a much lighter wing loading resulting in a slower sink rate, also requiring a longer approach. If there are any obstructions close to the end of the field then the pilots are trying to come in higher and slower than normal and then trying to almost harrier down to the runway.

I don't know the setup at your field so this is all speculation. There is also fact that it is an unfamiliar field, and the nerves do come into play.

This last weekend I flew at two fields, one I had never flown before and one that I had flown once before. I'm not a great pilot but normally at my home field I can grease almost every landing and I bounced a few landings at both of these fields.

[Flying freak]

I know its not a great picture but this is what the club looks like there is lamp poes in the road a couple thousand feet away is that the issue? (note that the road curves..)

[Flying freak]

I also noticed that no one wants to go around there were alot of abd approches when the wind picked up a bit (then yes i understand for the rougher landings..) i asked around and it sounds like there are no points lost for a go around so why is everyone in such a hurry to put them down the first time around? some of them completly over run the runway ended up in the long grasses and nosed them over ....

[Temptation]

I honestly don't think enough pilots properly practice takeoffs and landings. It really is a shame. I beleive more planes are damaged during landings than anything else.

[SmoothFlying]

Yeah I believe they dont practice the landings or try and stick the landing. The landing is key, it could make your flight to people look like sh*t or it could look spectacular. I always concentrate on the landings to try and grease it in everytime and not have a long roll out.

[Flying freak]

well the long roll out seems to be the least of the problems its jsut the bouncing that suprised me i was wondering if it was somthign about the plans or somthign thats why i asked so i wouldnt get any realy nasty suprises if i get into it....

[Gus155]

Get a slopie or a sail plane, will teach you loads on landing, anything

[Craven]

Cuz landing is not in the Aresti............

[Ryans Rebel]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Craven
	Cuz landing is not in the Aresti............

EXACTLY!

[DKjens]

It's actually a funny phenomenum, and parallels can be drawn to the sport of hang gliding. In hang gliding the best pilots, and it happens often during competitions, will have the worst landings.

I do find it harder to land an airplane set up for IMAC (I consider it nose heavy) than one set up for 3D. With a nose heavy plane you have to keep feeding in elevator gradually untill just before stall spee at which time you should set down. With a less nose heavy plane you can usually just do a flat descent and set down with very little airspeed.

[Temptation]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Craven
	Cuz landing is not in the Aresti............

Well, if you tear out the gear plate, you can't do the stuff that is in the Aresti for the next round.

[Jcarte]

Landings can be nerve racking in front of many people. I remember flying IMAC in the NorthEast a few years back, and there was one pilot who had to have someone else land his plane, but he could fly the sequence.