Good Landing

[dsee8driver]

LOL

The 60 series are loud. 70's not too bad compared to others.

 

[waka]

I read once that on a Boeing 377 (I believe), the preferred landing attitude was nosewheel hits first. Can anyone elaborate on why?

 

[Typhoon1244]

I read once that on a Boeing 377 (I believe), the preferred landing attitude was nosewheel hits first.

Not bloody likely. Never flew a Stratocruiser...but on every airplane I've ever heard of with tricylce gear, the nosegear is always the weakest. Remember, the mission of the nosegear is mostly directional control. It's the mainwheels that support the lion's share of the aircraft's weight.

Stability would be a problem too. Touch down on the nose first, and you're now driving a 150,000 pound wheelbarrow with lousy aerodynamic characteristics!

I've seen films of B-29A's landing--they've got almost exactly the same gear as the '377--and they were landing the usual way: mains first, then nose. They do approach dramatically nose-low, though, sort of like the "slatless" CRJ's. (Due to the Smurf-like qualities of the CRJ's main gear, they are often landed nosegear first. It's not pretty...)

 

[waka]

I am well aware of the theory behind tricycle gear and landing with such. I too believe that landing nosewheel first is highly unusual. This is why I posted. My original question asked if anyone can elaborate on why the Boeing 377 is landed nosewheel first. Avbug?

(When I said "I believe", I wasn't sure it was the 377 or another airplane, now I am sure.)

 

[A Squared]

Waka,

I think that typhoon may have been politely suggesting that you may have read incorrect information, or perhaps misunderstood what you read. I see that you now are "sure" that it you have it right. Perhaps you could explain what makes you so sure? Maybe there's something going on I haven't heard of, so I'll keep an open mind, but I would think that it's extrordinarily unlikely that a 145,000 lb transport would be properly landed on it's nosewheel. Anyway, I'm interested to know what it is you have read about landing the 377.


Regards

 

[Typhoon1244]

My original question asked if anyone can elaborate on why the Boeing 377 is landed nosewheel first. Avbug?

Sorry pal, but not even your hero Avbug is going to be able to answer this one...because there aren't any tricycle-gear fixed-wing aircraft that are meant to be landed nosewheel first. What would be the point?

Where did you read this, exactly?

 

[BradG]

I like the ones where you come in right on speed, slowly bleed out the power, and have to look outside to see if your down or not. Not saying it happens often, at least to me, but its nice when it does.

brad

 

[slapstick]

it's a good one for the CFI when the student panics at 5 feet, yanks up on the nose, then shoves it down and shuts their eyes... then the CFI takes over at the last second and squeezes out a greaser, all the while saying things like, "Okay, you're making progress, you'll be soloed in no time."

 

[waka]

A-squared,

I disagree that Typhoon was speaking politely. In fact, I detected some thinly veiled condescension and some attitude. I may not be high on the experience ladder, but I believe that one can reasonably assume that someone at my experience level doesn't need an explanation on the physics of tricycle gear. If he believed that I mis-read something or read incorrect info, then he should have said so.

I never meant that I was "sure that I was right" I meant that I was now sure that it was the 377 that I read about. I'll have to search for the source,(I think it was some coffee table book called "Propliners"). The information might have been incorrect but I am sure that it did say that because I had to look at it more than once to believe my eyes.


Typhoon1244,

If Avbug is my "hero" (as you said) then your ego is your hero. "Sorry pal", just because you don't know about it doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't exist.

 

[A Squared]

I suppose that you'd have to define exactly what "preferred" means. My question is; preferred by whom? I can tell you from experience that the DC-6 "prefers" to land nose wheel first, especially at light gross weights. It's up to the pilots to convince it not to, as the chief pilot, maintenence department, and all others concerned "prefer" that it doesn't land nosewheel first.

I guess I'd take anything read in a coffee table book with a pretty large grain of salt. They are usually written by people who are enthusiastic about airplanes, but not necessarilly very knowledgeable. I've seen a lot of inaccuracies in books like that.

regards

 

[enigma]

I read once that on a Boeing 377 (I believe), the preferred landing attitude was nosewheel hits first. Can anyone elaborate on why?

I could accept that the 307 preferred to be landed tail-wheel first, but I have never heard of any tri-cycle gear aircraft that was supposed to be landed nose gear first. I too would be curious to hear the reference.

regards,
8N