Had a hard landing today

[Murdoughnut]

I was doing T&G in a 152 at my home field today. We were landing on 35 and the wind was 33010, but it was obvious they were gusting a bit. On my first three landings I had been drifting a bit to the right just before touch down, but otherwise they went ok (wasn't dipping the left wing enough I figure). On my fourth (and what turned out to be final) landing I was floating a bit in ground effect, as I was probably about 5kts too fast. All of a sudden, while I was about two or three feet off the ground, I dropped fairly hard. It wasn't horrible, but it was the hardest landing I've had, even going back to when I was a student. When I dropped the nose wheel, it started shimmying pretty strong (strong enough that it felt like the whole plane was shaking). I called for full stop, and turned off the runway. When I turned off, the shimmying all of a sudden stopped and the nose gear returned to normal.

I let the A&P know about it, but he didn't seem too concerned. I came in with less positive pitch attitude than normal, but I'm pretty sure I didn't put it down on the nose. Did I just jar something loose or what? I was afraid I broke the plane, but the A&P said it "happens all the time".

I'm putting my embarassment aside and seeking some insight from you guys. Thanks in advance.

 

[Learsforsale]

I let the A&P know about it, but he didn't seem too concerned. I came in with less positive pitch attitude than normal, but I'm pretty sure I didn't put it down on the nose. Did I just jar something loose or what? I was afraid I broke the plane, but the A&P said it "happens all the time".

I'm putting my embarassment aside and seeking some insight from you guys. Thanks in advance.

The nosewheel shimmying (or shimmieing, not sure) happens all the time in the DA-20s and I am sure its for the same reason as what you are describing. I think its just because you had too much groundspeed when you let the nose wheel down, and the nose wheel spins up too fast. I always just held the stick back, or in your case the yoke, to take some of the load off the nose wheel and go easy on the brakes. Once your ground speed bleeds off, it should stop vibrating.

I've never flown a 152, does it have a shimmy dampner?

 

[threegreen]

Sounds to me like a landing the 152 was built for! Sometimes the nosewheel will shimmy if you allow it to drop too soon or if the shock strut is wearing out. Just remember to keep back pressure on the yoke throughout the rollout, especially after a stinker of a landing.

 

[Workin'Stiff]

It sounds like the shimmy damper had it's final crusher landing... Those things only last for so long in the training enviornment... Yeah, don't worry though... Easy fix for the A&P's...

 

[troy]

most cessna singles do this, the same as a cart with caster wheels. When the speed is too fast, they will shimmy. The dampeners do some, not eliminate the problem.

 

[epic!]

dont worry about it, i botched many landings when doing my private, from the sounds of it if thats the worst you've has so far then you are doing pretty good

 

[Doug Parker]

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Flare to Land..........Squat to Pee !!!



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[moonlight]

Had a friend that was demonstrating a short field landing during his private ride, and stomped on the brakes in the 152 so hard, he locked up the tires and managed to flat spot them. The examiner was pretty cool about it, all he said was, "I'd like to get you through the rest of the check ride, but the plane is no longer airworthy!" DPE had to take the controls and fly the plane home. No pink slip, they simply continued later after the plane got some new Dunlops.

 

[Murdoughnut]

Thanks for you guys' remarks - definitely made me feel better about the whole situation. After reading your posts I've come to the realization that I probably came in fast and (because I had my head in my a$$) pushed the nose over just a bit while in ground effect. I figure the nose gear probably made contact right after the mains, and the force of the impact combined with the speed made the nose wheel shimmie. In retrospect, I probably was in a hurry to get the plane on the ground because I was starting to drift a bit when I applied rudder to straighten the nose.

So the lessons I've learned from this FUBAR landing (and please correct me if I'm wrong) ...
1) Slow down
2) Try to land on the windward main first to keep from drifting
3) Wait for the plane to sink while in ground effect

 

[CFICANFLY]

...pushed the nose over just a bit while in ground effect.

Add "Don't push nose over in ground effect" to your list of lessons learned from this FUBAR landing!

'canfly