PA-32 Gross LANDING technique
There's Some great info in the 'gross take-off technique' thread. I thought I'd follow that up with some questions I have relating to gross landing. I have a fixed gear 'toga and typically use the two flap/smidge of power method and seem to be fairly consistent with landings with light loading. My landings are a different story though at near gross.
First of all, when loaded near gross, with a 'middle' cg per W/b, the nose strut is extended. When I set up for a landing, I carry a little more power when near gross, otherwise everything is pretty much the same as a 'lighter' landing. The problem I'm having is right after touchdown of the mains. It seems like forever before the nose wheel touches - meanwile with the extra speed, I'm getting pretty squirrely on the runway on just the mains. as soon as the nose wheel touches, I get rid of the flaps, pull back on the yoke and get on the brakes - I'm not so sure though that I doing myself any favors by pulling back on the yoke to increase brake effectiveness. In short, it seems really lite on the nose. I guess I could experiment with a more forward loading and/or a neutral or even slight forward yoke after landing. But before any 'experimenting' , thougt I'd see what others may have learned.
First of all, when loaded near gross, with a 'middle' cg per W/b, the nose strut is extended. When I set up for a landing, I carry a little more power when near gross, otherwise everything is pretty much the same as a 'lighter' landing. The problem I'm having is right after touchdown of the mains. It seems like forever before the nose wheel touches - meanwile with the extra speed, I'm getting pretty squirrely on the runway on just the mains. as soon as the nose wheel touches, I get rid of the flaps, pull back on the yoke and get on the brakes - I'm not so sure though that I doing myself any favors by pulling back on the yoke to increase brake effectiveness. In short, it seems really lite on the nose. I guess I could experiment with a more forward loading and/or a neutral or even slight forward yoke after landing. But before any 'experimenting' , thougt I'd see what others may have learned.
Comments
This seems to work nicely with my typical center of gravity, which is pretty far forward most of the time as my airplane is nose heavy. On the one occasion that I had two adult pax in the back and no copilot, this technique resulted in a smooth landing, but with a ridiculously nose-high attitude that rather alarmed me, to say nothing of what the pax thought. It felt, as you say, like it was never going to land put the nose wheel down. Can't say it happens with normal loading, though.
Re what to do after the nose touches, yep, dump the flaps to get the weight on the mains and then hit the brakes. Of course, if it's a short field, as of this finesse goes out of the window and it's more as case of hold 80 knots unless the fence, bleed a little more off and then stick it on the runway without much of a flare before dumping the flaps and jumping the brakes.