That's funny Flyguy! It's amazing how funny those controllers can be sometimes. The tower manager at ADS shared at an AOPA meeting how in his early days he had his struggles. Once he got confused with who was where and asked the aircraft on final to do a 360 for spacing. After a short time watching the aircraft on final continue to make straight flight he asked again for Nxxxx to make a 360 and a pilot came back saying "I am, I am" The controller moved his gaze from final to the approach end and there was a C150 doing 360's in the runup area!
I can see the benifit of tail-high all the way to parking.
My instructor decided he couldn't overpower my instinct to pull back on the yoke, while trying to teach me to wheel land, so he said we'd pick it up later.
Of course before we got back to learning wheel landings my tail wheel fell from the air on take off. Luckily someone on coffee break saw it fall off and called the tower, who called me, I called my instructor on the cell phone after calling my wife to get his phone number.
Uh! Could you explain how you do that wheel landing thing again, sir?
Hey Guys, thought I would share a story with you about my first cross-wind landing. I was learning to fly my dads Cessna 140 and I had accumulated about 9.5 hrs. My regular instructor and I were having a hard time with scheduling, and I was getting behind the students in thier nose-draggers, so my ground school instructor decided to help get me caught up with the others. He was a CFI and owned a 170 at one time and presently had a Stinson. He decided it would be a good day to start x-wind landings and we briefed a little on it before departure. The take-off was uneventful and we flew out and did a couple coordinated turns and such, it was his first time up in the 140 and he wanted to get comfortable with it(and me). We headed in and got in the pattern for our first landing. I lined up on final and was holding the upwind wing down and crabbing at what appeared to be about 20 degrees to hold a straight line with the runway, as he sat in the right seat assuring me eveything looked good. As we approached the threshold we told me to be ready to level the wings a bit and kick it straight when he said to. At about 5 feet he gave his command and I did as he said and we were right on the center line but the ol'girl floated a little and by the time we the mains touched we had started a side drift. The side loading was fierce and the impact forcing both of us to jar to the right causing the door to bow enough that it popped open even though it was locked, and he was dangling out the side inches from the pavement. While I was fighting to keep the plane pointed in the right direction the instructor was trying his best to get back upright in the seat without grabbing the yoke. When I got the plane to a complete stop and looked over at him his was white as a ghost! After he figured out why the door wouldn't shut, and we taxied back to the terminal, he told me he thought it would be better if my regular instructor took back over. He sold the Stinson and hasn't to my knowledge been back in a taildragger since. As a side note, one of dads hub caps came up missing, and he booted me out his plane. I had to buy my own.
ps. A great case for seatbelts!
Good story! That is what you can expect from the "kick it straight at the last minute" method. I think the "kick" method is sloppy and will result in damage to the aircraft sooner or later. I guess that is how they teach the new nose dragger pilots these days, though. Crabbing into the wind on final is fine, but during the flare you are much better off getting the upwind wing down into the wind and come in with top rudder to hold the airplane on centerline. Produces a much nicer landing touching on the upwind tire first, and also gives you more time to flare...no problem with a little floating as long as the upwind wing remains down and top rudder is used. At work they teach us to land with the "kick it straight" method on the jet...fearing that too much wing down into the wind will result in a wing tip strike. I don't even use the "kick it" method in the jet at work as it jerks the passengers around and can result in some pretty nasty side loads on the gear, as you found out, if the thouchdown is delayed for any reason. The only airplane I can think of that would benefit from the "kick it straight" method is the B-52, but then it has crosswind gear.
Since your CFI was supposedly giving "dual" and it was his first time up in a 140, I'm glad it didn't turn into an accident investigation and a wrecked airplane with him not current in the airplane.
Is that the 140 discussed sitting in the shed just off the airport over there at PSX? I was over there a couple months ago and saw a 140 in a shed, and a 170 in the hangar. Are those yours?
That just goes to show you that a CFI license is not "the force"!(as in "use the force,Luke") A year ago,an experienced CFI at my field was giving dual in a borrowed 170 and managed to put it on it's back while demonstrating an unintentional groundloop! He's an ex-USAF jet jockey and charter operator with lots of hours. I guess he figured his credentials automatically made him proficient in a taildragger. The real shame is that the airplane & him were both uninsured,and the 170's owner ended up paying the price for the CFI's inadequacies. Amazingly enough,he's still flying borrowed airplanes. Turns out it wasn't his fault,the airplane apparently crashed itself. Some people just don't learn.
Another horror story--a couple years ago, the new owner of an FBO at a nearby field decided he'd better give a customer's Super Cub a test flight after some maintenance work had been done on it. He's another ex-militairy hot shot. Well,from what I heard,he pushed the stick forward as he cobbed the throttle starting the takeoff roll,and the Supercub immediately made a hard left turn off the runway & into the ditch. Wiped out one main gear pretty good. He musta watched that short takeoff contest video one too many times. Owner wasn't too happy.
When I saw this morning's newspaper (Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel) I was saddened to see a front page photo of a badly wrecked 170A. Apparently the plane lost power and the pilot tried to land on a busy highway when he hit power lines. The airplane flipped down. Pilot in serious condition, his daughter stable, two dogs uninjured. Airplane no doubt totaled. NTSB investigator quoted as saying one of the "passengers" said they may have run out of fuel...
Rudy
It's really abummer to hear about any airplane wreck,especially when it's one of our classics. Hope it wasn't one of our members here.
I looked at a wrecked Beech 18 freighter the other day at Skagit County Airport. I saw it one day last week out in the weeds off the end of the runway,by Saturday it had been towed back onto the airport grounds. From what I read on the "prelim. accident info" website,the airplane had frost on it--stalled and crashed on takeoff.( there's a lesson for the rest of us,for winter flying!) It didn't hit nose down,thank goodness,so no one was hurt or killed but it bellied in HARD. The impact looks to have torn those big beautiful P&W 985's right off the wings.
It wasn't really beat up all that bad,but considering the low cost to buy a freight-dog Beech 18 it might not be economically feasible to rebuild it. Another useful,COOL old classic down the tubes.
I personally like to mix my landings up, to stay as proficient as possible. On our 7 day flight down from Alaska, my wife would call the landing type as we crossed each threshold. Of course, everyone in the family gives me a grade (1 -10) after each landing. One of my daughters is a perfectionist and I can't beg a 10 out of her.
In a X-wind, a two-point landing might be called for (one main wheel and the tail wheel). On a strip where you would normally need a stall landing (three point), a X-wind doesn't change the strips surface or length.
X-wind landings = Up-wind wing down as long as possible (actually slipping) to prevent sideward motion and perform the landing as any other.
When taking off X-wind, I raise the tail higher than normal to reach a higher speed before lift-off, in addition to cross control / wing down.
The only time I "crab" on final is when I have pax who are not familiar with the side-slide that you feel when flying it on wing low. If a guy is totally familiar with his bird the transition from a crab to wing low can be very smooth. An 1/8 mile and about a hundred feet is a good transition time.
I learned from a guy who could play his 140 like a fine instrument. He would fly patern altitude to his turn onto final and whether wide right or wide left would then "slip" down to touch one wheel, pick it back up then touch the other. I was just a sprout and I yearned for the day I could do that. A few months after buying '93D I learned that it did most things better than any other plane that I had ever flown. It is gentle and usually forgiving but drop it from a foot and it will send you back up two! I practiced on the grass at K59 (Atchison, KS) till I could roll it down half the runway on one wheel (no side loading, thank you very much!) till I ran out of up-wing and tail lift. Down-wind wheel and tail wheel would touch down about the same time and roll out speed was down to nuttin.
There is a grass strip at 3R4 (Many, LA), perpendicular to the hard surface, and while I was the airport manager there I kept the thing mowed and rolled. I used it almost all the time for both kind of landings. Tailwheel planes like grass much better than pavement. I just had to watch out for those over-night pop-up "FAR-ANT" hills!
I had to land my 170 last Sunday with a crosswind of 17 knots gusting
to 25 knots. Runway was 33 and the wind direction varied from 040 to 110 degrees. Suffice it to say, one couldn't do a "crab" approach in these conditions and expect to kick it straight at the last moment!
I'll be honest and say I had to go around on the 1st try at getting
her down (I heard a tire chirp, looked out the left window and saw
nothing but grass.... this airport has a paved runway....).
2nd time around was at flaps ten with the A/S indicator flopping
around between 80 and 100.
I needed a shot of whiskey and a shower after that landing, but at least
I didn't bend anything!
A friend of mine showed me a tip on cross wind landings and take offs especially on asphault runways. Don't try to land or take off straight down the runway but angle into the wind, kind of across the runway so to speak.
It helps if it is a wide runway.
Bob
It's amazing how funny those controllers can be sometimes. The tower manager at ADS shared at an AOPA meeting how in his early days he had his struggles. Once he got confused with who was where and asked the aircraft on final to do a 360 for spacing. After a short time watching the aircraft on final continue to make straight flight he asked again for Nxxxx to make a 360 and a pilot came back saying "I am, I am" The controller moved his gaze from final to the approach end and there was a C150 doing 360's in the runup area! 
While I was fighting to keep the plane pointed in the right direction the instructor was trying his best to get back upright in the seat without grabbing the yoke. When I got the plane to a complete stop and looked over at him his was white as a ghost! 
After he figured out why the door wouldn't shut, and we taxied back to the terminal, he told me he thought it would be better if my regular instructor took back over. He sold the Stinson and hasn't to my knowledge been back in a taildragger since. As a side note, one of dads hub caps came up missing, and he booted me out his plane. I had to buy my own. 
Some people just don't learn.
