[NSRCA-discussion] Judging Questions

[J N Hiller]

George I'm late this morning because I had to dig out my collection of old
rulebooks to check on the tail wheel first issue you refer to.
Yes I suspect there were downgrades and accompanying discussion regarding
rules compliance about the time we started flying conventional gear
aircraft.
Here is what I found:

Prior to the 1990-91 rulebook – [1988 – 1989 - P-62 – Landing – 2nd & 3rd
sentences]
"The model flares smoothly to a nose- high attitude, dissipating all flying
speed, then smoothly touching the ground, within the landing circle, with
the main wheels first, with no bouncing or changes in heading after touch
down." "The nose wheel on a tricycle gear should settle gently to the ground
after a brief roll out."

I suspect in an era of long tail turnaround airplanes with short main gear
(by today's standards) tail first landings occurred often if slowed to a
nose high attitude, violating the "main wheels first" requirement intended
to prevent flying-on a tri-gear aircraft. Rules have always been subject to
interpretation as to literal meaning or intent. I actually remember some of
the tail first discussions but never got involved. At this point I should
add that the NSRCA judge certification program developed since and presented
by volunteers has done a superb job in clarify many interpretation
questions.

Here is what the 1990-91 rulebook has – [P-66 – Landing – 3rd sentence]
"The nose wheel on a tricycle gear and the tail wheel on a conventional gear
(unless a '"3 point landing" of main and tail wheel touching simultaneously
is executed) should settle gently to the ground after a brief roll out."

This sentence remained through the 2002 - 2004 AMA rulebook (last one I
have) and can probably be interpreted as disallowing a tail wheel first
landing although it was NOT listed as a downgrade. At this point I should
add that it is impractical if not impossible to list every conceivable rule
violation as a specific downgrade, although this one probably should have
been since it identifies and describes the 3 – point landing allowance for
conventional gear aircraft. I should also mention that nearly every rulebook
has a change to the landing description. This has been a nearly continuously
debated issue for at least 20 years. This is all history now but an
interesting look at where we came from.

As always if a pilot or judge has a questions regarding rule clarification
they should bring them up during the pilots or judges meeting prior to the
start of competition.

Jim



-----Original Message-----
From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
[mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org]On Behalf Of George
W.Kennie
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 5:52 AM
To: General pattern discussion
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Judging Questions

I'm with you on the nose high / flying speed relationship.  Somewhere in my
memory bank there's something regarding a downgrade if the tailwheel touches
down first, but I can no longer tell you if it's AMA or FAI related.  My
problem is that my memory bank does not contain file folders.
G.


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