I want to thank everybody for this fantastic thread. I'm new to my SC, with 90 wheel landings so far, trying to get a sense of how to do this well. I have been coming in fast (75 on final and over the numbers) with neutral trim and no flaps. Lots of floating involved with this, so I am avoiding crosswind days so far. My long term goal is short landings, but that can wait.
I'm full of questions at this stage and I need opinions! If I'm going to trim nose up, how many turns should I use in a SC? What's a good recommended speed over the numbers? Until I get more experience should I focus on coming in with power or not? I'd also really like to hear more stories of how everyone else handles gusty crosswinds before and after touchdown. I also have never heard anybody here or on youtube talk about the way the rudder control feels different before and after tailwheel touchdown, but it makes me feel uneasy. How do you know when it's OK to use brakes? When should I start adding flap landings to what I'm doing?
First, you need to slow down on final. 75 is just goofy fast. As JP suggested, do some air work, flying the airplane right at minimum controllable airspeed, till you get a good feel for slow flight. I’m not suggesting you fly final at that slow a speed, the point of this and lots of stalls is to give you a feel for the plane.
Second, USE those flaps. You need to be proficient with and without, but initially you want to be slow, till you get a feel for the evolution of landing. Depending on your comfort level, 55 or so indicated on SHORT final should work fine. With flaps there won’t be much float. Some folks like to roll in some nose down trim on short final. Flare, kill any power, touch with the tail an inch or so off the surface, relax the back pressure you were holding against nose down trim, and the plane will naturally roll up onto the mains. Stick just a bit forward to hold the tail up.
Dont mess with brakes much till you’re really proficient with these tail low wheel landings. Then EASE your way into gentle braking. Believe me, if you touch down at MCA you won’t need much braking unless you’re REALLY somewhere sketchy.
Only time I land with half or no flaps is in GUSTY crosswinds. Steady crosswinds don’t really require anything special. GUSTY requires a bit of extra speed and less flap helps.
Finally, the difference in stall speed between flap and no flap in a cub isn’t huge. So even no flap approaches neednt be at 75.
Get a lot of slow flight under your belt FIRST, all configutations, THEN work on landings.
MTV