AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2022 - 83

TECHNIQUE /
Don't try this at home
Extreme STOL competition-style landings
BY DAVE HIRSCHMAN
THE ULTRA-SHORT, COMPETITION-STYLE,
extreme short-field landings performed
at STOL events defy convention. Land
this way on an FAA checkride and it will
end with a pink slip. Do it on an aircraft
checkout and your rental privileges will be
revoked. Try it during tailwheel training
and your instructor will be traumatized.
Veteran pilots will have to unlearn
years of ingrained habits.
But if your goal is winning a shorttakeoff-and-landing
(STOL) contest, you'll
have to master some unconventional and
borderline abusive techniques that competitors
build their specialized airplanes
to tolerate. Steve Henry, a Nevadabased
STOL competitor known for viral
YouTube videos such as " Deadstick
Takeoff, Flight and Landing, " helped pioneer
some of these extreme techniques.
It starts with an unstable approach.
Configure your airplane for landing,
then get desperately slow. Most pilot's
operating handbooks recommend an
approach speed of 1.3 times the power-off
stall speed, but STOL competitors tend to
fly much slower than that.
They're way behind the power curve
and deep into what the FAA calls the
region of " reverse command, " in which
a pilot seeking to fly slower must add
engine power to do so. Think of Sean D.
Tucker hanging his airplane on its propeller
during a " Harrier pass " and you've
got the concept.
" I get the airplane configured on final
approach with full flaps-but it's not a
stabilized approach, " Henry said. " I'm
holding a high angle of attack very close
to an aerodynamic stall, and I'm constantly
working the throttle to adjust the
rate of descent to hit my aiming point on
the ground. "
Steve Henry pilots his Highlander during a STOL demostration at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 2022
(facing page). A Cessna 170B performs a short takeoff at the AOPA Hangout in Spokane, Washington.
Descending close to the ground,
there's no roundout or flare.
Fly a steep approach that directs the
airplane's energy downward. Use the airplane's
pitch attitude to control airspeed
and engine power for rate of descent.
Then descend at the maximum rate your
airplane's landing gear and supporting
structure will tolerate. And just like a Navy
pilot hitting an aircraft carrier deck, don't
flare before touchdown.
STOL aircraft are typically equipped
with vortex generators, leading-edge slats,
and other high-lift devices that allow them
to fly at unusually high angles of attack.
Henry keeps his aircraft in a nose-high
attitude close to its aerodynamic stall with
up-elevator and significant engine power
as it descends.
Engine power increases the amount of
airflow over the tail, and he raises the nose
so that the airplane's tailwheel impacts the
ground first. From that moment forward,
the airplane's angle of attack decreases,
and the wings generate less lift. When
the main wheels slam down, the airplane
doesn't bounce back up in the air. Shock
absorbers and the spongy tundra tires
cushion the impact and protect the aircraft
from damage.
Once his airplane is on the ground,
Henry holds full aft stick and raises the
flaps quickly as he pulls the throttle to idle.
Raising the flaps reduces lift and transfers
as much weight as possible to the wheels
for maximum braking effectiveness.
The aircraft tail usually rises during
rollout, and if he senses there's a danger
of nosing over or striking the propeller
on the ground, he lightens brake pressure
momentarily to allow the main wheels to
turn so that the tail stops rising. But he
prefers leaving the brakes locked if he can
get away with it.
" In wet grass, the tires will slide, and
I'll keep the brakes locked, " Henry said.
Henry's airplane has its main wheels
placed unusually far forward, and that
allows him to brake aggressively without
nosing over.
AOPA PILOT / November 2022
83
DAVID TULIS/NIKI BRITTON

AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2022

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