Thread: tail strikes

I was wondering if anybody else on the forum has had any troubles with tail strikes during take off or landings.

I have over 300 CTSW landings and takeoffs in my logbook, all as a student. No tailstrikes.

Only from my ex-wife.

Arnold Bronson

In regards to tailstrikes, we recently did some "look-seeing" on my friends new CTLS. He wanted to get a good idea of what extreme pitch up angle would allow tail strike and wanted to know what the permissable pitch up angle would be for soft field take offs and landings. At his hanger, he sat in his plane with the Dynon fired so that the attitude indicator could be viewed. I pushed his tail to the ground (with a pad underneath to protect it). His pitch up angle showed approx. 11 degrees. I next pushed the tail down so that it was approx. 6 inches off the ground. The nose wheel was also about the same distance. The Dynon showed the pitch up was approx. 5 to 6 degrees. Note that this CTLS has the tundra wheels/tires. So...it looks like a nose up of about 5 degrees might be a good ballpark "limit" that provides a margin of clearance when excercising and extreme angle during taking off or landing. The Dynon gives a pilot a "quick glance" opportunity to see where his pitch attitude is during take offs and landings. I'm not sure if the mechanical attitudue indicator is as readable as the Dynon? Maybe a person could put a thin piece of tape on this type of attitude indicator to give the pilot a quick glance "limit" during landing and takeoff?

Side note: Tailstrikes do happen and it only takes one time for an expensive repair - especially on a carbon fiber aircraft. I note that the ***** GX has a protective synthetic strike pad on it's tail. I believe that I have heard that FD offers a pad for CTSW's and CTLS's?

I did it once ...
When training to land with flaps locked at minus 12. To slow down, I was supposed to land nose up. Just a little strike on the paint but a protective part would be welcome ...

Practicing power-off emergency landings at -6 flaps, I've done it a couple of times. FD should put a wheel back there.

i never land with negative flap settings. i have never contacted the tail fin.

last summer 80kt winds had my ct flying on the ramp when tied down and the fin scraped up from thatl.

Landing with -12 with or with out power will not scrape the underfin unless you try to pull to far back and really get the nose up and really slow. This means you are trying to land before the planes is ready. If you come down and just hold the plane plane in very close level flight attitude (just a slight nose up) the plane will settle down just fine. Too many are trying to make the plane land before it's ready and this puts it sometimes at excessive angle. In any landing configuration do be in a hurry to force the plane or speed dow. Just hold it straight and level and let the plane land when it is ready.

Also consider that the original post referred to a CTls which is 14" longer. This may have an effect on the tail position during flare.

If you land fairly flat with only a slight nose up on the LS or SW you can not strike your underfin. That only happens when you try to land with the nose too high and or try to slow the plane down before it is ready. Flying in with a high power rpm on landing and trying to slow it down by pulling the stick back too far will cause this problem also. If you are having these issue then a different approach to your landings are needed. Don't let a CFI try to get you real nose high at touch down or one day you will scrape. Don't be in a hurry to bleed speed, let it bleed on its own. Forcing it down is a good way to hit the underfin, bend a gear, skip of the runway and bounce way back up into the air.