Happy feet?

[Shiny Side Up]

Came across this in a few articles in reference to a method of teaching people on tailwheel aircraft. Not sure if I'm out of the loop but does anyone use this or can decribe the idea involved?

Budd says a bit about it in one of the old Grass Roots from 2000, the only online reference I found to it (and didn't approve of it), though there may be more - I didn't do an exaustive search. Its appeared a few other times in various magazine articles I've come across. I was bored the other day perusing airbum.com and thought about it again.

Link to the article

For those of you too lazy to click the link, the operative bit.

One of life's more esoteric factors that I don't understand is the so-called "happy feet" style of flying tailwheel airplanes. I know this isn't an Earth-shaking problem to the general population, but I spend so much time giving tail wheel instruction, that repairing the damage done by that style of flying has become a real thorn in my side. I know the concept of teaching "happy feet" is to get the student's feet moving back and forth the second the taildragger hits the ground so he isn't sitting there doing nothing. I've always felt you do something only when the airplane asks for it; you don't keep giving it inputs in the hopes they average out straight-ahead. If you're dancing with your feet, you have no idea what the airplane is doing or what it needs. 'Just doesn't make sense to me.

Thoughts?

[Old Dog Flying]

I agree that this "happy feet" thing is crap! I have a friend who flies only taildraggers and he not only dances on the rudder pedals but stirs the stick like there was a devil in the pot. It made for some interesting diversions on the runway when I let him fly the wee Grumman...with me in it of course!

The only time the rudder input is necessary is when you require it..and I've flown one large number of t/ders of all sizes.

Barney

[Colonel Sanders]

A secret about tailwheel landings

If you place the aircraft on the runway with
Absolutely no yaw, it will roll down the runway
Straight without any input from you

Happy feet will de-stabilize this and require
Further corrective action

Think of a piston balanced at TDC with 80 psi
During a compression test. You can take your
Hands off the prop and it will stay there. Get
It 5 degrees off and you've got a handful.

[Indanao]

+1

[Shiny Side Up]

Happy feet will de-stabilize this and require
Further corrective action

That's what I figured, but I was wondering more about what the actual teaching theory people had behind it. I've been with a few tail dragger pilots whom I'd suspected have been taught this way, so I was curious as to their instructor's approach.

[Colonel Sanders]

Lots of crappy instructors

Tailwheel is often taught very poorly

[Indanao]

I taught em to just use the rudder like when your going to taxi. Just keep er straight.

[rapid602]

Question here ??? I really do not know the answer ... I have about 65 hours in a homebuilt tailgragger and could always see over the nose.

Is the happy feet situation you (all of you) are speaking about. Does any of it come from stearing side to side to see over the nose or down the side of the nose during taxi and takeoff. Especially on pavement or concrete. In a small aircraft such as CUB or similar on a 200 ft wide runway, I would think there is little reference to the sides of the runway. I was looking at a homebuilt in the 80's called a Quickie, which was low to the ground and lots of guys ground looped them.

I was never given any instruction in a tail dragger. Just bought my own plane and jumped it. I did fly it from a grass strip and I seem to remember using rudders more at landing and touch down rather than take off but its been a while. Takeoffs in it seemed to be a non event.

Interested to hear more about this or is Happy Feet something totally different.

[Indanao]

That's why they call it, " good feet ". Keep er straight is a balancing act. ( I don't know what, " happy feet " means either. )

[cgzro]

Interested to hear more about this or is Happy Feet something totally different

Wow, sounds kinda dangerous to me. I mean if somebody has trouble finding the right flair attitude we don't suggest they pitch up and down hoping that it averages out correctly... do we .. so why with yaw?

There are things that can help, for example its very important what kind of shoes you wear, especially when learning. Very soft soled shoes that give good feel tend to allow you much finer control and will naturally allow you a more quick but measured response. Boots will slow you down. Imagine landing a plane wearing heavy gloves .. spoils the fine feel .. same with shoes.

The taxi zig zag is a totally different thing. Its a couple of seconds one way, couple of seconds the other and its only for forward vis. if you have forward vis you don't need to do it in taxi.

[tonyhunt]

The only time the rudder input is necessary is when you require it..and I've flown one large number of t/ders of all sizes.

Agree. I think there are two causes for the drama associated with the initial tailwheel hours:

Book learning: I see a big difference between people who have a couple days to prepare before I take them flying and the random people I grab on the ramp for a flight in the front seat of the Husky. People who read stuff will try to do it like the book said, whether it makes sense or not. They start doing "S" turns while taxiing, even though with the big tailwheel they have a great view over the nose. They can't explain why they are doing it. Everyone must read the same magazine articles and they are determined to go from side to side all the way to the runway. People who have not read "the book" will listen, watch me do stuff, then they try it and even the first attempt is usually reasonable.

Lousy instruction: We had an instructor in the Decathlon who told his students to pull back hard on the stick after landing, and keep pulling back all the way to the tie-down. He read it in a book, misunderstood the context, and passed it on as gospel. I only found out when I noticed the tailwheel tires were only lasting 3 hours. Now we have to deprogram about 8 of his early students. The same instructor never took his students to a grass runway, although it was a 5 minute flight away, but he would use two hour-long flights to teach them about power settings with the constant speed prop. But he's a Class 1, I'm a Class 3 and it's not my place to question his priorities.

If you keep the drama and chest-beating to a minimum during the pre-flight stuff and early lessons, students realise the aeroplane is not evil and usually does what it is told. Stop overcontrolling during the take-off roll, and never touch down with yaw. The rest will take care of itself. Teaching tailwheel is fun because you can sit in the back and watch, and you can tell who needs help to discover things, and who will do just fine on their own.

[Shiny Side Up]

I was looking at a homebuilt in the 80's called a Quickie, which was low to the ground and lots of guys ground looped them.

Lots of guys ground loop these because they think they're smarter than Burt Rutan and "modify" their own landing gear.

[AirFrame]

As someone who learned to fly (officially) in a nosewheel aircraft and then (officially) transitioned to tailwheel later, I agree. I wasn't taught to dance on the pedals, I was taught to land straight, and correct it when I screwed up.

That being said, i've had days when I felt like I had happy feet... No fault of my instructor tho...

[rapid602]

I was looking at a homebuilt in the 80's called a Quickie, which was low to the ground and lots of guys ground looped them.

Lots of guys ground loop these because they think they're smarter than Burt Rutan and "modify" their own landing gear.

I was told by some owners of Quickies, and I came real close to buying one, they were groundlooped because they were so low, on a 200 ft wide runway there was no visual reference, because all you saw was concrete. ( Thats what I was told) It was not mentioned to me that guys were making modifications to the undercarriage, and I really do not know why they would as it was a very simple design.

I was told by some OLD GREY DOGS, I love old grey dogs, to line up more to one side of the runway so you had a visual reference out the side window. I came to the conclusion there were safer airplanes to buy, and I wasn't looking for that much excitment in my life at the time.

But as far as the term happy feet .... I never heard it used till today, and its interesting... so here is the question worded differently.

Does the term Happy Feet as you ( all of you ) use it, mean, in the taxi and ground handling, or take off and or landing, or in flight. OR is it in all phases????

Thank you all for your 2 cents ...

[Colonel Sanders]

Yes - on a very wide runway, land your usual distance
From the LEFT side of the runway. Otherwise you will
Flare too high - to get the same visual picture - and
You will crash it on.

I know a guy who put +4G on a Pitts doing exactly
That. However it was unhurt because he kept it
Straight.

There is a lesson there for you. Although everyone
Spends all their time fishing for a greaser landing it
Is completely unimportant and totally useless.

The quality of a tailwheel landing can be objectively
Measured by the degrees of yaw experienced during
Landing.

Set the 3-pt attitude and hold it there. Use full power
To overshoot if you balloon too high.

And keep it straight, because yaw excursions is what
Kills tailgraggers.

[Old Dog Flying]

"Happy Feet" refers to the tap dancing penquins routine. Now think of tap dancing on the rudder pedals in the flair and touch-down to roll out and it gets interesting. Also the idea of constantly changing pitch inputs plus tap dancing makes for a very busy and lousy landing. My buddy thinks that this is absolutely necessary to safely land a tail dragger.

[cgzro]

Oscillating the controls is almost always dangerous and unnecessary.
There is only one case I can think of where you might pump a control and thats during a stall or near stall where pumping elevator and ailerons in some aerobatic planes (very high powee to weight) improves control (example double hammers cobras push humpties) but thats a very advanced subject for a few acro types and not relavant to landing a tail dragger or flying regular aircraft.

Pumping the rudder will cause extra drag and if done too close to the stall could be very dangerous. Hint a snap is a fast rudder application that does not occur if pressed slowly.

On taxi well zig zag slowly as required for vis but its a slow oscillation.

Now as far as a way to psych yourself to be ready may I suggest instead a really steep agressive slip instead. You will end up carefully controlling all three axis plus power and be more than ready for yaw requirements on landing. Also superb practice fur engine failure and cross winds and great fun too!

[Colonel Sanders]

Just watch the oil pressure during the slip!

I use a 90 degree banked slip on short final
But I also keep the oil topped at 12 qts.

[rapid602]

There is a lesson there for you. Although everyone
Spends all their time fishing for a greaser landing it
Is completely unimportant and totally useless.

And keep it straight, because yaw excursions is what
Kills tailgraggers.

Thank for that Colonel. Great Tip. I used to fly an aircraft that had a bad safety record and lots of people who watched it land refered to it as a controlled crash. We used to get new pilots on it who were going to show us how to grease it on and would let 2000 ft of runway go by trying to do it. When we use to set 20% power and fly it right to the ground and check the nose.....There was vertually no flair.

You can not use runway behind you. when your going into 3000 feet gravel getting it down and under control was always more important than pretty.

[Indanao]

The, " happy feet" concept seems all wrong from the outset to me. It assumes your not keeping the heels on the floor. You need to keep your heels on the floor, I think, to have a stable platform to work from.

[robertsailor1]

My Son and I went out flying and he has a go-pro camera which he faced backwards from the front cockpit, man I was surprised how happy my feet were. Little rudder changes throughout take off and landings BUT the aircraft stayed right on the center line. First time I realized just how much imput I was using but just little wee corrections that could be seen but hardly felt. So now I'm of the opinion that most tailwheel flyers do have happy feet although some may be happier than others. LOL

[AirFrame]

The, " happy feet" concept seems all wrong from the outset to me. It assumes your not keeping the heels on the floor. You need to keep your heels on the floor, I think, to have a stable platform to work from.

I think that may even vary from airplane to airplane. On an airplane with heel brakes, I found it easier to put my foot full on the pedal, above the brake. In my RV, I like my heels on the floor to minimize the possibilty of getting brake actuation with rudder travel. At least, that's with normal street shoes. In the summer when I occasionally fly wearing my Vibram Fivefingers, I lift my heels and my toes grab the lower bar of the rudder pedal. I do my best landings that way, the feedback from the ground through my feet is amazing. I do get funny looks from people on the ramp when I get out though...

[Indanao]

I can only speak from experience. Back in the day, I checked out a PWA 737 Pilot on a 172. Straight as an arrow, brakes hard and squealing on touch down. My advice - keep your heels on the floor. I know, your feet move up naturally. Let that not be your focus.

[SuperchargedRS]

Going back and forth on the rudders just to go back and forth seems like bad policy to me.

When landing I do make some small corrections and after a small correction to, say, the left I am ready to counter to the right, something about putting a object in motion right?? I've always just taught to fly to the point on the horizon until the plane has stopped

[Colonel Sanders]

Do whatever it takes with the controls, to make
the airplane do what you want.

On the specific subject of tailwheel aircraft: http://tinyurl.com/7sw7kb9