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This happened to me once in a Pitts (metal prop, Lycoming IO-360), stuck at full power. Did a high speed spiral down to pattern altitude, entered a normal pattern and pulled the mixture at mid field and landed like every other landing I ever did in these airplanes. What struck me is that the...

Haha, well really it's just a few Pitts guys who like doing wheelies who entertain themselves by claiming that people say you shouldn't wheel land a Pitts, when in fact almost nobody actually says that. They just have fun dispelling a non-existent myth. That being said, I'd do a wheelie about...

Cessnas roll signficantly faster than my old Pitts though. :biggrin:

For student pilots yes, but plenty of pilots of low forward vis airplanes fly a continuous turn all the way to the numbers. It can be perfectly stabilized in airspeed, turn rate, and descent rate. I did it nearly every landing. Flying final aligned with the runway feels weird to me now. :)

Hey Ed, that was pretty solid! I see you are doing the classic Decathlon pilot hand hold of the cabane tube haha. Anyway this is easy stuff to clean up with a little help from the ground. Few notes, which you probably see as well - Consider the wing wags Figure 0 and be sure to do them on...

Glad it's working out Ed. Just wanted to mention though that in order to keep it round, you do need to progressively increase your pull from the apex of the wedge radius to the inverted 45 line. If you don't, the radius will expand and the flight path will deviate similar to the red dashed line...

This is something you do more by feel than by counting or watching airspeed. The "count" will vary depending on your entry speed and DA conditions, which can vary. Similar to how you can sense the diminishing airspeed on the vertical line to a hammerhead without counting or looking at the ASI...

Ed, you can really only get this sorted out via ground coaching/critiquing, but regarding how to fly the radius on the top for both figures...fly it as tight and with as little airspeed as you can get away with. You definitely don't want to fly the humpty like a loop with flat spots on the way...

In smooth air, I'd often slowly remove the slip during the roundout so that the slip wasn't fully removed until a few inches off, and just before touchdown. Did it for fun more than anything. It also kept the runway in sight practically until the wheels touched. Here, I also committed the sin...

I noted it in the context of the poster who said he had a helo land in front of him while he was on a 1/2 mile final, which caused him to have to go around. The reg applies in that case.

Cutting in front of an airplane established on final is illegal per 91.113(g). In no way did I advocate that. I specifically described turning base to final inside of an airplane flying a XC downwind.

Sure, it can be done safely. The bigger challenge is convincing the pilot ahead that you're not "cutting them off". I faced this at my last airport which did lots of flight training with B-52 patterns. My Pitts could slip like a rock around the corner from downwind to the numbers, so if I was...

This happened to me while borrowing a buddie's Pitts for an acro flight above the airport. Throttle cable broke at WOT. No big deal, just high speed steep spiral down to pattern altitude, enter the pattern and pull the mixture midfield downwind and land, but the interesting thing is that the...

There are two of us who have survived such a perilous feat. I'm the other one. :D

I always had fun slipping left base to final and then slipping the other way just before touching down in a right x-wind. :)

I was flying acro in a buddy's Pitts over the airport when the throttle cable broke with the engine wide open. Pulled the mixture and landed, but the metal prop didn't come to a complete stop until the very end of the landing roll after I'd turned off the runway onto the midfield taxiway...

Virtually nobody is building new ones, and the examples that exist are getting very long in the tooth. They will only last through those who have the motivation and means to restore these airplanes at a net financial loss. I wish you luck, and I hope you persevere!

THIS is the perfect acro panel. ;)

Ditto all that. I don't have the Pitts anymore, but I almost miss doing this more than acro haha. Without leveling out, I would have hit the ground here 15 seconds after entering the slip from 1,000' AGL, coming down 4,000 FPM. :D

I'd say 6,000 FPM, since my Pitts would come down 3,000 FPM in a full deflection slip to land. :)