The objective in landing a taildragger is to get the aircraft on the ground without bouncing while maintaining directional control. With this in mind, there are generally two methods to land a taildragger—the 3-point landing and the wheel landing.

THREE POINT (FULL STALL) LANDINGS: In the 3-point landing, the aircraft is slowed to stall or near stall by holding the aircraft off the ground by gradually coming back on the stick (up elevator), attempting to hold the aircraft just inches off the ground until the airspeed depletes and the aircraft settles onto the ground. At this slowest possible flying speed the nose will be very high, the tail will be low, and all three wheels will touch down at the same time, or the tailwheel may actually touchdown first. Touching down at near stall is the desired method because it means the aircraft is barely still flying, is out of energy, and is unable to bounce back into the air. It is also at its slowest airspeed and the landing roll will be very short. It is the right type landing for a short field and for the RC model pilot to show off his skill at flying a taildragger. (more…)