How to Do It: Better Landings

The right gear makes all the difference By Fred RandallPhotos by the authorAs seen in the September 2010 issue of Model Aviation.My big de Havilland Chipmunk from FlyBoy Models made a long, shallow approach and touched down on our grass runway. It made a slight hop, as was usual because of its short, stiff main landing gear, and settled into a long rollout. It had almost come to a stop when the left wing dropped and the big model slewed left and halted. I uttered an epithet and then headed downfield to retrieve “Big Bird,” as I had come to call the yellow airplane. I suspected that…