| The Joy of Flying |
| 8. The approach and landing - and a little side slip |

The Citabria has five stages of flap, whereas the Decathlon has none. 5 stages might be seen as excessive by some. But each notch of flap really helps to just check the speed and aid descent in nicely graduated steps without fuss. Generally you use 2, or maybe 3 stages in the Citabria, and definitely no more than 2 stages in a cross wind. Here we are downwind and just about to turn base leg at 75 knots with one notch of flaps.
As you see I’ve gone for a very tight circuit and base leg is very short, with a further two notches of flaps and down to 65 knots now. Please NOTE: The Decathlon needs careful speed management on approach. With no flaps, speed needs to be bled off to around 60 knots, when enough drag is created to maintain 500 fpm descent and 65 knots with a tiny bit of power. Speed should not exceed 65 knots on approach.
More flaps selected and 60+ knots. Oops we are too high - a consequence of rather too tight a circuit. The solution is to side slip. This will lose height quickly (increased drag) but not at the expense of gaining speed. To side slip, we use rudder in one direction and aileron in the other to counteract the tendency to turn and check the roll produced by large input of rudder.
Our Decathlon can achieve a whopping 40 degrees slip angle - the Citabria achieves a respectable 30+. The aircraft is tracking along the runway centre despite pointing away from it and is therefore crabbing, with lots of left rudder and a little right aileron to check the rudder. Altitude is lost quickly and the drag created by the airflow against the right side of the fuselage, plus the rudder and ailerons, is helping to keep us nice and slow. Because of reduced lift with the wings angled sideways to airflow, don’t let the speed drop too much.
As we near the runway surface, ease off the rudder and aileron in a harmonised movement and the Citabria will kick straight by itself. All we need to do now is gently sink, cut the throttle, or perhaps leave a tiny bit of power on until you’re sure you don’t have a long way to drop should you be near the stall. About 55 knots here, or less if you are loaded lightly. Except in cases of nasty crosswinds, when you might rightly consider landing on the main wheels first, in normal circumstances, a three point landing is the way with tail draggers.
Gently ease the stick back as you near the surface. The nose will obscure the runway in the final ten feet. You get used to this after a few attempts. Hold her off. DON’T try to land - try NOT to land, just insistently holding off. As all three wheels touch down the stick should be back in your lap and if you’ve got it right you should hear three tire squeals at once. I Hope you enjoyed this guide to the joy of flying the Citabria and Decathlon.

| Rob Young - November 2001
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