This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
My passenger became sick in the air and was throwing up into a cup. I wanted to land ASAP to give them a chance to recover.
I found the closest airport, started flying towards it, and called in to cancel my VFR flight plan. They wanted to know the reason for diversion and cancellation and I let them know I had a passenger throwing up and wanted to get them on the ground.
I touched down full stall with full flaps. I had the right wing low and some left rudder in to compensate for about 5 knots of crosswind.
I touched down on my right wheel. About 1-2 seconds later the left wheel touched down.
I held the nose off the ground to bleed off ground speed quickly. After about 5 seconds of holding the nose off, I slowly (about a one second to full stick rate) fed in more elevator to bleed off speed more quickly. When I did so, the rudder contacted the ground before I had reached full back stick. I decreased the amount of stick when I heard the contact and finished my roll-out normally.
A post-flight inspection revealed scuffing of the aft portion of the rudder.
The aircraft weight at the time of landing was about 1,300 pounds (1320 pound MTOW) and the CG was within range but close to the rear of the range.
I’ve used full up elevator several seconds after landing at flap settings 1 and 2 and the nose doesn’t rise as high.
I believe a tail strike on rollout in this aircraft — a JMB VL3 light sport experimental aircraft — is a significant risk when landing with full flaps. I don’t know whether the rearward CG contributes to the risk.
Primary Problem: Aircraft
ACN: 2032538
Dragging the tail wasn’t so oncoming among certain four seaters of the past. However a strategically placed tie down ring protected the rudder quite nicely.
Yes, rearward CG does allow one to more easily incur a tail strike on roll out. Suggest looking at C15x tail “tail strike” protectors, and put something similar on these types of aircraft. I would like to think that the manufacturer of the kit/plans should have some remarks to this effect.
Sounds like some theoretical flight analysis might be in order. Contact a Boeing engineer for advice.
Regards/J
Sounds more like pilot error causing the tail strike than aircraft. If I pulled full aft stick in my non-JBM LSA on rollout, I too would have a tail strike.