Curb feelers for the tail strake

[Anticept]

Found it (should be legible if you click on it):

 

 

My plane does not seem to have the bubble level they refer to, but it looks like they use the center tunnel as a reference datum for level.

 

I should be able to zero my protractor/level using that, then simply drop the tail and measure it again to get the difference.

 

Again, this is all academic, and will not affect the way I land my plane, but its still interesting.

 

Thanks for the feedback and direction - never too late to learn something new!

I'm surprised if an airplane ever comes with it's own bubble level. When us mechanics do W&B, as in we're the ones who MAKE the sheets, we use our own bubble level.

 

Anyways, in reality, how you did it the first time is correct, but only for your airplane. Each individual airplane will have it's nuances, this is one of them. I suggested checking out the MM just to just make a point (it's not actually useful in any way). In the case of the MM leveling and checking the degree of pitch, you need level ground too (it would affect results if you were on a 12.5 degree slope, for example). Finally, you would also have to dig a hole under the nose strut to level it, you can't jack up the mains or you increase distance from the ground.

 

Even still, another method would be to use trigonometry. Trig would involve the least physical work, but a little mental acrobatics.

[FlyingMonkey]

To get the tail on the ground on a landing in a CTLS one would need to slow to a stall in ground effect then add throttle and lurch the nose up, way up.   Why do that unless you're short of the runway?

 

And if short of the runway, that situation would clearly call for a full throttle go around.

 

Throttle is sometimes used to cushion sink rate right before wheel touchdown if the flare is a little high, so that the airplane doesn't "drop in".  But you'd have to have really high sink and ham-fist the throttle to make the tail strike in that case.