Landing a Onex

[DraggerDude]

Greetings all!
I just purchased a Onex, but it's not in my hangar yet. I am looking for information, tips, observations about handling and especially landing a Onex. Really curious about the Onex's ability to handle crosswinds. I have close to 300 tailwheel hours. I fly from paved runways, not grass. Thanks in advance for any insights or caveats that you can provide.

[Bryan Cotton]

Hi, welcome to the forum. I can't speak directly to the Onex but others will be along shortly I'm sure. My legacy Waiex taildragger is a much different animal than the piper taildraggers I flew for years. There is just not that much low speed rudder power. Wheel landings and takeoffs from the main gear is something I only do in under 5kt crosswind components or so. The key thing in crosswind capability for my Waiex is the solid link tailwheel. For crosswind takeoffs the stick is full aft and I get the mains off before the tail. For crosswind landings I plant the tailwheel before I let the mains come down, again full aft stick. I've done crosswind landings in excess of 20kts in the PA12 and PA18 but now I look to not get much over 10kts of crosswind component.

[MichaelFarley56]

I'm hoping some others will chime in as well as I've never flown a Onex personally. Like Bryan though, when I flew my Waiex I found the easiest takeoffs and landings were done in a three-point attitude. The airplanes will depart in that attitude without any problems and by doing this, you will maintain full directional control with the tailwheel until you are in the air.

Same with landing. If you touch down in a three-point attitude, you will have immediate control with the tailwheel. The other benefit of the design is the low takeoff and landing speeds which make them fairly docile airplanes. Just remember it's still a tailwheel airplane!

As for Onex crosswinds, I have been told the Onex does just as well as the Sonex in crosswinds. Judging by the experiences of others on these forums, it seems like most people feel the airplane is capable of crosswinds up to the 12-15 knot range.

Good luck on your new airplane!

[XenosN42]

Greetings all!
I just purchased a Onex, but it's not in my hangar yet. I am looking for information, tips, observations about handling and especially landing a Onex. Really curious about the Onex's ability to handle crosswinds. I have close to 300 tailwheel hours. I fly from paved runways, not grass. Thanks in advance for any insights or caveats that you can provide.

Link to a video I made landing my OneX, which shows my indicated airspeeds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh2DvA6RkTc&t=67s

Link to list of videos, some about the OneX some not. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/@MJacksonXenos/videos

[13brv3]

I'm afraid I can't answer any questions about high crosswind operation, since I just don't fly when there's that much crosswind. The highest crosswind component I've seen is 7-8 kts, maybe gusting a bit higher. I've got maybe 500 tailwheel hours, mostly in RVs, and I've found the Onex to be very well behaved on takeoffs and landings.

One thing you'll notice quickly is that the 3pt attitude is nowhere near full stall. If you try to land full stall, it will be tail first with the mains well off the ground. The resulting thump won't be good for the mains, which aren't overly robust BTW. The attitude also means takeoffs won't be as short as they could be with more angle of attack available.

I have very little prop clearance in level attitude, so I never do wheel landings. I never did them in RVs either, but that might go back to my fair weather flying habits. My typical landing is an attempt at 3pt, though you're still flying it on to some extent. Once the mains are on, just relax a bit of back stick to keep them on the ground. On downwind before turning base, I go to near idle, trim to 90 mph and add one notch of flaps. Turning base I shoot for 80 mph, and closer to 70 mph on short final. Add full flaps when needed. Note that the plane slips very well also.

For takeoffs, I start with the stick slightly back, and once I'm rolling I relax to neutral. Around maybe 40 mph I add some forward stick, but not enough to force the tail up at that speed. The forward stick lets the tail come up later, maybe 60 mph, and I keep it tail low until it gets light. At that point, a bit of back stick will rotate and you're off. That's usually around 70 for a normal takeoff for me. I personally don't like holding aft stick to force the plane off in it's 3pt attitude, since that would put a lot of pressure on the tailspring. Holding that attitude makes the plane hop and skitter around when it gets close to flying speed, and I prefer a cleaner separation from the ground.

The Onex is a really neat plane. You'll like it. It appears to have been designed for a lot more power than it typically has. My 912 is around 95HP, but isn't nearly what the plane could handle.

[DCASonex]

I fly from a hill top airport with a lot of crazy winds. For that reason, on takeoff, , I lift the tail as soon as possible but keep it nailed to the runway until about 60 MPH so I am sure that a gust of wind will not lift it off prematurely then drop it back on the ground. I do land in the three point position. Sonex are easy to fly either way, find what works for you.

David A.

[DraggerDude]

Thank you for all of the comments. I'm expecting delivery of my Onex in a couple of weeks, and will take time getting to know her. The majority of my tailwheel time is in a Luscombe, which is intolerant of bad technique. Thanks for the video links as well!