It's been several years since I recall bounced landing recovery has been discussed on the net, all the way back to Jim Faughn era. I'll share my experiences and opinion and other KR flyers can agree or disagree as they wish.
Every KR flier will bounce a landing sooner or later. Fortunately I've only experienced a limited number over the years that were bad enough to require recovery. The worst was right in front of five C-150's waiting to take off piloted by students on the local universality's flight team. If you're going to screw up you just as well do it in front of witnesses. I was trying to expedite my landing to let them get airborne and did probably a five foot bounce. Without hesitation I went to full power and started a go-around and requested to land on a longer parallel runway to let them get airborne.
If I bounce high enough that there will be more than one or two seconds between tire chirps it's a no hesitation go-around. Tri-gear and conventional gear will have different results due to the relationship of the CG to the gear location. A tail wheel gear bounce will result in the tail coming down (CG behind the main gear) causing the wing to go to a higher AoA and the airplane will balloon, sometimes to a critical height almost quicker than you can react. On a tri-gear, with the CG forward of the mains, a bounce will tend to bring the nose down quickly and possibility cause nose gear damage or spring the nose back to a high AofA. In either case you may be hanging out to dry with a nose high attitude several feet above the runway with the airplane loosing airspeed quickly and a possible damaging return to earth. With the light control forces and quick response of the KR it is very easy to over control at that point and quickly put you in a "haul it to the hangar and rebuild" situation. Personally I prefer to go around any time my arrival is not a comfortable one. You have only seconds to decide so have your answer available before it happens.
The lesson of a bounce in a conventional gear airplane could not have been made more clear than when doing the first flight and putting several hours on the Murphy Rebel. With the 150 hp engine it was extremely nose heavy even with the engine mount shortened several inches over the smaller engine versions. Each time I would flare I would run out of elevator, the mains would contact, the tail went down and I was back in the air. The extremely slow stall speed simply made the situation worse if I came in with too much airspeed. I would get three moderate bounces on landing until we added about 20 pounds to the tail to get the CG to a better location. The original CG location was in range but I later found a note from from fliers of this version that advised moving the CG back several inches. My last landing was a three pointer and then the owner sold it.
If you haven't already flown your KR and learned what your KR likes best, take my opinion for what it's worth, consider the opinions of other KR fliers, and decide for yourself.
Larry Flesner -- KRnet mailing list KRnet@list.krnet.org https://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet
