More S4 Piloting & practical handling, by Rob Slotten USA.
I have a lot of time in Cessna's 150/152's & found the S-4 to be an easy transition. It is well behaved & the flight characteristics are similar if you take into account how much lighter the plane is.
The S-4 has very positive rudder control as soon as you give it power & if you want to the tail comes up off the ground almost immediately you start to roll. I feel I have full control of it & mild application of left rudder is all you should expect. I fly from a grass strip and many times I will back taxi in calm conditions by giving it just enough power to bring the tail up and run down the runway on the mains.
It has a steep glide when you pull the power back, sink starts to increase rapidly much below 45 MPH indicated, which is thus my speed on approach to the flare. As a tail dragger I fly it all the way to the ground. The S-4/5 are light and a cross wind gust can lift a wing quite easily, so mind your control positions while during taxi.
Full flaps landing, or less ? Yes to all.
Full gives a very short roll out, but also a bit of float in ground effect. When it is windy and gusty, that float keeps you busy until the wheels are solid on the ground. If it's windy, use no flaps or partial flaps only and keep the speed up.
Power off stall in the S-4 is more of a mush with a high sink rate unless you bring the nose up quickly. Power on stall gives clean break with good rudder control. The ailerons will lose effectiveness before the rudder.Slotten USA
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