Just how much more challenging is flying a tail-dragger than a tricycle gear? I'm a 172 guy that is going LSA and - on paper - has fallen in love with the old classics (Cubs, Champs, etc). I have been gravitating towards the Aeronca Chief and have been planning on perhaps buying one in a year or so. That would give me time this spring and summer to get my t/wheel endorsement and get a few hours under my belt. BUT!! I have stumbled on what (on paper anyway) seems to be the prettiest little Aeronca Chief at what I feel is a very fair price. I may go out to check it out this weekend but am wondering about this. Am I out of my mind to even be considering this - having never flown a tailwheel before? Insurance co says so long as I get ten hrs with a CFI only then could I fly solo. HELP ME! Would anyone here ever consider making such a move? Or am I off my rocker? (It's OK - don't hold back - I can take it!)

tHaNkS!!!
Terry

You can learn to fly a t-dragger in about 5 hours or so. It took me and hour with another 4 or 5 to feel proficient. Of course you will listen to ATIS a whole lot more for certain and you will feel ever breath of wind keeping you on the ground until you feel good about 5 knots and so on.

Get one!!! You will feel like a real pilot at least until your doing 360's down the runway...

Honestly, getting used to the weather vain factor in the wind is the hardest part, for me at least (and still is)

GO FOR IT!!! I got my TW checkout last spring in a J3 and it was a blast. They can be a little bit trickier to takeoff and land, but if you know what the rudders are for and you can keep it going straight down the runway it's really not to bad. One exercise that I believe can help is doing dutch rolls, helps you learn to use the rudder with the stick. If you found something you like for a fair price, it never hurts to look

If you can make it happen and the plane is in your budget go for it. Nothing more satisfying than flying a TD in the back country. I learned in a PA12 and was signed off for solo in 4.5 hrs. 10 hrs with an instructor will fly by and that lil champ will make you a better pilot!

Learning to fly a tailwheel is no more a challenge than learning to fly a nose wheel. It is just a different set of skills. I got my tailwheel endorsement before I got signed off on my pilot's certificate in a nose wheel. In fact I owned a Luscome 8A (you might have heard the stories about how hard a Luscombe is to fly!) and was flying solo in it as a student pilot.

Sure, nose wheels tend to be easier to learn to land in. That is why they became so popular. The bottom line is if your afraid of it, it is going to be much harder. If you treat it as fun, it will be easy. Good luck and have at it!

I give tailwheel instruction in a '46 Champ and a Cessna 140. Endorsements run between 4-8 hours (usually). Since you have to have 10 anyway that should do it and gives you time to make sure you get more x-wind dual. That said, 10 hours or 20 or 40 won't mean mastery of the tailwheel aircraft. You will be constantly learning. But if you are aware of your limits and take small bites out of pushing them, you should have a lot of fun in any of the classic tailwheel two seaters. I know guys who never cross over into tailwheel flying and have fun everytime they go up. But I don't know anyone who has crossed over and then didn't always feel like a tri-cycle gear aircraft was just not as fun.

FInd your self an experienced TW instructor and get ready to really enjoy flying.

Terryd23 wrote:Just how much more challenging is flying a tail-dragger than a tricycle gear? I'm a 172 guy that is going LSA and - on paper - has fallen in love with the old classics (Cubs, Champs, etc). Am I out of my mind to even be considering this - having never flown a tailwheel before? Insurance co says so long as I get ten hrs with a CFI only then could I fly solo. HELP ME! Would anyone here ever consider making such a move? Or am I off my rocker? (It's OK - don't hold back - I can take it!)

tHaNkS!!!
Terry

This is an article that was published in EAA Sport Aviation a few years back (December 2007)...it will answer many of your questions: http://www.aviationinsurance.com/articles/TrainingWheelsOrTailWheels_Spring07.pdf

If you're in the Poconos you're within spitting distance of Andover-Aeroflex. Give them a call and book an hour in the Cub. Worst case you decide it's not for you but you got some diverse instruction and another airframe in your logbook. More likely you'll crest the little bit of anxiety and apprehension you're feeling now and get addicted to how much more engaged you are in the pattern. I'd be surprised if you didn't find it to be a rewarding experience.

And the first time you solo a tailwheel it'll be like losing your virginity all over again

Entire generations of pilots trained and checked out in conventional geared airplanes. More, I'd bet than get cranked out today in tri-gear craft. No good reason someone can't do the same today.

Just don't get signed off without covering wheel landings throughly.

Another vote for Andover. The instructors are really great, and their planes are immaculate. I recommend getting the DVD too from Damian. You can bring anything you learn from the video to another school if you choose to not use Andover. Several friends and myself are very happy with our experiences there.

As for tailwheels, they are definitely harder than nosewheels. You can't have lazy feet like with a 172, and a 172 gives everyone lazy feet after a while. But once you get it, it is more enjoyable as it is more involving. Makes you a better nosewheel pilot too.

I echo the positive sentiments here! I learned in a Citabria with Dad and a pillow under my backside. If you start out in a TW you'll probably never get what all the fuss is about. Go for it

TwinPOS wrote:If you start out in a TW you'll probably never get what all the fuss is about.

Yepper. I did... and I don't.

Fun read:

Aktahoe1: Tail draggin' Endorsement!

and another borrowed classic:

How to groundloop a taildragger

Definitely go for the taildragger, but have a good idea of exactly what your needs are and if that particular taildragger will do the job well for you. Also, if you have a buddy with a taildragger, as him to take you up for a few take-offs and landings. Also, get Damian DelGaizo's video "Tailwheel 101". You'll learn from it, and so will anyone else who happens to be watching it with you.

If you're in the Virgina area, contact my taildragger instructor, "Chuck Tippet". He teaches to fly by feel, and part of the instruction is take-offs and landings at fields unknown to the student. He's a heck of a good fellow, very friendly, supportive, really wants to help his student to succeed. He teaches in a J3 cub and a Champ.

CFI Chuck Tippet
540 718 5981 or
540 905 5091

My needs are simple! Basically just an after dinner or weekend flight over the countryside. A fly-in within a hundred miles or so perhaps. I found with my 172 I enjoyed hitting grass strips over asphalt. That's about it! Not planning in being a bush flying hero. Except in my dreams perhaps!!!

Honestly, I didn't expect the degree of support I am getting with this post. Gets me more excited to consider doing this!! I will also check out Aeroflex / Andover. Great suggestion .

Please continue to share other thoughts. This is extremely helpful - thank you all.

Don't do it. Your life will never be the same. Then you'll want bigger tires, camping gear, beer cooler, no, large beer cooler, time off from work.
Life is much simpler with the 172
Na, go for it.
Might as wellmove out west now while prices are low.
Gary

I was a 300 hour Cherokee pilot that built a kitfox. It took me six years to build with no time or money to fly. All the reading about tail wheel airplanes confused me and all the airport bums looking at my new Kitfox would invaribly site the dangers of the dreaded tail wheel and it all scared the crap out of me.

I started tail wheel transition lessons but I did not understand the tail wheel. The first two lessons were with an instructor that didn't have the knack to explain it to me and I scared myself so bad I didn't try flying again for six years. Can anyone beat that for a story?

Anyhow, one day my wife said "Sell it or fly it". I joined the local EAA...now living in a new town in a different state. First meeting I told my story and was given the name of a tail wheel instructor...on old instructor with an old airplane and they both still worked.

I told my story to him before my first lesson so he would understand my cowdardness of the tail wheel. I took ten hours dual with him in his Stinson. Then four hours in his J3 Cub. Then seven hours dual from an instructor with a kitfox same model as mine. Then flew my kitfox for its first flight and flew all the test flight hours. If the instructor is the right one for you, it will be evident shortly after your introduction and first lesson.

You will have a blast with it!
If you are watching your pennies, I wouldn't get an endorsement until I owned the plane.
That's what the guy that bought my Stinson did, weather provided, he and my instructor are headed for LA next week. By the time they get there he will have met insurance requirements and hopefully have his tail wheel endorsement.
Good luck

Terryd23 wrote:My needs are simple! Basically just an after dinner or weekend flight over the countryside. A fly-in within a hundred miles or so perhaps. I found with my 172 I enjoyed hitting grass strips over asphalt. That's about it! Not planning in being a bush flying hero. Except in my dreams perhaps!!!

Honestly, I didn't expect the degree of support I am getting with this post. Gets me more excited to consider doing this!! I will also check out Aeroflex / Andover. Great suggestion .

Please continue to share other thoughts. This is extremely helpful - thank you all.

The best advice I got when transitioning was: take a shopping cart, load it full with can goods, push it down the aisle of the grocery store as fast as you can, and then jump on. It will track pretty straight with no input from you, that's a trike gear.

Now, turn the cart around, push it backwards as fast as you can, and jump on, hang on! That's a tail dragger, with the center of mass behind the center of rotation. The trick is not to let it get too far out of whack, simple! It will quickly become second nature, and you will wonder what all the fuss was about.

I had never flown a taildragger until about 4 years ago. Frankly, I was a little freaked out by them, but I've always loved a challenge Now, I can't get enough. I love flying taildraggers! They will take you places you can't get to by other means, except maybe boat. Just do it!