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Found this on Barnstormers today. And to think of all that time and money I wasted on that Dual Instruction nonsense.

Sorta like reading a book on how to swim!... Although I'm sure it's been done.

Or learning shit on here!

Gump

Ha! Go for it! Can't be too hard... Even I can fly (and land) tw!!

My first plane was a Quicksilver MX, came with a comprehensive manual on how to teach yourself to fly it...

In the age of the internet I've learned a LOT of stuff online, particularly through the help of Youtube videos. I've figured out how to do home improvements, fix vehicles, build stuff, and so on. I even learned how to change a high pressure injection pump in a diesel truck from online sources.

Learning to fly is something that probably ought to be a more hands-on experience. I'm not a tail dragger guy yet, though I am a pilot. I imagine book/video learning could probably save someone a lot of time in figuring out a transition to tail-down flying, but I'm not convinced that you'd "teach yourself tail dragger" without a few bumps and bruises to both man and machine.

I suspect the lower time the pilot the easier it might be to pull it off. For the longest time, TW was the only kind of aircraft. Some Folks taught themselves in the early days. Then again, they didn't live all that long either. I liken it to when I worked at a dive shop. We also had a dive boat, which we would all do time on. We had a couple of well equipped divers jump into the water and immediately started to drown. We jumped in and dragged them back onboard. We questioned them, "don't you know how to swim? "We wanted to learn how to breath first." Things where much looser in the 60-70's in the diving world.

I learned to fly from the right seat in my uncle's Cessna 150 Texas Taildragger when I was 12 years old. It had horrible manners and made me pretty scared of taildraggers.

It wasn't until I had around a thousand hours that I got back into a taildragger (my buddy's J-5 and Champ) and learned the real art of it. Neither the J-5 or Champ had controls in the back seat, and he had me fly from the front and just go to it..."it's an airplane, you've got the license, fly it!" So I did, and it was fun.

I didn't get my tailwheel endorsement for another year or so later when I got a job flying a PA-12. I got my tailwheel endorsement in the PA-12 from a high time Cub/185 CFI (AK wildlife trooper), and I learned a lot just BS'ing with him over the intercom even though the whole thing went like a checkride (I showed him how I fly) and it only lasted about half an hour.

If I had to do it over again I'd hire a CFI from the start to teach me the finer points rather than grow some gray hairs learning it myself.

I know I would not have wanted to learn TW on my own. I definitely benefitted from my instructors experience.

I'm wondering what some of you Canadians think of this, because as I understand it you're not required to get an endorsement for TW.

Marty

Ancient saying: "He who teaches self may have fool for student".

I started flying tailwheel airplanes before an endorsement was required. I was told to go get some dual with somebody who had some experience. My instructor for that episode was one Hal Terry. This was in Kodiak. Hal was a retired Navy Captain, flying air taxi then. His first operational aircraft in the Navy was the F-8F Bearcat. His last operational fighter was the F-8U Crusader. Spent a few hours with Hal in a Super Cub and he said to go for it. That was a great experience.

You can learn a lot of things by reading. There are some things, however, which aren't well adapted to book learning.

MTV

In Canada there is no tail wheel endorsement but now the insurance companies have laid down some heavy restrictions on the amount of training and experience you require before they'll touch you. I couldn't count the number of accidents I've seen that were caused by lack of knowledge in this area. Crosswinds can be very challenging for the inexperienced. Teaching yourself could become very expensive..........and arsetightening.

Just because a thing can be done doesn't mean it should be done. It takes a certain amount of bravado to learn to fly in the first place. And those of us who like to be known as backcountry pilots often pushed the envelop beyond conventional flight. Yet as a newly minted T.W. pilot I have a hard time understanding why you would want to learn on your own. I had close to 2000 PIC hours in sailplanes, ultralights and tricycle geared light sport aircraft. But I felt like a new student in my T.W. aircraft. I can honestly say that if not for my instructor, I would have surely wadded up my new S-7.
I think guys that sell crap like that book are a blight on our sport. Even one death because of someone trying to cut corners and skip legitimate instruction has a negative effect on our sport.
Hopefully the author will never need a do it yourself book on liability law suits.

I learned to fly TDs before endorsements were required, in a couple of different Decathlons while taking a basic aerobatics course. I doubt that I could have learned without dinging an airplane, had I not had a decent instructor. I'm still a lousy TD pilot--not enough practice--but at least I've experienced the fundamentals. Actually learning to fly by reading books--probably not a good idea.

Cary

There are many things in aviation that you can read about to learn. Taildraggers are not one of them. The only way you can learn TD's is to fly TD's. I agree with most on this thead a good CFI is key. But I had more landings in a TD at the end of my first lesson than my CFI. This was perfect becasue I was learning for myself WITH a 1000hr CFI behind me who knew the fundamentals of TD so he wasnt going to let me ground loop it. 1975 Citabria (7GCBC)

My advice if you're in a jam and a book is your only option. Go to a small airport and find the oldest saltiest pilot there and buy him a cup of coffee. I promise you will learn more with 50cents than whatever the book costs.

I agree that learning to fly a TW cannot be taught it a book but you guys are making it sound like black magic. You really think it is that different? I don't have any experience landing a trike so I honestly don't know. I guess I'd assume that a trike does what you tell it to and that you want to keep it straight just like a TW.

I do have to say that when I learned to fly I went and found the saltiest crop duster pilot with a CFI that I could find. He didn't teach me a dang thing about regulations but I sure learned how to fly an airplane.

Puller.... pretty good advice.

Having an instructor on board saved me from wrecking my airplane when I was first learning to takeoff and land my newly-purchased c170 about 15 years ago. I would recommend a t/w checkout to someone who'd never flown one before. But you can go to extremes... I've seen discussions (on this site) about using a lower approach speed or some other technique, and seen "get an instructor and give it a try" advise given. Like Whee says, this is not black magic-- the instructor can teach you the basics, but you should be able to try new stuff (within reason) on your own.
FWIW I learned how to do aileron rolls on my own out of the Kirshner C150 Aerobat handbook, and while it was pretty exciting the first time it wasn't that big a deal.

Taxiing a taildragger with a CFI was tough enough lol.

Instructors, books, magazines, vids, Internet, FAA etc etc etc.

Pilots ultimately must learn themselves using the above resources!

Learn how to learn.

hotrod150 wrote:FWIW I learned how to do aileron rolls on my own out of the Kirshner C150 Aerobat handbook, and while it was pretty exciting the first time it wasn't that big a deal.

And, I presume everything came out just fine. That said, it is possible to botch an aileron roll so badly that you wind up in an inverted spin.......and THAT is where the experienced instructor MAY save your bacon.

As a flight instructor, a PART of what I do is offer guidance and suggestions--ie: instruction. The other primary task is keep the "student" from breaking anything. Those are two VERY different tasks.

There are lots of things one can teach oneself, including tailwheel operations and aerobatics, no doubt. Last I heard, Orville didn't have a flight instructor along, though the 1903 Flyer wasn't a tailwheel type, nor was it aerobatic.....

In many cases, the instructor is there largely to keep you from balling the thing up into a wad while you're figuring it out.

That is the insurance industry's concern, for sure.

MTV

You could easily build a computer simulator and a rolling ground trainer that might be a great head start on tailwheels, but going all the way through the learning process alone sounds like a really great way to needlessly bend an airplane.

I feel very strongly that such a computer sim and/or rolling trainer are ideas very well worth pursuing, and would be great tools to allow the students to develop their reactions and instincts faster.

But there still needs to be a humanoid teacher, protector, damage-preventer involved for a significant part of it. The saltier the better

If distant memory serves, back in the olden days a tailwheel transition might have even fallen under the purview of a "checkout" by a qualified pilot. Maybe MTV or one of the other experienced CFI's here knows whether this was the case long ago?