Some dirt/grass strips are very narrow and I can barely make the 180 turn to taxi back to the other end.
What is the best technique to turn around as tight as possible?
I tried brake and power and ended up sliding the tire and a bigger radius, less power no brake, bad too.


Any secret tricks to this?

Shut down the engine, get out and push the tail down until the nose wheel is off of the ground, then pivot the airplane on the main gear. This will allow you to move the aircraft within its own space. Might be difficult to push down hard enough to get the nose wheel off of the ground on a 182 and probably not doing any favors for the horizontal stabilizer, but it will allow you to turn it around in a small spot in a pinch.

That's how it has been done many years. Be sure to push down on the most inboard part of the horizontal stabilizer. If you are a big guy, use the fuselage itself. I'm a short guy. Once down with the stabilizer, I could grab the top of the fuselage.

For me, hauling a bug out bag in the baggage area helped. With no passengers, having 50 pounds way back there smoothed out my landings and made it easier to turn with the yoke in my lap. Makes solo soft field take offs easier too.

It is important when pushing down on the tail to push in the right spot.
On the top of the horizontal on the inner portion toward the front.
Put the heel of your hands on top of the spar where it intersects the rib, it is the strongest part!
You should hear no crinkling of the skins when you push down!
I see people do this all the time the wrong way.

Drives me nuts!!!!

No real experience with trikes, but with tail draggers a powered turn radius can be minimized by getting all the way over left on back-taxi, then pointing the nose about 45 degrees back to the right and initiating a full left turn at the last opportunity before the right wing would clip the trees. Makes sort of a tear-drop turn rather than a U. Also gives maximum turning space as you're turning on a diagonal to the runway. Plus, you can apply a touch more power, making rudder, differential braking and P-factor more effective. On slippery surfaces like snow where braking is poor, you can have your passenger(s) hang on the inner wing strut while you power through a turn. Otherwise, yeah, shut down and spin it by hand.
A good method for rolling or pivoting a plane on slippery surface where footing is poor is to spin the tires by hand. Counter-rotate them for a pivot. Works easier with bigger tire sizes.

Yup, get the tail down and spin her around. Hide your survival gear bag behind the baggage area too... if you want.
On the taildraggers, you need to install (if not already) a pull out handle on the side back there. Invaluable... every day/

TangoFox wrote:It is important when pushing down on the tail to push in the right spot.
On the top of the horizontal on the inner portion toward the front.
Put the heel of your hands on top of the spar where it intersects the rib, it is the strongest part!
You should hear no crinkling of the skins when you push down!
I see people do this all the time the wrong way.

Drives me nuts!!!!

Just a follow up to agree with TF. The line of rivets about 6 or 8 inches behind the leading edge of the horizontal is the spar. Friend just got done repairing a 175 where the leading edge had been used instead of finding the spar. He found the issue on a preflight when things moved that shouldn't when he grabbed the front of the horizontal and tugged.

well for all you trike pilots this is how you do it......first of alll figure out why you want to turn... then determine where you are going to go after you turn.... then decide if it would be more prudent to turn to the left or the right... (determine left or right by looking at your shoes..) assuming you decide to turn left... turn the handle bars all the way to the left until they won't turn any farther... you will immediately notice that the trike begins to turn in the desired direction.. once you are headed in the desired direction turn the handle bars back to the center and continue on your way.... there... not so hard was it?

The slower we go, the faster we turn. The faster we go, the slower we turn.

I have found that I can turn my airplane (or any other trike) around a lot sharper if I start the turn while still rolling at a fast walking speed, instead of letting the airplane nearly stop, and use full left rudder and heavy left brake but not enough to slide the tire. Left is always easier, due to torque/P-factor. Usually when I'm on a small strip, I'm relatively loaded aft anyway, so that the nose gear is relatively light. But if I let the airplane stop or slow too much, it's much harder to make a sharp turn.

Cary

Man, that under steer sucks. oh wait, that's cars :/
gee, sounds like a good reason for b.a.s. handles, maybe, (on a nose dragger, sheesh)
like the aft c.g enhancement to assist getting the tail down for manipulation. I can hear the Cessna engineers pulling their hair out screaming
NO!!!...... over pushing down on the tail. I know it can be done, but always here about tore up 180 tails though. because of the variable incidence tail (structure) maybe???

But, do you make the turn upwind or downwind......

MTV

A very important point not yet mentioned, while keeping a little forward motion pull full back elevator and add the power and the brake.
On wet ground grass or tarmac this will allow you to slide the nose wheel a little sideways. If wind is not a factor, use P factor.
If in a Maule trike, first select reflex flaps as this takes some load off the nose. Just one of the reflex flap advantages.