Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By Dave W
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840106
T67M on the forum has produced some truly excellent PowerPoint slides on tailwheel theory and practice.

If he is still generous with them, I think they are very clear and likely to help a lot.
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By Hazel C
#1840389
Well, to my C140 exploits yesterday. Loved getting back into the air again, and on such a lovely day too.

Firstly getting used to a new airfield. Fowlmere is lovely, although noise avoidance requires rather a bomber circuit to get round! But thats fine, soon, got used to that. Need to get used to the shorter runway too and the judgement of the land/go around. Not sure what was rust, new airfield or me really! But it'll all come....

The flying itself mostly came back. First landing was a beauty - got a bit bouncier after that! But the take offs all seemed to be ok, and that was one of the issues I was having before lockdown. The rudder work in the air and on the ground was much better too. What seemed to have gone was the flare attitude, I wasnt pitching it up as much as I should have. There was a slight cross wind too, so needed to remember to put into wind aileron.

But all in all, a good first trip back in the air! Hope its not long now before I go solo......
kanga, Charles Hunt, JAFO and 4 others liked this
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By gaznav
#1840480
You shouldn’t need to do any “pitching up” in the flare on a taildragger - as your speed reduces then your AOA increases and the nose raises as you hold off just above the ground - perfect for 3 pointers. If you are doing a wheeler then you fly it on and then reduce the speed until the AOA increases again so the tailwheel comes down. Neither should involve a “pitch up” as such, as it’s more a of speed problem after the initial round-out/flare :thumright:

There is no better feeling than a ‘greaser’ with a taildragger - it’ll come eventually when it feels natural. :D :D
Hazel C liked this
By A4 Pacific
#1840499
Hi Hazel.

For most if not all taildraggers, and certainly a C140. As has just been said, don’t think of it as ‘flaring’. Close the throttle, then look all the way down to the far end of the runway and keep repeating to yourself. “Hold it off. Hold it off. Hold it off. Hold it off.” Whilst keeping the aircraft pointing down your direction of travel with your ‘happy feet’ on the rudder.

Once the aircraft’s done flying, it will settle nicely on to the runway. Almost certainly in a perfect three point attitude.

Try to touch down before the aircraft’s finished flying, and lowering the tailwheel will increase the wing’s angle of attack causing it to fly again. That’s not really a ‘bounce’.

Of course wheelers are different!
Last edited by A4 Pacific on Wed Apr 14, 2021 10:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By ls8pilot
#1840503
gaznav wrote:Ah, but the Chippy (Gipsy and Lycoming), Auster, Kitfox, Grob 109 and C-47 Dakota are also in my logbook as a handling pilot :thumright:


From what I recall there is quite a difference from type to type about how forgiving (or otherwise) they are of being slightly "off" on the perfect 3 point, Scout, Super Cub and Jodel all reasonably tolerant if I remember, however Auster - not at all!

I wonder how often the heavy taildraggers like the Dakota are 3 pointed?
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By Rob P
#1840507
ls8pilot wrote:
I wonder how often the heavy taildraggers like the Dakota are 3 pointed?


Very seldom I understand

Rob P
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By gaznav
#1840513
You do have a lockable tailwheel on the Dakota that makes things reasonably sedate - top tip, never try to land with the tailwheel unlocked! :shock: :shock:
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By Flyin'Dutch'
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1840520
gaznav wrote:Ah, but the Chippy (Gipsy and Lycoming), Auster, Kitfox, Grob 109 and C-47 Dakota are also in my logbook as a handling pilot :thumright:


Chippy - Gipsy, lovely aeroplane, fits like a glove, the powered equivalent of the Ka-6e for glider pilots.
Auster - awful, certainly in the category once but never again. Those liking them must be heavily into SM too. Ditto 'Texan Taildragger' similarly bad.
Kitfox - never flown one yet.
109 - (I have only flown the B) A doddle
C47 - well what can I say - only flown it under supervision but well impressed

SF40 A/B/C - easy
Citabria - pleasant but success does not come for free
Husky - powerful Cub, pleasant
Cubs - perennial, many people learned on Cubs but by no means the easiest TW aeroplane; A Cub is not a Cub is not a Cub, the various variants do have their own quirks.
Tiger Moth - f+qking cold in December, coordination worse than a Cub.
Harvard - only flown under supervision forgotten most about it as the very one I flew with the very instructor crashed two weeks after I had done exactly the same thing - did not sleep well for ages after that one.
Jodel D140 -- easy and pleasant; great memories of several flying holidays based at Megeve trips into the Alps.
Stearman - nothing happens quick. Nice in the Floridian weather.

And my all time favourite, no doubt pink tinted glasses due to flying it from the strip 5 mins from home in a small and very amicable syndicate the Mighty Maule. Not the finest handling but powerful, long legs all over Europe with my then young family.

Image
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