My First Tailwheel Lesson

To prepare myself for the maiden flight of my -8, a few days ago I completed the very first hour of tail wheel training in a Citabria. The lesson included cockpit familiarization, about 10 minutes of taxi practice and followed by slow flight, turns, a few stalls, and several takeoff and landings. As luck would have it, I had to share the weekday and normally quiet nearby airport traffic pattern with a T-28 and two R-22 helicopters practicing those things helicopters so often practice. Thankfully, the T-28 bugged out quickly. One of the R-22's made it a point to stop hover practice, clear out of the way and let me know every time I turned final and I thanked him for his consideration every time. Flying an unfamiliar airplane for the first time coupled with traffic and constant radio work, I was the sweaty student experiencing sensory overload all over again. On takeoff, I was constantly reminded to "raise the tail, raise the tail" and my natural reluctance was borne of imaginings of nicking that expensive propeller. Bottom line: If I were flying solo, I would have likely survived all 5 landings and 4 of the 5 takeoffs. My instructor for the day, a friend and owner of the airplane opined that I applied power a bit too briskly on the ill-fated takeoff. Doing so coupled with less than required rudder input for the rev's caused us to skip merrily along on one wheel while veering dangerously towards the side of the runway. What I did do with the rudder pedals just seemed to make matters worse. That was the one time during the lesson he took control of the airplane to instantly correct the error of my ways. I gasped as he chuckled. I do like the wide separation of the rudder pedals in the Citabria but I don't much care for its heel brakes. Because of the musculature and geometry of my big size 12 feet, it is much easier for me to apply toe brake pressure as opposed to using the balls of my heels to affect the same result. Taxiing the Citabria takes some real getting used to largely because of the obvious lead-lag time following control inputs and feels "spongy" to me. Immediately after the flight lesson and for comparative purposes while the memory was very fresh in my mind, I climbed into my newly minted -8. It is fitted with a Silverbullet steering link and I taxied all over the airport without any difficulty. It seemed an intuitive an exercise as stepping up from a Garmin 296 to a 496. The main thing is an altered perspective and to be constantly aware of the exact location of that tailwheel to avoid running off the pavement or hitting an obstruction as you swing about. This was only the third engine start and I do want to keep ground operations to a minimum until the new engine is properly run in. Still, ground handling in the -8 does seem more positive and easier than in the little red training plane. Rudder pedal inputs produce "right now" results...more like your typical RV nose wheel only with reverse geometry and as you might expect, the castoring tail wheel allows the airplane to easily and almost effortlessly turn about within its own diameter. At this very, very early date in my tail wheel transition experience, I do prefer the -8's overall ground handling Vis a Vis the Citabria.

All in all, my first tail wheel lesson was a heck of a lot of fun. As many of you already know when flying a Citabria, keeping the ball centered even in a simple level turn requires thoughtful rudder coordination and minor power changes require pitch trim adjustment via a wheel on the left lest the stick become awkward and heavy. Only the second airplane type I have flown sporting a joystick, I easily prefer it to a control yoke. Still, compared to my -6A, Citabria aileron inputs seem to produce a leisurely roll rate as slow and sedate as my old C-150.

I know I've got a lot of work to do to get up to speed yet I have little doubt my personal decision to build an -8 was the right decision for me. Akin to engaging in oft repeated and familiar slider versus tip-up canopy advantages, I view it as pointless and futile to endlessly argue nose wheel, tail wheel attributes. All I know is I am up for a new flying challenge and boy am I in for one!

Good job Rick.

The tailwheel thing will come-----and you will be glad

Patience is a virtue.

What Mike just said.

The -8 will be no harder than the Citabria...probably easier. What you will find out though, is the need for more right rudder in your -8, especially if you have a 180HP engine. You just gotta do what ya gotta do.

If you'll ease the throttle in without stopping, the right rudder needed will also be more progressive in either airplane.

Congrats,

Rick,

It was good to read your story and I hope other's who are afraid to fly a tail wheel will learn that putting the little wheel in the back is not to be feared, just learned and finally mastered.

Regarding the right rudder thing, even with the 135 HP I have in my -9, it still blows me away how much right rudder is required on takeoff.

One thing I enjoy doing is holding the brakes, going to full power, lifting the tail, release the brakes, and taking off w/o letting the tail touch the ground.

Like you, I was always afraid of a prop strike when lifting the tail or doing wheel landings. To solve this, my instructor had me sit in my old T-Craft, with the engine and switches off, he turned the prop until it was vertical, then he went back and lifted the tail until the prop tip was an inch off the ground. I thought I was going to tip over, it was as if I was looking straight at the ground. Anyway, that solved my reluctance to do wheel landings and lift the tail on takeoffs.

N941WR said:

Like you, I was always afraid of a prop strike when lifting the tail or doing wheel landings. To solve this, my instructor had me sit in my old T-Craft, with the engine and switches off, he turned the prop until it was vertical, then he went back and lifted the tail until the prop tip was an inch off the ground. I thought I was going to tip over, it was as if I was looking straight at the ground. Anyway, that solved my reluctance to do wheel landings and lift the tail on takeoffs.

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Fond memories

My first time flying my old Stinson, the instructor did exactly the same thing.

Pretty convincing demonstration.

I never worried about hitting the prop as much as just the fact that who pushes the stick or yoke FOWARD when the wheels touch....takes a little muscle memory but when you get the hang of it you'll love it. Wheel landings (one or two) are a trip. Have a ball.

p.s. don't forget to keep the stick in your crotch when you taxi...those unattended wings love to generate lift...lol

Prop clearance

It's not just nose low deck angles that cause a potential prop strike. You must also consider landing gear spread (squat) during a hard landing. Of course, we all land like a feather, don't we?

Bo

Congratulations, and stick with it, Rick. The first lesson is always stressful due to learning so many new things in a new aircraft. Soon it will become second nature.

Rick,
Some days I had no trouble, others I was a klutz (7ECA). Then I happened to look at my shoes. The running shoes with the angle out to a wider sole gave me fits, yet my old Stan Smith tennis shoes were fine.
In winter my leather boots with the vibram soles were ok but rubber soled overpac's were lousey. For me, what I wear on my feet definately effects my
feel for the airplane.
As for the 6" lift of the tailwheel. That I had no trouble with but I would "rock" the plane onto 1 main then liftoff. I was unaware of this, until my instructor asked, how long had I been flying on floats? Oops, my bad.
Have fun.
H

good job

I learned to fly in a tailwheel (C-140-a) This was the best decision you could have made.

The -8 is as honest and responsive conventional gear plane as you'll find, but it likes to wheel land naturally. Be proficient, don't feel like you have to force the 3 pt every time.

Also, with the stiff -8 gear legs, don't forget that if you land with excessive sink rate there's a good chance you're going airborne again. Be preparred to add power to stabilize the sink, or just keep easing in the power and go around.

Good luck with the -8. It's a fantastic plane!

For x-wind practice try going out and just fast taxi ~ 40kts down the length of the runway with the tail up. You'll really get a feel for the contributions of aileron and rudder and which one you need and when. If it gets out of hand ease the power on as fast as you can without upset and just take off (much safer and more dependable than trying to slow back into control).

If you think about TnG's you get a few seconds of experience in this critical phase and at this critical speed for each circuit. By practicing at a fast taxi you can get minutes of experience in no time.

Ease the speed up to near flying and alternate from rolling on the right wheel to the left. In no time you'll have a feel for your plane and how she responds to inputs.

I'm amazed at the cross winds I can land in the -4 as long as it's not too gusty.

It's fun too.

Shoes can be key

Howie said:

For me, what I wear on my feet definately effects my
feel for the airplane.

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I completely agree. I didn't begin to master my -6's landings until I got the interior properly set up (the previous owner had been about 10" taller than me) and I started using very light-weight cross-country cycling shoes with a very thin but stiff sole. The shoes caused the quickest and biggest change. After awhile, I transitioned to regular tennies, loafers, and such. But, at first, I needed the thin, flat (and heel-less) sole to "feel" what I was doing.

grantcarruthers said:

For x-wind practice try going out and just fast taxi ~ 40kts down the length of the runway with the tail up.

It's fun too.

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There are two differing thoughts on taxi testing. I did a lot of tail wheel up taxing in preparation to fly Black Magic. By the time I started my tailwheel training, it was obvious to my instructor I knew how to ground handle the airplane so we just went flying and landing. Looking back on all I did, the taxi testing was actually the most "precarious" of the two training regimens. One thing to remember with these airplanes, if you do want to go fast taxing, be prepared to fly it, as these things will get off the ground in no time.

Congrats on your training....now just remember the secret tailwheel handshake and keep the notion going that a taming a tailwheel airplane is just like slaying the dragon so you can win the princess...

Tailwheel flying is awesome fun - I've got about 75 TW hours and no two hours are the same..

Just wait until you step into an S2 Pitts or similar - its the most fun you can have in an airplane

BlackRV7 said:

Looking back on all I did, the taxi testing was actually the most "precarious" of the two training regimens. One thing to remember with these airplanes, if you do want to go fast taxing, be prepared to fly it, as these things will get off the ground in no time.

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Several years ago, I was at my hangar one evening piddling around and only half-watching a guy who was doing high-speed "taxi testing" of his newly acquired, single-seat, underpowered, overweight(him) homebuilt. He'd go up and down the single runway, back and forth, each time getting faster and bolder.

He began to let the airplane get off the ground about 5 feet or so, then chop the power and land. At one point, he got a little higher than he'd planned, and started to sink pretty fast when he chopped the power ... so he hit the gas again ... then chopped it again.

Unfortunately, he was rapidly running out of runway, so he hit the gas again and took off.

As he disappeared behind the trees, a crowd began to gather at my hanger facing the runway. I turned to the guy who'd been giving him instruction and asked, "He IS going to go up to altitude and do some slow flight before he tries to land, right?"

"Gentlemen," he answered prophetically, "you are about to witness the first and last landing of that airplane."

Indeed, the pilot never gained much altitude above the trees and lined up for a landing. He got slower as he got lower, and started to veer off centerline -- right toward a lone tree on the edge of the airport property. He managed to catch the right wing on the tree just as the plane was stalling, and fell from about 15 feet to the ground. As we all raced to the scene, he was scrambling to get out of the plane, unhurt.

Lesson learned the easy way (watching someone else be stupid).

RIGHT RUDDER!

Thats what my flight instructor kept firmly telling me, louder and louder as we approached the left side of the runway. Then one day, as I was turning left into the airport for my next lesson, someone ran the light. I managed to steer, brake, and push in the clutch, avoid and accident and not kill the engine. I figured if I can do that, I should be able to keep the airplane straight. Thats what it took for me.
I have found it easier to let off excess right rudder when powering up the trying to add it in after veering to the left.

Andrew
-4 started and sold
dreaming again
11AC Chief with cable Goodyear brakes (no brakes at all!)

Same boat

Hi Rick,

I was in the same boat as you. I got my endorsement and transition from Mike Seager. Man, I felt out of place for that first hour. Now it is quite easy and natural.

Two comments though. If you don't feel 100% ready, let someone else do that first flight in your 8. You'll have a new plane, new engine, new prop, new avionics, new tail endorsement, all a receipt for a problem if something goes wrong. Believe me, I'm glad I did it this way. My first flight was just as exciting as seeing it fly for the first time with me NOT at the controls.

The best piece of advice I got on tail wheel flying was from Dan Checkoway. He told me, on take offs, to keep my left foot off the pedal but cover it, only use the right pedal, lots of it. Instead of pushing the left pedal if the plane is going right, simply let off the pressure on the right pedal. From that point takeoffs were straight and predictable.

Good luck. You'll have lots of fun!!!

RV7Guy said:

.......If you don't feel 100% ready, let someone else do that first flight in your 8.......

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I hear you Darwin. As of 01/10/09, I have accumulated 10 hours of tail wheel experience in the Citabria and feel "reasonably" confident in my ability. Yesterday, landing repeatedly into a true 90° 10-12 KT crosswind proved not all that difficult. Still, it is undeniable that the tail wheel airplane demands much more precise control than a nose dragger. A past thread once asked how many go arounds you have had to make since receiving your license. I was not bragging when I said never because of a botched approach or landing. That was then and this is now. Grass landings tend to be forgiving of less than perfect technique and it has been humbling to occasionally screw up wheel landings on hard surfaced runways in the stiff legged Citabria, some salvageable and others not. Sheer necessity has improved my go-around skills.

I flew my -6A on its maiden flight so I've experienced that singular and memorable thrill. This time I will defer first flight duties to 25000 hour pilot DAR Frank Baldwin. Shown here a few weeks ago, he is the first and only pilot I have ever allowed to fly my RV from the left seat after he handled the plane so naturally and so well that upon landing at a nearby airport I impulsively directed him to pull off the runway and shut down so we could switch seats.

The second photo was taken days later as he taxied the -8 around for the first time to familiarize himself with its systems and develop a feel for its ground handling characteristics. He reported it tracked well, everything felt good and is looking forward to making the first flight sometime in the upcoming weeks. That will happen when I am cleared by the insurance company. I happily defer to his 5000 hours of tail wheel experience and plan to fly chase in "Darla!" photographing the event when it happens.

Rick on your 8 did you remove the blue plastic where the rivets go? I don't see the common 1" wide (or so) strips missing, did you do it all with the plastic on, or figure out a way to remove just a little bit?

Too Much Free Time?

Danny,

Oh yes, the protective vinyl is most certainly removed from all areas where it needed to be removed. For instance, the vinyl on all skins was removed one rivet hole at a time using a blunt tipped soldering iron and fingernail while sitting in my Lazyboy with the skin on my lap watching the 46" flat screen LCD TV. Some may ask "Why?" To them I say "Why not?" I doubt the average quickbuilder could possibly understand.

Heck, I thought you had just painted the plane a transparent shade of blue.

Wow, you do have too much time.

I thought I had left the plastic on until the end, but you take that honor. I am ready to plug in the wings and have polished the airplane. What a pain.

grantcarruthers said:

For x-wind practice try going out and just fast taxi ~ 40kts down the length of the runway with the tail up.

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Also helps if you have an instructor that will occasionally STOMP on one of the rudders for about 1-2 sec and make you recover. Very educational. Just make sure you hit the bathroom right before your flight because the first time they do that, it will scare ... well, you get the idea. (Particularly when they laugh and howl with delight as you recover)

TODR

and if you don't recover that means he has to, and then he cXXXs his pants. hehe.

Rick6a said:

Danny,

Oh yes, the protective vinyl is most certainly removed from all areas where it needed to be removed. For instance, the vinyl on all skins was removed one rivet hole at a time using a blunt tipped soldering iron and fingernail while sitting in my Lazyboy with the skin on my lap watching the 46" flat screen LCD TV. Some may ask "Why?" To them I say "Why not?" I doubt the average quickbuilder could possibly understand.

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you must of had good ventilation and a cold beverage for each session.

Low n Slow said:

The Champ I sold to buy my -4 had the ?no-bounce? gear. You really have to work hard to make a bad landing with them. There was a video passed around the Champ forum of an L-16 dropping in from 10-15 feet then taxing away with no apparent damage. They?re well named as they just won?t bounce, period.

Good luck on your check ride! You should do it in the Citabria and forget about the tailwheel endorsement!

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I wanted to do all my primary instruction in it but my instructor decided I should stick to the 150 & 172 because they had all the equiptment (gyros,ect) in it. I can't wait to transition to it. It's sexy and dirt simple!

I have thought about doing my checkride in it, but right now the right wing and landing gear are off of it because it experienced a HARD landing by a recently checked out pilot. The wheel was broken, as well as both spars in the right wing and the landing gear attachments were bent. I hope he gets it back together by the time I finally finish up my PPL so I can check out in it!

Tailwheel

I haven't read all the posts on tail wheel flying. But here is a comment from this guy, a member of the OFFA (Old Farts Flying Assn)

I have not read that any one has mentioned the idea of fanning the rudder in a TW airplane. If you learn to do that when it is most needed, your blood pressure will lower. What does that do for you?

Answer: Surely everyone knows that a TW airplane while on the ground naturally wants to swap ends and surely everyone knows, or should know, why. This desire on the part of the TW airplane is non existent while flying in the air. But on the ground the desire on it's part to swap ends comes into play. This desire is less as long as something is pulling on the nose, like the cooling fan - er das prop. But when there is nothing pulling on the nose is when the TW airplane really has the greatest desire to swap ends - landing.

When you have some thing that is not naturally stable, like the TW airplane during the landing, there is a very important lesson one needs to learn and learn well.

As you know the CG is behind the CD (Center of Drag). Once the TW plane starts to move toward putting the CG in front of the CD that's when your work load starts going up logarithmically. You may not recognize that instantaneously. In other words if you wait until you recognize what it's doing it already ahead of you, or putting it another way, you are behind the airplane and you are in danger of PIO (Pilot Input Oscillation), and man, that ain't no place to be. In other words there is a lag time between the time you TW decides to swap ends and your recognizing the fact. Then there is another time lag before you can input the correct countermeasures. So, if you want to outsmart the TW airplane you don't let it ever get ahead of you. And on a landing roll out here is how you do it. Fan the rudder. What this does is that you are removing those two time lags. Because when you are fanning the rudder every little deviation of the heading is sensed immediately. Consequently you are right up with the ground looping beast.

Next question is how do you fan the rudder? If too much you aggravate the problem, too little and it's like not doing it at all. Each TW airplane requires a little different amount of fanning and a little different frequency. So, you don't want to tromp on the rudder pedals. You want to do it gingerly like you would pursue the affection of a lady. A little digression here to recall another maneuver. Rolling on the point. You remember that your instructor taught your coordination by rolling on the point. (Surely your instructor did) If he didn't then you should have gotten a different instructor. Anyway when you roll on a point you remember that the heading of the airplane did not start to change until you had established a small bank angle. If the nose did move off the point while you were rolling into the bank then you didn't have coordination between stick and rudder. Once you were able to roll the plane into a bank without the nose moving off point then you had coordiantion. After that the training gets a little more demanding. After you banked the airplane, say 15 degrees and before the nose started to move off point you immediately reversed stick and rudder input to roll the plane back toward level, past level and establish a bank of the same degree in the opposite direction. You worked on this maneuver until you could bank from level to left to right to left to right etc., without ever letting the nose move off point. Once you could do this you had coordination mastered.

Back to the rudder fanning. Once you establish the right amount of rudder input your nose will not move off the centerline of the runway. The frequenty also plays a part in this maneuver. If you fan too slow the nose will start to move off point in both directions. Also if you put too much rudder in your nose will start to move off point. Once you learn your airplane then you can do this and the nose will not be wobbeling as you fan the rudder. Because there is a small time lag between the time you input some small amount of rudder until the nose starts to move. So, what does all this do for you?

Answer: You have established a way in which you can sense IMMEDIATELY that your TW airplane is going to tax your ability. While you are fanning the rudder you are preventing the nose from diviating NATURALLY even though you may not realize it. Because your feet are doing what is necessary to keep the nose from moving off point even though a gust of wind may try to kick it off point. Your rudder inputs will be asymmetrical automatically to compensate for perturbations in yaw. This puts you right up with the airplane. It takes the lag time out of the equation.

This is the secret to successful TW landings. Of course fanning may not be necessary if conditions are perfect, like a stiff no gusty wind right down the runway.

Pardon please my misspelled words. My spell checker is dead.

AirAce said:

...I have not read that any one has mentioned the idea of fanning the rudder in a TW airplane...

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I have seen a few airplanes with the rudder fanning but not very many. I have never done it and haven't had any scares to date.

n5lp said:

I have seen a few airplanes with the rudder fanning but not very many. I have never done it and haven't had any scares to date.

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I think some may have developed the fanning habit during tailwheel transition training as their instructor tried to get them to "move" their feet. The pilot-induced back and forth motion won't necessarily average out to a straight line down the runway, since the net effect is still no correction for external forces as well as for the natural instability of the tailwheel configuration. I think it's best to make corrections when needed, and leave the airplane alone otherwise. You can spot a good tailwheel pilot by observing who moves the rudder the least, not the most.

Fanning thr rudder

I reckon if you can not understand the rudder fanning operation then I definately recomment that you don't try it. And if a CFI doesn't understand it or why then how can he teach it. There aren't many CFIs areound anymore that has a few thousand hours in TW airplanes. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the technique because it is too technical for the average pilot. And true, you will see far more pilots that don't use it than those that do. The reason of course is that most pilots never heard of it. If you are able to understand it and learn how to use it then you will increase your ability to cope with greater crosswind landings. But if not, then by all means stick with the nose wheel. The very reason for the fanning technique is to take care of the outside forces like gusty crosswinds.

Similar to the arguement about wheel landings vs three point vs full stall landings. The atmosphere can really get turbulent about this subject. Three point landings are always the best for all conditions excpet in certain cases where battle damage dictates otherwise.

And then there is the thing about the T&B vs the Turn Coordinator. The turn coordinator should be mounted in a boat and then sink the boat.

Another one that will stir up a lot of dust is the down wind turn. Do you loose AS when turning from upwind to downwind?

Come on guys lets have some lively talk. I've introduced three more hotly debated topics.