A Model vs Taildragger
 

I have been reading a lot of posts recently about damaging nose gears and flipovers with poor landing technique. It seems it takes as much skill for either conventional gear or a nosewheel aircraft. As I am a very new student pilot I would like to hear the pro's and con's of both. For me I would love to have a taildragger just because I think they look better.

Joe, if you want a 12 then I think that decision's been made for you.

I would consider getting my PPL and build a -7. I can only wish that Vans would offer a quicker building -9 (pulled rivets?) or a taildragger -12. There is also the Zodiac or Sonex but that's a different discussion.

Good idea. Keep that thought..

L.Adamson

With women, do you prefer blondes, brunettes or redheads?

To be honest, if you're in a hurry to fly, then building an RV isn't the best choice for you anyway, either mentally or financially. Used RV's are much cheaper than building new right now. And you won't be constantly frustrated that you have to keep building when you really want to be flying. If you can afford to finance a kit over the few years it'll take to build it, then you can afford to finance a (smaller) loan to buy a completed plane now.

Re: Tailwheel vs. Nosewheel, I suggest you do a search of the forums for other threads expounding the pros and cons. There are many. What it comes down to is, once you're off the ground, the plane flies the same. I don't find the RV's to be challenging taildraggers to handle on the ground. The -A models have better ground visibility, but some people have trouble with them flipping on their back for reasons that I don't think are fully understood yet.

Pros and cons
 

It does not seem that anyone has actually answered your question. Simply put you need to adopt the same procedure for both nosewheel and taildraggers, that is get the nose up when putting it on the ground.

This will give you a three point landing in a taildragger, and will prevent damage to a nose gear........ then when your rolling out bring the stick back into your gut and keep it there. Done forget the new mod by Nosejob, which should eliminate most flip overs to nosegears.

The difference is that the nosegear is easier to keep straight on the roll out, you have to use your feet more with a taildragger and you have to maintain this extra input throughout taxiing. But its fun.

Pros Nose gear is easier on roll out. Possibly a better cross wind capability.
Tailgear a little faster, a little lighter.

Cons. Reverse the above. The RV 9A is difficult to push backwards almost impossible single handed on grass. Whereas you can pick up the tail of an RV4 and pull it backwards more easily which is a factor sometimes when getting back in the hangar......... well for us anyway.

Only you can decide which looks best for you if this is a factor.

Personally I like taildraggers even though I have a nosewheel RV9. They are a bit more challenging and in my view better looking.

Choices
 

I didn't even know owning 3 airplanes was an option :)

I moved this thread to the entire subforum devoted to this subject.

Joe,

Both models are fine airplanes. Having flown my 9B as both a nosewheel airplane (335 hours) and taildragger (101 hours), I really like the tailwheel configuration for my mission, and personally prefer the looks. When I was first building, I had virtually no tailwheel time and the thought of both an unknown airplane plus trying to do it as a TW (meaning learning TW techniques before the first flights) was daunting, thus my initial choice of NW. An engine failure 11 months ago gave me the opportunity to swap out the parts and convert to TW (I probably would not have done this except that the engine was already off the plane, so it made the choice easier). My advice (FWIW) is that if you really want a TW airplane and are early in getting your license plus early in the build, you should emphasize TW training as part of your PPL and you will have no issues flying the RV when the time comes.

Greg