Dan Langhout

Dan Langhout

Well Known Member
Well . . . as of this afternoon, I have completed my tail wheel endorsement! 9.7 hours and 98 (yes 98!) landings in a Citabria. All in all a very enjoyable experience which I would highly recommend to anyone. It was a little frustrating at times when it seemed that consistent wheel landings were beyond me - but there is nothing more satisfying than finally "getting it". I agree with others who have posted before about tail wheel training making you a better pilot all around. It's not superhuman stuff but it does demand more from you!
 
Congratulations!

At some point I'm going to have to get my TW/aerobatic training so i can properly shake out my -7. I can't wait. But I'm trying to time it so the
skills don't decay between last lesson and first flight. Not a lot of tailwheel
rental options at SMO or HHR, so keeping up with it would be an endeavor.
 
Congratulations

Hello and Congratulations!!! I must say, the TW endorsement is quite an achievement. One only really appreciates it when they get it... Welcome to the family of taildragger pilots, it's a remarkable achievement. Ah the memories of my TW endorsement are not quite fresh(10 yrs ago)... but it was incredible! I wish you many fun filled days of flying with your new endorsement. A friend of a friend is a G4 pilot and her flying skills improved quite a bit in the G4 once she earned her TW endorsement...(or so said the co-pilot) There are quite a few people nowadays that don't really know how to work those strange pedal looking things on the floor properly... I see it all the time with fixed wing guys. The chopper guys seem to transition to TW fixed wing aircraft fairly quickly from what I've seen because of their previous pedal work.
CONGRATS!!!!!
Best
Brian Wallis
 
Congrats

98 landings in ten hours. Wow.
Did you count each landing or just each final approach to landing? Ha!!
 
JonJay said:
98 landings in ten hours. Wow.
Did you count each landing or just each final approach to landing? Ha!!
Click to expand...

Actually, I didn't have to go around very many times. I was fortunate in that I did most of the work at a 5000' paved runway which usually left me enough length to turn a botched wheel landing into a decent three pointer (and there were a fair number of botched wheel landings :rolleyes:)
 
Congrats! But...when you got the endorsement, they did tell you the other rules for joining this club, right?!?! Mainly the rule about keeping up the notion that T/W's are difficult to land (and therefore learn to fly)....just don't let the secret out! Oh, and you did learn the T/W "swagger" right? It's kind of like the RV swagger, except after flying your taildragger RV, the T/W swagger combined with the RV swagger will come naturally! :)

Cheers and well done.

Stein

PS, the Citabria holds a spot near and dear to my heart. Grew up with one on the farm and used to work at the factory building them.
 
Congratulations.....

.....but just remember this......no one always lands well. Fixing a botched landing in a TW is harder than a NW.

A good landing is NOT one you can walk away from....it's one that leaves the airplane still usable:)

Regards,
 
SteinAir said:
Congrats! But...when you got the endorsement, they did tell you the other rules for joining this club, right?!?! Mainly the rule about keeping up the notion that T/W's are difficult to land (and therefore learn to fly)....just don't let the secret out! Oh, and you did learn the T/W "swagger" right? It's kind of like the RV swagger, except after flying your taildragger RV, the T/W swagger combined with the RV swagger will come naturally! :)

Cheers and well done.

Stein

PS, the Citabria holds a spot near and dear to my heart. Grew up with one on the farm and used to work at the factory building them.
Click to expand...

And don't EVER let a non tail wheel pilot see you perform the secret T/W handshake after you T/W swagger up to another T/W pilot. Psss....congrats on your accomplishment and welcome to the group of the chosen ones;)
 
TW landings

Dan,
I will pass on to you and others the best lesson I ever received regarding tailwheel airplanes. It came from a friend who checked me out in the Stearman many years ago.
"Every time I come over the fence, I hear this voice saying...."I'm gonna get you this time"."
I never forgot it.

Regards,
Geoff Kimbrough
N1707M Stearman
N6978C RV-8
 
T/W Landings

Congrats! I know the feeling first-hand since this past Sunday I just earned the endorsement to learn how to fly a t/w. After a number of grass field 3-pointers and wheels-only landings, we headed back to the paved runways at PFN and did it all over again.

I like the grass landings...but the inconsistent terrain made for a few bumps. :D

All in all, I have a greater appreciation for the C-140 and look forward to the RV that will grace my hangar.

Cheers!
Frank
 
gkimbrough said:
Dan,
I will pass on to you and others the best lesson I ever received regarding tailwheel airplanes. It came from a friend who checked me out in the Stearman many years ago.
"Every time I come over the fence, I hear this voice saying...."I'm gonna get you this time"."
I never forgot it.

Regards,
Geoff Kimbrough
N1707M Stearman
N6978C RV-8
Click to expand...

Amen. When Dad checked me out in his Stearman, he told me, quite seriously, that the airplane KNOWS when you aren't paying attention.

Miles
 
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