Tail Wheel Training...

[Guest OzChris]

RAAus Tailwheel Endorsement

 

My Experience...

 

To gain your tail-wheel endorsement, its just a simple matter of spending a few hours with an instructor on a tail-wheel aircraft. The time it takes varies between individuals, but in general, allow around 5 hours or so to get the hang of it.

 

 

 

It sure is a whole lot of fun, and I would highly recommend it to any pilot that is looking for a new challenge, to sharpen their skills, and enjoy some truly fun flying!

 

Here is my thoughts and experience in gaining my tail-wheel endorsement:

 

I must admit, whenever I have seen tail-wheel aircraft in the past, I often thought to myself, why would anyone want to fly one? I mean, why not just fly a ‘normal plane’? I never really fully understood the fixation that some tail wheel pilots had with their machines…that was, until I started to talk with some of them, hear some of their experiences, and learn more about their beloved aircraft. I started to realise that I was missing out on a whole range of fun aircraft that I am unable to fly with my nose-wheel restricted RAAus certificate. I couldn’t believe it! I was beginning to gain a longing to fly some of these aircraft; aircraft like the Thruster, Skyfox, Drifter, Lightwing, and many others that are out of reach for me without my endorsement. Not being the sort of person that shies away from a challenge, I decided I would see for myself what all this tail-wheel flying is about! It was time to have my nose-wheel restriction removed and acquire my endorsement to fly RAAus registered tail-wheel aircraft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first challenge that I was faced with was finding a RAAus school that teaches on tail-wheel aircraft. I searched for schools that were not too far away, made lots of phone calls, only to be disappointed time and time again. Most schools that I rang did not offer the training, while others were cost prohibitive on my modest income, and one school, who did have tail-wheel aircraft at reasonable prices, told me that I wouldn’t know how to fly, since I was trained on nose-wheel aircraft, I was told by the CFI, he would have to teach me to fly all over again. Needless to say, I wasn’t overly motivated to book in with him! Finally, I spoke with Bruce Vickers, CFI of Golden Plains Flying School at Lethbridge Airpark, who, even though was unable to offer the training due to not having a tail-wheel aircraft available at the moment, kindly passed on Jim Cuthill’s number to me. Jim and his partner Kay run Falcon Hawke Flying School at Boxwood, Victoria; Jim runs the three axis training on his immaculate and stunning red and blue Thruster T300, while Kay instructs on Trikes…which got me thinking about getting my Trike license – but that’s another story!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On arrival at Falcon Hawke, I was warmly welcomed by both Jim and Kay who were very positive and encouraging, making me feel perfectly at home right away. Jim wasted no time, immediately pulling his beautiful machine out of the hangar, and showing me over his beloved and well cared for aircraft. Jim pointed out everything that I needed to know and look for on these rag and tube types, and it was a huge comfort to be shown and explained in detail the safety features and characteristics of the T300. In no time at all, Jim had me strapped in and engine running…I remember thinking, there was no backing out now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The angle at which I was sitting was the most notable difference in the taxi, along with the amount of power needed to get it moving from a stand still. Steering was a little different on the ground, with a bit of anticipation needed before executing a turn, with a quick burst of power to start the tail swinging in the desired direction. It seemed a little clumsy at first, but not at all difficult - just different.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once I had the taxi under control, it was time to enter the runway and line up for take-off. This was when I started to feel a little nervous! All the horror stories of tail-draggers, ground looping, and associated issues were flooding through my mind. Even though I had done the theory side of things and have plenty of flying hours on tricycle undercarriage aircraft, it suddenly all felt so different sitting there ready to race down the runway on 2 wheels! I took a deep breath, and after a thorough briefing from Jim, I applied full-power. The Thruster burst into life, moving rapidly forward. As un-natural as it felt, I applied forward stick to raise the tail. Using all my available energy I started to pedal as if I was riding a two-wheel bike, over controlling like a maniac to make sure this beast stayed straight and headed in the right direction! I soon found out that all that pedalling on take off wasn’t necessary, just some gentle controlled kicks of rudder on subsequent take offs produced a much more desirable and comfortable ground run, allowing this beauty to make her own way into the sky to do what she does best. I remember being very uncomfortable with the feeling of racing down the runway after lifting the tail up – it felt as though I was pushing too far forward and the nose was about to run into the ground! But after several attempts these new attitudes seemed somewhat more normal. I must say the take-offs were much easier than I ever anticipated, the landings, however, were a different story!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming into land, I found myself lined up on final, with everything seeming pretty much typical to me, not really any different to any other aircraft I have flown. Jim ran me through the first couple of landings, and I remember thinking to myself,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“What?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This seems crazy!!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But again, I wouldn’t say that it was hard, however, it was certainly very different, and as I was doing ‘wheeler landings’ (driving the mains on first), I needed to oppose every instinct that I had to pull back on the stick in the flair. It felt strange, but when the forward energy had depleted to the point that the mains were about to touch, I had to push gently and positively forward to make the main wheels stick. Strangely enough, that is exactly what they did, a bit of forward movement at the exact time produced a ‘sticking’ feeling to the ground. But that was the easy part…after the mains were on, the tail wants to sink (and again fighting the instinct to pull back on the stick), this is opposed by holding progressively more and more forward stick, which to a tricycle pilot felt like an highly un-natural thing to do, until there really is not enough forward motion to keep the tail flying. At this point, the tail starts to gently sink, and this is when the real fun started! As the aircraft was slowing, the tail wanted to come around, to which a large amount of rudder was used to keep it behind us, followed by an amount of opposite rudder to prevent it coming too far back around the other way…that was one sneaky tail!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In no time at all, Jim had me doing some solo time in his beloved Thruster, and I am happy to report, as is Jim, that I didn’t bend it. Through Jim’s positive approach and patient nature, he had my confidence up to take on this beast. The Thruster reminds me a lot of the lion called Aslan in ‘The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe’. It is said that Aslan “is not a tame lion, but he is good” The same can be said of the Thruster, and I guess a lot of tail-wheel types, that they are not tame, but they are good! That is, if stroked correctly they will respond predictably, however, rub them up the wrong way and they probably will bite! Having said that, don’t let that put you off…it’s really not that hard, and Jim has plenty of correct techniques to help tame them even further.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really don’t know why I hadn’t done this sooner! I had an absolute blast flying with Jim at Falcon Hawke Services in his T300 Thruster. I really felt as though my skills as a pilot have been further sharpened because of this experience. If you need an empathetic, positive, and caring instructor, Jim is your man!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suddenly, this weird world of tail dragging now seems so much more inviting and fun to me – I get it now! This obsession with driving a tail wheel aircraft has caught me; in fact I find them so much more exciting and challenging than a nose wheel aircraft, and more fun than I have had in years of flying! I would highly recommend this challenge to any pilot of nose-dragger aircraft – come and see how much fun this type of flying is, not to mention the amount of additional aircraft opened up for you to fly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A huge thanks goes to Jim Cuthill for making my training such a fun experience, and to Kay for her country hospitality – I was well looked after with accommodation even being available at the airfield, at no charge! I have made a couple of very good new friends there, and Jim is only too pleased to have a chat and help out on the phone if I there are any questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My hope is that many more pilots will take up the challenge to get their tail-wheel endorsement, and in the process, sharpen their skills as a pilot, experience the enjoyment and fun, as well as get hooked on flying these amazing aircraft…But be warned, it is addictive!

 

 

 

 

 





 

 

 

Pictures of the Aircraft [ame=http://theaussieaviator.net/showpost.php?p=40275&postcount=2]HERE[/ame]