Tri gear vs taildragger

[Old Koreelah]

2 hours ago, turboplanner said:

Then there is the group where the expectation is just too much for the roughness of the landing area chosen.  For a Warrior or Cherokee 140 I test the padock out in a car at 100 km/hr - bet there are not too many people doing that, or a high enough speed to ensure an RA aircraft will handle the roughness.

Good point Turbs; a lot of paddock strips would fail that test. Black soil grass strips look smooth and despite being regularly slashed, even small tussocks shake hell out of your plane. I drove my 4WD across a neighbour’s strip that he slashed for a C172 and even at 60km/h (my Jodel’s touchdown speed) it was really rattling my vehicle- and that’s with wheels double the diameter of common aeroplane wheels.

[IBob]

I'm amazed at how very polite and civilised this conversation is. And especially in light of the fact that a slice of the aviation fraternity still measure their masculinity by the position of their third wheel...............)

[facthunter]

How much is a slice?  Anyhow you can't "pretend" to be able to FLY one. IF you can't,  it will show and like many different types of operations training and experience is most of it.. Once it's airborne it's just another aeroplane. . Nev

[F10]

Some interesting points!

The Brits seemed to stick stubbornly to tail wheels, the Lancaster, Halifax, all their fighter types etc, even up to the early 1950s Shackleton models. The jets changed this, Frank Whittles experimental, Meteor and Vamp, but mainly forced on them due the jet pipe position.

The Yanks seemed pretty open to nose gears, way back late 30s, the Havoc or Boston, P38, P39 Aircobra, B24 Lib, PBY, many more. 

As for flipping over, I would have to say a nose wheel would be more resistant, if it didn’t collapse. A far bigger problem is flipping over in a low wing and being trapped by the canopy! Many of today’s sport aircraft have lovely big canopies…but upside down…not so nice! Especially when accompanied by the attention getting sound of sizzling fuel drops. I will always be a fan of a rearward sliding canopy…these warbird pilots who take off with closed canopies….crazy in my book. Try breaking your way out an upside down  Hurricane, Harvard, P40 (birdcage canopies) or a canopy about 5mm thick….no way Jose. The bubbletop Spitfire has a heavy canopy, works on a winding handle on RHS of cockpit wall, which can’t lock back…it will slam forward on a forced lob. Trick here was to pop the cockpit door open a tad. The door locks have these sort of double slotted ends, allowing the cockpit door to be locked slightly open. This puts a step in the canopy rail, locking it open. Even the standard sliding canopies didn’t lock in the open position. Strange!

[Old Koreelah]

4 hours ago, facthunter said:

nosegear seems to find rabbit holes etc. and the plane usually inverts.

Taildraggers can find bunny-holes too!

Almost a decade ago I was in a bunch of Jodels that flew into a rough dirt strip in NZ. The last bloke in did a great job of getting his D-11 down among the mudholes and big rocks, but he came to grief right in front of the assembled aviators. His right wheel dropped into a deep rabbit hole and she stopped dead, with the wing almost on the ground

. 
No damage done (except to his ego) and it turned out to be an excellent outcome for his wife, who walked with difficulty because of a stroke; she found it much easier to step down to the ground!

[Old Koreelah]

14 minutes ago, F10 said:

…A far bigger problem is flipping over in a low wing and being trapped by the canopy! Many of today’s sport aircraft have lovely big canopies…but upside down…not so nice! Especially when accompanied by the attention getting sound of sizzling fuel drops. I will always be a fan of a rearward sliding canopy…

I agree, F10. That’s a considerable safety concern, so I added CM steel hoops to my windscreen and canopy. Would they protect me? I hope so, not having tested them, but I built the canopy from acrylic so I can smash my way out.

 A major design parameter was to be able to safely open the canopy in flight, something I have never actually done, although I’ve taken off with the canopy back. As with many types, air pressure pushes it shut.