Dave Buckles wrote
Now, as an instructor myself, I wish *I* had a Champ to use as a primary
trainer.

It is a lovely trainer, isn't it? Doesn't really do much of anything
else well, but it does make the student fly the airplane all the way
down the runway without the idiosyncracies and terrible visibility of
a Cub.

'Course, the insurance company would never sign off on the
deal.

Nonsense. When I got my tailwheel checkout, the rental Champ was
available for primary training. You could solo it with 5 hours
tailwheel time, no minimum time in make and model. It was used that
way until about a year ago, when it was grounded for maintenance
reasons (and no, not because it was crashed). Insurance company had
no problem with it.

Of course I don't believe they had a single CFI on the insurace with
less than 500 hours of tailwheel time. That's what it takes to get
insurers to sign off on primary training in taildraggers - the right
instructors. I can think of half a dozen light taildraggers available
for primary training within 50 miles of where I live (in Houston) but
none of them are use 300 hour CFI's with 15 hours of tailwheel time.
The absolute minimum to instruct in tailwheel at any of them is 100
hours tailwheel time, and most want more. Not unreasonable, IMO.

Remember that in the halcyon days when 300 hour CFI's routinely
instructed in taildraggers, they all had 200+ hours of tailwheel time
and learned in taildraggers themselves.

Don't blame insurance companies for the sad state of CFI training. If
it were up to me, you would need to make 10 solo takeoffs and landings
in a taildragger to be a CFI (even tri-gear). That would thin the
ranks and eliminate the land-at-15-knots-over-stall types in a
heartbeat. If you really want some quality control, require 10
takeoffs and landings in a single seat taildragger.

Michael