In article , Dale wrote:
And about the "super" taildragger pilots. I used to fly a tricycle gear
airplane that had virtually everyone who flew it wimpering in
frustration just trying to get it to the runway for takeoff. It made a
tailwheel airplane seem easy.
I'm intrigued...what was it and what made it so difficult to taxi?
The only nosewheel plane I've found tricky to taxi was the Nangchang
CJ6, and that's because it had vastly different systems to anything
I'd flown. The brakes were pneumatic. The nosewheel was castoring.
The over-the-nose visibility on the ground wasn't very good. To steer,
you pushed the rudder pedal to the floor in the direction you wanted
to steer, then used the stick-mounted handbrake to dab the brake,
and the braking would be applied to the wheel on the inside of the
turn. The brakes were more or less digital (either on or off, very
little inbetween) It just took getting used to after taxiing with hydraulic
toe brakes and a steerable nosewheel (or tailwheel for that matter).
--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying:
http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe:
http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"