(Teacherjh) wrote in message ...

Oh, man. Have you never flown a Champ or Cub or some other older
design that had lots of adverse yaw, and that might flick over into a
spin if you skidded it around the base-to-final turn?


is this behavior =caused= by the position of the middle wheel, or is it just
coincidence and history that they are taildraggers?

Jose

Taildraggers tend to be older designs, and older designs often
didn't have the benign behaviour of newer designs, which tend to be
nosewheel airplanes. So taildraggers, while the gear has no effect in
the air, are usually harder to fly and require more effort and
understanding. More effort results in a better pilot. And since
takeoff and landing are the most likely places for an accident, and
since they also require the most skill, the taildragger is invaluable
for sharpening those skills.
A comparison could be made to cameras. Fully-automatic cameras
are really easy to use, and can take decent pictures. Fully-manual
cameras require knowledge about light and aperture and shutter speed
and film types and depth of field and so on, but they allow you to get
the impressive special effects impossible with the automatic. The
manual makes you a far better photographer. You either learn all about
photography or you remain a mediocre picture-taker.
Every pilot should get in at least a couple of hours of dual in an
older taildragger.

Dan