unicate wrote:
"Peter R." wrote:
[snip story]

You pilots who have mastered these light taildraggers
have my sincerest respect.


Taildragger pilots have my sincere respect, too ...
From what I've heard, the biggest mistake one can make is to believe
they've "mastered" it.

You said it.....
I fly a tailwheel airplane now, it's probably the most docile of the
tailwheel planes out there (a Kolb) and I've still been humbled several
times in it already.

Once was when turning around for a back taxi very early on. I swung it
around a bit too fast and well my 180 turned into a 360 instead .
Fortunately, I was pretty slow so I didn't go up on a wheel and drag a
wing tip. Whew.... That was early on when I still wasn't quite fully
cognizant of the "energy management" of the plane on the ground. The
fully castering wheel can really help this to happen if I carry too much
momentum into a sharp turn. Not anymore - I go nice and slow now, no
whipping the tail around

Another time I got almost out of control on the takeoff roll. I let the
tail swing to left a little more than I had rudder for, then it went
back to the right a bit more. Because the plane is a high-wing pusher,
there's usually plenty of airflow over the tail from the prop blast to
allow me to null such things out, but this time it wasn't enough and I
knew if I didn't back off it it was going to ground loop. I pulled the
power back and got it straightened out.

Still, all that said, I had no idea that tailwheel could be so much fun
and such good rudder-pedal training. It's probably the funnest thing of
all the different stuff in aviation I've tried (funnest thing you can do
in a plane on the ground that is)......

LS
N646F