[Rant Warning] Tailwheel Training

On 20 May 2004 07:17:17 -0700, (Dan
Thomas) wrote:

I made up a term for the disease that afflicts tricycle pilots:
Somnopedosis. It means "sleepy feet." No trike pilot realizes how lazy
his feet are until he gets into a taildragger. I have a friend who
flies bizjets all over the world for a living. One of his colleagues,
a 6000-hour jet jock, would laugh at the taildragger training stuff.
My friend, who also has many hours in a 185, took this fella for some
dual in the 185. After an hour the guy had his "tail between his
legs," as my friend put it, and made no more noises about the value of
tailwheel training.

I understand, I really do. But I actually do use the rudder pedals in
the 172. I have to use them during crosswind takeoff's and during
normal takeoffs, to hold the nose straight while climbing, to hold the
nose straight while descending and also to get the airplane straight
when reaching for the runway. The only time I'm not putting pressure
on the rudder pedals for some sort of flight direction correction, is
during cruise in calm winds. Coincidentally, you don't need to apply
rudder in taildraggers at that point either.

I understand that in addition to that, taildragger pilots need to be
sharply aware of wind while taxiing. "Ya got ta fly it till it's tied
down", is something I've heard for 30 years. On the other hand, I was
trained to pay attention to the wind while taxiing the 172 too. I
also understand that because the weight of the airplane is behind the
main wheels, taildraggers would very much like to swap ends during
rollout, should the pilot be so kind as to let it.

I have a friend who owns a taildragger and he really HATES landing it
on paved runways because it's just much more sensitive to input on
those kinds of surfaces. Give him a grass field which is much more
forgiving, and he's happy.

Corky Scott

wrote in message: The only time I'm not
putting pressure
on the rudder pedals for some sort of flight direction correction, is
during cruise in calm winds. Coincidentally, you don't need to apply
rudder in taildraggers at that point either.

Wrong. I have to keep my feet on the rudders all the time. Just the nature
of my correctly-rigged airplane. As a side note: I don't think in terms of
left or right rudder as one does in a C-172. It's just "rudder", a
combination of both. Our birds are very sensitive on the controls, but as a
result, they become a part of the pilot. I think it and Lester does it.

Deb

--
1946 Luscombe 8A (His)
1948 Luscombe 8E (Hers)
1954 Cessna 195B, restoring (Ours)
Jasper, Ga. (JZP)
...
On 20 May 2004 07:17:17 -0700, (Dan
Thomas) wrote:

I made up a term for the disease that afflicts tricycle pilots:
Somnopedosis. It means "sleepy feet." No trike pilot realizes how lazy
his feet are until he gets into a taildragger. I have a friend who
flies bizjets all over the world for a living. One of his colleagues,
a 6000-hour jet jock, would laugh at the taildragger training stuff.
My friend, who also has many hours in a 185, took this fella for some
dual in the 185. After an hour the guy had his "tail between his
legs," as my friend put it, and made no more noises about the value of
tailwheel training.

I understand, I really do. But I actually do use the rudder pedals in
the 172. I have to use them during crosswind takeoff's and during
normal takeoffs, to hold the nose straight while climbing, to hold the
nose straight while descending and also to get the airplane straight
when reaching for the runway.
I understand that in addition to that, taildragger pilots need to be
sharply aware of wind while taxiing. "Ya got ta fly it till it's tied
down", is something I've heard for 30 years. On the other hand, I was
trained to pay attention to the wind while taxiing the 172 too. I
also understand that because the weight of the airplane is behind the
main wheels, taildraggers would very much like to swap ends during
rollout, should the pilot be so kind as to let it.

I have a friend who owns a taildragger and he really HATES landing it
on paved runways because it's just much more sensitive to input on
those kinds of surfaces. Give him a grass field which is much more
forgiving, and he's happy.

Corky Scott

On Fri, 21 May 2004 11:36:55 GMT, "Henry and Debbie McFarland"
wrote:

wrote in message: The only time I'm not
putting pressure
on the rudder pedals for some sort of flight direction correction, is
during cruise in calm winds. Coincidentally, you don't need to apply
rudder in taildraggers at that point either.

Wrong. I have to keep my feet on the rudders all the time. Just the nature
of my correctly-rigged airplane. As a side note: I don't think in terms of
left or right rudder as one does in a C-172. It's just "rudder", a
combination of both. Our birds are very sensitive on the controls, but as a
result, they become a part of the pilot. I think it and Lester does it.

Deb, ease up for pete's sake. I didn't mean that the feet weren't on
the rudder pedals, I meant you don't (or shouldn't much) need to use
them at cruise because the airplane (C172) is rigged to fly neutral at
in that regime. All airplanes are rigged that way, or should be,
because the majority of the time in flight is spent at cruise.

Even the Messerschmitt Bf 109, one of the least directionally stable
fighters of WWII to fly, was rigged to be neutral in cruise. Did this
mean the pilots flew it without their feet on the rudder bar when
cruising? Of course not, but at least they did not have to apply
constant pressure on one or the other pedals to make it fly straight.
They did have to constantly correct heading though as the airplane was
designed with a certain amount of directional instability so that it
responded to the controls quickly.

If your airplane requires constant rudder pressure to center the ball
during normal cruise, something is wrong. What I mean is, it should
not fly in a constant yaw to one side. If it constantly hunts back
and fourth, you have my sympathies.

Corky Scott

wrote in message Deb, ease up for
pete's sake. I didn't mean that the feet weren't on the rudder pedals, ....
If your airplane requires constant rudder pressure to center the ball
during normal cruise, something is wrong.

Didn't mean to sound heavy ;-). Actually, nothing is wrong with my airplane.
It flies as it should, but I have wing tanks that are operated on right or
left, never both. As my fuel burns, I have to compensate with my control
inputs. I try to compensate this by using the tank that has the most weight
on that side (typically my passenger side, if occupied) As I posted earlier,
the controls in a Luscombe are so sensitive that the pilot hardly notices
the correction.

The 8A with a fuselage tank doesn't have this problem, but a stock version
is so light that it has to be dead calm to remove your feet from the rudders
for any length of time. I have trouble with my feet cramping or falling
asleep on really long crosscountries.

Deb

--
1946 Luscombe 8A (His)
1948 Luscombe 8E (Hers)
1954 Cessna 195B, restoring (Ours)
Jasper, Ga. (JZP)