A taildragger incident today

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:JcZjf.588903$x96.563731@attbi_s72...
"I had landed and just touched the brake, and next thing I knew the
aircraft was on its nose," the 80 year-old pilot said as we approached
him.

A sad story, Peter. Thanks for sharing it.

At the other end of the spectrum, the last few days we've had a couple
staying with us at the inn who just bought a brand, spanking new Maule.
They are well past 70, and we've had a great time hangar flying with them.

When their visit with us was over, we bid them adieu and drove them over
to the airport. 15 minutes after we dropped them off the old fella called
us back to come fetch them.

He had discovered that, after our recent 4-inch snowfall and subsequent
icy conditions, he was unable to walk out to his tail-dragger without
falling. This provided a sudden burst of realization that if he couldn't
walk to his taildragger because of the conditions, he probably shouldn't
be flying it, either.

That's a prudent way to fly a tail-dragger, IMHO. The man knew his
limitations, and thus they were forced to spend another night soaking in
the Red Baron Suite's hot tub.

Boy......I thought I read that Innkeeper's Guide from cover to cover, but I
missed the part about starting a snow storm to get those rack cards changed
from check outs to stayovers!!!!!
:-)))))))))))))))))))
Dudley

That's a prudent way to fly a tail-dragger, IMHO. The man knew his
limitations, and thus they were forced to spend another night soaking in
the Red Baron Suite's hot tub.

Boy......I thought I read that Innkeeper's Guide from cover to cover, but
I missed the part about starting a snow storm to get those rack cards
changed from check outs to stayovers!!!!!
:-)))))))))))))))))))

Unfortunately, for the most part, winter weather works against us rather
than for us. An amazing number of pilots close their hangar doors at the
first snow, and don't open them again until spring.

Personally, I think the best flying is to be done in winter, so I don't get
it -- but to each, his own, I guess.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:uMhkf.591730$x96.357547@attbi_s72...
That's a prudent way to fly a tail-dragger, IMHO. The man knew his
limitations, and thus they were forced to spend another night soaking in
the Red Baron Suite's hot tub.

Boy......I thought I read that Innkeeper's Guide from cover to cover, but
I missed the part about starting a snow storm to get those rack cards
changed from check outs to stayovers!!!!!
:-)))))))))))))))))))

Unfortunately, for the most part, winter weather works against us rather
than for us. An amazing number of pilots close their hangar doors at the
first snow, and don't open them again until spring.

Personally, I think the best flying is to be done in winter, so I don't
get it -- but to each, his own, I guess.

You're right about winter flying, especially for the VFR occasional pilot.
The air is usually clearer, more stable, and for those flying out of small
fields, there's even a "lift" bonus :-)
On the other side of the coin, there's the hassle of dealing with a thorough
preflight in a winter scenario; not quite so bad for the hangar folks, but a
real pain for the tie downers.
I keep forgetting how deeply you are tied in to fly in guests. Do you have
any walk in's at all Jay, or local business types renting rooms for business
meetings?
D

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

It seems to me, when I am flying my C140, that when landing the main
wheels touch down first, just like a tricyle geared airplane.

So we all land (except for those who like to touch the nose wheel
first) basically the same way.

It looks like the roll out is the only difference.

Terry



On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 10:09:34 -0700, 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.

"ls" wrote in message news:YPikf.28260

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.

Here's a bit of the bizarro - in the DC3 you can steer on the takeoff roll
with reverse aileron. They're so big, they drag a lot. Hard left aileron
will cause the right aileron drag to pull you right. That big rudder is
usually enough, so you'd only have to augment if you were looking at the
puckerbrush.

On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 14:54:28 GMT, "Dudley Henriques"
wrote:

You're right about winter flying, especially for the VFR occasional pilot.
The air is usually clearer, more stable, and for those flying out of small
fields, there's even a "lift" bonus :-)

In New Hampshire, I find that the weather is most often rainy/snowy or
clear+blustery, neither of them good for Cub flying. Then there are
the winter problems associated with a grass field: much of the time it
hasn't been plowed or is muddy. Finally, we aren't allowed to fly the
Cubs if the temp is under 20 deg F. Add them together and there aren't
many flying days from Dec 1 to Apr 1.

(To make matters worse, my roll of duct tape just got banned from the
airport. The port window on Zero Six Hotel drops two inches unless
taped up, and the starboard window/door has a half-inch gap toward the
back. I have been authorized to experiment with blue painter's tape.)


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email: usenet AT danford DOT net

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net
In Search of Lost Time: www.readingproust.com

What's the reason for the duct tape ban?

John Gaquin:

Here's a bit of the bizarro - in the DC3 you can steer on the takeoff roll
with reverse aileron. They're so big, they drag a lot. Hard left aileron
will cause the right aileron drag to pull you right. That big rudder is
usually enough, so you'd only have to augment if you were looking at the
puckerbrush.

I love the DC3. Thanks for that additional info that I wasn't aware of.

I can remember flying the J3 way back in the old days when I was learning to
fly. The wind used to come in between the upper and lower side panel and
freeze us to death. When you put carb heat on that old Cont. A65, it sounded
like it had quit.....I mean it really woke up a few pilots once in a while.
We'd have aerial bombing contests with the Cubs with balloons filled with
water dropped from 500 feet on the runway after we closed the field in the
evening. Spot landing contests in the Cub were fun. I bet someone I could
land ours width wise on the runway at new Castle Delaware. I won, but had to
split the five bucks with the tower guys who let me try it one afternoon
when the airport wasn't busy.
Night flying in the Cub wearing a miner's helmet with a battery light in the
front covered by some of my wife's Christmas wrapping paper that was
transparent red and flying the Cub all the way down the East Coast out to
Key West......throttling back and shouting to waving fishermen off the coast
on the way down there.
Of all that has transpired since, I think those days will remain as my most
treasured and personal, and certainly the most fun!
Dudley Henriques


"Cub Driver" usenet AT danford DOT net wrote in message
...
On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 14:54:28 GMT, "Dudley Henriques"
wrote:

You're right about winter flying, especially for the VFR occasional pilot.
The air is usually clearer, more stable, and for those flying out of small
fields, there's even a "lift" bonus :-)

In New Hampshire, I find that the weather is most often rainy/snowy or
clear+blustery, neither of them good for Cub flying. Then there are
the winter problems associated with a grass field: much of the time it
hasn't been plowed or is muddy. Finally, we aren't allowed to fly the
Cubs if the temp is under 20 deg F. Add them together and there aren't
many flying days from Dec 1 to Apr 1.

(To make matters worse, my roll of duct tape just got banned from the
airport. The port window on Zero Six Hotel drops two inches unless
taped up, and the starboard window/door has a half-inch gap toward the
back. I have been authorized to experiment with blue painter's tape.)


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email: usenet AT danford DOT net

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net
In Search of Lost Time: www.readingproust.com