Taildragger tail dragging?

Shawn
In case you missed one of my posts a long time ago, on your next flight
try picking a spot Waayyy out in front of you. then slowly start a bank
and hold that spot with your rudder until either you run out of aileron
or rudder. then, slowwwwly (same rate as entry) bring it back to level
and not waver on the point or altitude. Then repeat it to the other
side.
Greatest coordination exercise I can think of in an airplane.
I'll do it with any airplane I fly to see what kind of control
authority I have while I practice a XW landing at altitude. It also
knocks off the inevitable rusty edges that sneak up on all of us.
Cheers
Ol S&B

When you do that fast and hold the nose on a point it's called a ??????,
isn't it. Can't remember the name of that damn manuever but my long ago
glider instructor used to teach it. I think he just did it to sicken
the male pilots so he could spend more time with the coeds in this
college club but it was a challenge anyway.

I can do the above manuever - will have to try the slooooowww version.

wrote:
Shawn
In case you missed one of my posts a long time ago, on your next flight
try picking a spot Waayyy out in front of you. then slowly start a bank
and hold that spot with your rudder until either you run out of aileron
or rudder. then, slowwwwly (same rate as entry) bring it back to level
and not waver on the point or altitude. Then repeat it to the other
side.
Greatest coordination exercise I can think of in an airplane.
I'll do it with any airplane I fly to see what kind of control
authority I have while I practice a XW landing at altitude. It also
knocks off the inevitable rusty edges that sneak up on all of us.
Cheers
Ol S&B

Maybe. Or it's a proficiency exercise that makes one a better pilot.
Sort of like the value of acro training for a pilot that will not do any
acro beyond the training. Or lazy eights and the rest of the Commercial
sylabus.

After watching a few tailwheel jockeys do alternate wheel (left, right)
touchdowns in calm conditions, I tried them. Found that they exercised
the x-control muscles nicely even though the fact that a little tire
scrubbing is unavoidable.

Problem with TW tag and LR touchdowns is that the ground is nearby -
perhaps an unnecessary risk like (non-exhibition)low level acro.

Stealth Pilot wrote:

as for practising this. this is dumb. you are achieving nothing
useful. know that it is possible and make use of it if you are ever in
the situation but go and practise normal three point landings until
you can do them gently with the windsock horizontal in any direction.
that will make you a skilled pilot.

Stealth Pilot

Back when I was a private student, my CFI required we land tailwheel
first. This was in a Cessna 140. He said that if you touch down
tailwheel first, you know that the plane is done flying. You certainly
don't need to worry about bouncing.

I think the big danger in getting the mains off while holding the
tail on is that the AOA could get high enough to stall a wing, probably
the left one with power on, and the airplane could get scratched up
some in a hurry. A fella would want to be careful here.

Dan

Ol,

How far do I take that? If I understand your description well enough, it
eventually becomes a slow roll in the Pitts!
"ShawnD2112" wrote in message
. uk...
Thanks for that, Stealth, but I can do that already in both the
Taylorcraft and the Pitts. Controlled landings in any but tailwheel-only
configuration aren't a problem. In fact, maybe that is the problem - one
wheeled landings aren't that much of a challenge any more. As for
achieving nothing useful, I disagree. It might be a good control
exercise, as one person has said here, and also it would be fun to try
and, at the end of the day, that's why I fly.

Shawn
"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 20:16:01 GMT, "ShawnD2112"
wrote:

Got a question for you taildragger old-timers.

I've often thought about attitude and altitude control with power and
elevator in various combinations and have wondered if it's possible to
get a
taildragger to literally drag it's tailwheel on the runway with the mains
off, and do it intentionally, kind of like slowflight but REALLY low over
the runway. I mean, we often try to land tailwheel first, so I was
wondering if it's possible to set up to do it partially and prevent the
mains from touching. I've tried in the Tcraft but can't seem to manage
it.

Anyone here ever done such a thing?

Shawn

I have done it once in the W8 tailwind, 2 stages of flap. used it in a
crosswind situation that was going to guano and drove the tail where I
needed it with the tailwheel. the tailwheel first contact was
accidental.

as for practising this. this is dumb. you are achieving nothing
useful. know that it is possible and make use of it if you are ever in
the situation but go and practise normal three point landings until
you can do them gently with the windsock horizontal in any direction.
that will make you a skilled pilot.

Stealth Pilot

ShawnD2112 wrote:
I've often thought about attitude and altitude control with power and

elevator in various combinations and have wondered if it's possible
to get a
taildragger to literally drag it's tailwheel on the runway with the
mains
off, and do it intentionally, kind of like slowflight but REALLY low
over
the runway. I mean, we often try to land tailwheel first, so I was
wondering if it's possible to set up to do it partially and prevent
the
mains from touching. I've tried in the Tcraft but can't seem to
manage it.

Anyone here ever done such a thing?

Shawn

I've done it unintentionally in an old Harvard. Was using a little
power to
recover from a bounce and found myself rolling along on the tailwheel
with
the mains still airborne. Not a very comfortable situation, IMHO, so I
soon decided to get the big old Pratt to haul me outta there. (The
Harvard/T-6
has a tendency to stall fairly abruptly, one wing first and I don't
think that
arrival would be very comfy:-)

You can get a similar effect in that airplane, if you wheel it on going
fairly
fast and then pull the tail down. By the time the tailwheel touches,
the wings
are producing quite a bit of lift again. (Another of the T-6's more
interesting
habits:-)
I admit that I can't think of a good reason to do it for fun, rick

wrote:
I think the big danger in getting the mains off while holding the
tail on is that the AOA could get high enough to stall a wing,
probably
the left one with power on, and the airplane could get scratched up
some in a hurry. A fella would want to be careful here.

We're only talking 5 inches or so. Besides, it takes a LOT of
uncoordination to make a Cessna 140 fall off on one wing. I've never
even seen a Cessna 140 "break" in a stall. It just kinda mushes down.
You could probably stall it at altitude and just ride the stall all the
way down to the runway with the yoke all the way back for a perfect
landing. Its a very forgiving airplane and probably the best student
airplane made (of course, I'm biased).

-Robert, CFI

Dutch Roll

Maule Driver wrote:
When you do that fast and hold the nose on a point it's called a ??????,
isn't it. Can't remember the name of that damn manuever but my long ago
glider instructor used to teach it. I think he just did it to sicken
the male pilots so he could spend more time with the coeds in this
college club but it was a challenge anyway.

Robert M. Gary wrote:
wrote:
I think the big danger in getting the mains off while holding the
tail on is that the AOA could get high enough to stall a wing,
probably
the left one with power on, and the airplane could get scratched up
some in a hurry. A fella would want to be careful here.

We're only talking 5 inches or so. Besides, it takes a LOT of
uncoordination to make a Cessna 140 fall off on one wing. I've never
even seen a Cessna 140 "break" in a stall. It just kinda mushes down.
You could probably stall it at altitude and just ride the stall all
the
way down to the runway with the yoke all the way back for a perfect
landing. Its a very forgiving airplane and probably the best student
airplane made (of course, I'm biased).

-Robert, CFI

I watched a Piper Vagabond do this with the mains almost a couple
of feet in the air. That's a pretty steep AOA for a stubby airplane
like that, and those short wings have more abrupt stall behavior.
Dan