Next Steps: IFR Rating or Tailwheel/Acro?

[Colonel]

It really doesn't matter what type you use for tailwheel
training.  Could be tube + fabric, or aluminum - doesn't
matter.  The less power it has, the more demanding it
is to fly, generally.

Landing gear might make a difference.  I found the spring
gear of the C120/140 a little unforgiving at touchdown
compared to bungees.

It helps if the main gear have reasonable alignment.  Try
to find something with a tailwheel that doesn't shimmy
too much.

Try to find an instructor and an airport that can teach
you the "wind game".

[ramjet555]

I notice the list omits C-GFIL a Super Decathlon at www.SuperTaviation.ca [font=Verdana][size=2px](403) 548-6636 [/size][/font] Medicine Hat Alberta.
The Aerobatic Training and Aerobatic Instructor Training on their Operating Certificate but neither the Super Decathlon
or the Aerobatic training is yet mentioned on their web site. Apparently the Alberta Bush Telegraph still competes
with the internet.


Also not on their web site is 28 Rooms for students to stay in.  Those rooms came from a SunCor executive mining camp.
All the rooms have private bathrooms. Word is the student accommodation will more than double in size before next spring.


I've never seen any flight school offer this kind of economical student accommodation right next to the operations.
 

[DeflectionShot]

Here's an interesting tidbit. I read an old blog post written by J. Mac McClellan recently that Sean D. Tucker doesn't have an instrument rating (or didn't when the item was written a couple of years ago). I gather this isn't unusual among air show pilots.

[Colonel]

I think it actually might be pretty unusual, at
least in my experience.  In the USA, you cannot
get an ICAS card without a CPL, and in the USA
it is extremely unusual (but possible) to get a
CPL without an instrument rating.

Mikey Goulian has an ATP.  So does Rob Holland,
and Greg Koontz.  Even Freddy Cabanas, with
20,000 hours of biplane time, had an ATP.  Skip
Stewart flies for Fedex and of course has an ATP.

If you can fly surface acro, a hold and two approaches
generally does not pose much of a challenge.

Personally, I think acro improves your instrument
flying.  The very best do both, IMHO.  I might add
that pretty well all the airshow pilots that I know
of with ATP's are also CFI's, so the next time someone
thinks flight instructors can't fly, they should call up
Mikey or Rob or Greg or Skip and tell them that  ;D

Here's a flight instructor for you:

[youtube][/youtube]

[youtube][/youtube]

He's probably not as good a stick as your average
Canadian King Air driver, though.

I'm just a dumb airshow pilot with class 1 instructor
and class 1 aerobatic instructor ratings and Canadian
and FAA ATP's, so I'm sure I'm not as good a stick as
most Canadian Airbus drivers.

[img width=500 height=375]http://i.cbc.ca/1.3014702.1427723176!/f ... ngines.jpg[/img]

Air Canada called that a "hard landing" - I am not making
that up.  I am sure the pilots considered it a new-age
"learning experience".

[DeflectionShot]

[quote]I think it actually might be pretty unusual, at
least in my experience.  In the USA, you cannot
get an ICAS card without a CPL, and in the USA
it is extremely unusual (but possible) to get a
CPL without an instrument rating.[/quote]

I thought it was unusual as well. Then it occurred to me that's probably why Tucker doesn't appear to instruct at his own academy http://www.tutimaacademy.com/#/. IIRC in the US you need an instrument rating with the CPL to be a CFI. Tucker was a spray pilot for a few years before he got into acro so it may be one of those things he never got around to doing. (this is assuming Mcclellan got his facts right in the first place. The original blog post isn't available any more.)

[Colonel]

Actually, in the USA there is not an aerobatic instructor
rating, and that activity does not fit well into the FAA
CFI/CFII/MEI instructor scheme.

My buddy Freddy taught aerobatics for decades with
just an FAA ATP.  He never got a CFI (though he should
have).

[img width=500 height=373]https://keywestbiplanes.com/wp-content/ ... -00056.jpg[/img]



Tucker has at least a CPL, and as such could teach aerobatics
at his school, if he wanted to.  He is probably too busy.

I sent my kid to Tucker to get some monoplane time:

[img width=500 height=207][/img]

They tried to hire him as an instructor, but he's a little
busy with his day job.  He liked the -109, though:

[img width=500 height=323][/img]