Scudrunners

It was such a nice sunny day today, got the
motorcycle out and headed to the FBO.

They had a weird Citabria 7GCAA which had
180hp and an MT prop from the factory.  Low
time, like new.  Climbed ridiculously well
with that O-360, and had fun doing some
one-wheel landings with the crosswind.

Crosswind wasn't that strong - maybe 10
knots across - so I did some one-wheel
landings banked the wrong way, with the
wing up into the crosswind instead of down.

With the composite prop, absolutely zero
gyroscopic, so no yawing as the tail went
up and down.

It's such a docile airplane, you can do
ridiculous things.  I think I've mentioned
that around 10 years ago, I sent Eric solo
in a 7GCBC without any dual - I think he
was maybe 15?  It's that ridiculously docile,
the Citabria.  Just point a student at it,
and tell them to go.

I've looked into this,  if memory serves $1800/hour x10.

You could probably tax deduct the $18k though.

Would it really take 10 hours?  I thought it would
be fewer hours and more $$$ per hour.

Having L29 and L39 type ratings is nice, but there
are still some more aircraft I want to check out on,
like the DC-3 and the MiG-21, which actually appears
under "limitations", on an FAA pilot certificate, weirdly.

If it takes you ten hours to get checked out in a DC3 don't tell anyone because they will think you are inept as a pilot.

The first time I watched the video link at the beginning of this thread, I wondered why the elevators weren't deflected at least a little upward after the tail wheel was on the ground.
I always thought that gave that little wheel more authority and thus added directional stability.
But I've only checked out thirty-odd folks in tail wheel, So WDIK...

Don't know where the $1800/ HR came from but here another site. 


I have some $$$ left over from the VA.  I'll see what sort of "education" I can put it to use. 

[quote]elevators weren't deflected[/quote]

What I might typically do ... as I slow down,
push the stick forward until it's all the way
forward, keeping the tail in the air as long
as I can.

At some point, you're going to run out of
elevator effectiveness, so unless you get
on the power and brakes to taxi in with
the tail up (which is fun but potentially
expensive - ask Pete Mcleod about his
G200), the tail has to come down.

If prop gyroscopics are a concern, you
want this to occur very very slowly.  Even
with a wood or composite prop, I always
wince when pilots bang the tail down.
Eric would do that with the PT-19 and
I would yell at him.

Once the tail is down, stick is back all
the way for maximum steering effectiveness.

Until it shimmies, and then it's full forward
stick again to get the weight off it and try
to improve it's geometry  >:(

As Peter previously mentioned, the tendency
of the tailwheel to shimmy is determined by
the tailpost castor angle, as viewed from the
side, with respect to the vertical.  And, how
much slop there is in the moving parts.

Remember, any questions about tailwheel
flying or mechanical issues, just ask your
local Flight Training TC Inspector.  They
know everything about light aircraft like
this.

Yes, slow on the tail down after a wheelie, the little S1 with a metal prop has a definite little swerve if you drop it too fast. Not as bad as if you pop the tail up aggressively on take-off but it comes just when you are relaxing and with little prop blast which is not a good time ;)


Also never check radios, transponders, canopies, text messages or other odds and ends when rolling out in a tail dragger.. I recall reaching down to switch my xponder to sdby once and was rewarded with an embarrasing little swerve.


Peter

Another nice thing about wheel landings is the visibility ahead is so much better to keep the thing on the centre line.


The Stearman was a bitch for forward visibility with the tail on the ground, we quite often used farmers tractor roads for take off and landing when crop spraying and I always wheel landed the Stearman on those narrow roads.


Generally speaking I wheel land almost all tail wheel airplanes most of the time because it is safer and easier.

[quote]The Stearman was a bitch for forward visibility [/quote]

No kidding.  If you see the runway, you're not going to land on it!


[quote]I wheel land almost all tail wheel airplanes most of the time[/quote]

With a normal (long) runway, that makes sense.

The very best in the business:

[youtube][/youtube]

That guy makes the short list of anyone's ranking
of top Pitts pilots of all time, which always includes
Tucker, Stewart and Leroy.