Tight formation

[JW Scud]

https://duotechservices.com/jet-friday- ... -formation

[Colonel]

Most pilots look at formation and say, meh. Who cares? Useless skill.

Then they whine about their landings. But what is a landing, except
joining up in formation with a runway, and then for added fun, reducing
your power to zero and maintaining position as you slow down into slow
flight before touchdown?

Landings are formation in slow flight. If you are good at slow flight and
formation, they're pretty goddamned easy.

Here's the really weird thing I never understood: many pilots will starting
practicing landings after they've logged a number of seconds of slow flight
experience.

We see the horrible consequences of this negligent flight training every
day. Students are incapable of directional control in slow flight during
takeoff and landing. Doesn't matter how wide the runway is, they're
going to run off the side.

Tailwheel training is much the same. I am horrified to see pilots going
around and around, touching down and having no hope whatsoever to
keep up with the directional control of the airplane, careening and
swerving back and forth across the runway.

First, you learn to fast taxi a taildragger. After you master that, then
you learn to land it, which is really fast taxiing.

[JW Scud]

Hmmmm.....I remember getting my taildragger initial training in a Champ(7CCM). It was one of those paved runways that is like a sidewalk although the grass n either side was good. Both the takeoffs and the landings were zig-zagging down the runway. I remember being headed toward the adjacent corn field but suddenly being in control as we got airborne. Kind of scary. Multiple go-arounds. Then at some point, it suddenly started working out fairly well. Never did any high speed taxiing but it might have been helpful. Instructor seemed to have nerves of steel. Told myself that I would never check someone else out in tailwheel flying. Thats for guys with nerves of steel.

[Colonel]

I really glad that you learned despite some pretty bad instruction.

[Nark]

I used to say not only no, but fuck no, to tailwheel endorsements in my 180. As colonel alluded to it's not the fire breathing dragon of an airplane, but rather the lack of skill in the instructor to transfer experience.

I've done 2 now.

Formation flying takes skill, skill to do it well takes concentration, concentration takes energy. I've met a lot of lazy pilots, as a matter of fact I'd say there are more lazy pilots than not.

[JW Scud]

Probably would have been good experience to do the high speed taxi as you suggest. Didn't happen and maybe that is the way for most of us.

But I wonder how the groundlooping tendencies are affected bu this kind of landing:

[Colonel]

Told myself that I would never check someone else out in tailwheel flying

It's really stressful when there are no right seat brakes, and no accelerator pump. I do
not recommend that.

A whole level above tailwheel checkouts is teaching someone to land the Pitts. I really
don't ever want to do that again. Things happen really fast. Blind. Horrible.

Much worse than that ... probably the most unpleasant instruction I ever gave, was inverted
(negative G) formation (vertical) aerobatics. Not just straight and level, or turns - pushes.
Painful, more than you would ever believe. Never, ever doing that again. Tired of explaining
why the ailerons aren't working the way they're supposed to. Tired of explaining that you need
to unlearn your old instincts, and learn new ones.

No one gives a shit about learning to do something difficult, so why should I?

good experience to do the high speed taxi

I didn't make that up. I stole the "wind game" from Budd Davison, who claims to have
given 8,500 dual in Pitts and should be nominated for aviation sainthood.

Note that especially with a metal blade prop (with lots of gyroscopic precession) it is
a really valuable experience to taxi down the runway, slowly raising and lowering the tail,
and learning to control the resulting coupled yaw.

[Liquid_Charlie]

Ground Loops - I have ground looped a DC3 on several occasions, always on purpose and I must say they ground loop nicely, there are some inputs required to control it as much as you can. Why you wonder, simply put young and foolish, we had issues with the breaks and the company was very slow to react to the problem. The perception of youth and big balls it's simple, carry on until next inspection with a night or two in civilisation and a chance to give her pig in Winnipeg. The breaks simply didn't work and ground looping was the last resort tool to stop. It was used on several occasions.

We did some pretty crazy and maybe stupid things with the old DAK, like landing on lakes, on wheels with no skis in the winter. I did a few trips to the ice at Fort Severn on the river. I did eventually smarten up and stopped after walking out tracks and realising that the ruts were 3 feet deep in places. Crazy times but I must say a lot of fun as well. Coming off those lakes you could get the old girl thinking about flying around 40 kts empty , VMCg and VMC I don't think I even knew about that shit then -- haha - all I knew if it wasn't going fast enough you better retard the other engine and take your lumps instead of going upside down and dead.

I guess the point is that a ground loop is not always a bad thing and ironically the fire breathing dragon can actually be a tool to save you ass.

Different times for sure!!!