Taildragger Training

[Tailwind W10]

I hope this is a growing trend.


Namao Flying Club operating out of Villenueve in Alberta has had a Citabria 7ECA for tailwheel training for a very long time.  Last year they sold C-GIBB and acquired C-GIBY from the west coast.  This year they've even started offering basic aerobatic training on her.
http://www.namaoflyingclub.com/c-gibb-citabria.html


NFC sold C-GIBB to Calgary flying club.  It took a while but it's now on their website as part of their fleet.  Hopefully they've used the time to do some maintenance, there were some spots on the covering that were getting a bit tattered.  I've got a fair bit of time in the logbook on this girl.
http://www.calgaryflyingclub.com/fleet/citabria-2/


I just discovered Absolute Aviation (formerly Wetaskiwin Air Services) now has a 7ECA available to rent.  Looks like it hit the register at the end of last month.  This is entirely convenient to me as I can now walk down the taxiway to go fly.  C-FHDG is a little elderly, with the Cub style gear and the vacuum horn hanging out, but they tell me she's got the metal spar STC and she's in good shape.  I'll wander over this weekend to have a look.
http://www.absoluteaviation.ca/Citabria-7ECA.page

I realize some here complain that the 7ECA is too easy to take off and land, as taildraggers go, but having more FTOs offering taildragger training can only be a good thing.  Hopefully more of them will see a trend and do the same.


Gerry
(edited to add weblink)

[cgzro]

They are nice little tail draggers for sure. I think actually the Decathlon is easier to land than the Citabria. Not sure why, but for some reason the Decathlon is a total pussycat. You can do a lot worse for tail dragger training that learning to land a Citabria from the back seat with a big fat guy in the front , fully inflated tires, a dry runway and with a 20kt quartering cross wind ;) You'll be busy ;)

[Colonel]

I've never noticed much difference landing the
Decathlon vs Citabria vs Champ vs T-craft vs
Cub etc.  They all land so slowly and ponderously,
you can get out and walk alongside them after
they touch down.  Difficult to get behind.

Front seat PIC/student is ridiculously easy in
most of them - very good visibility forward,
even in the 3-point attitude.

Rear seat builds character!  Learning to land
(and taxi!) blind forward is a very useful skill
indeed, if you ever want to fly something like
a Pitts, Stearman, Harvard or anything else
vaguely WWII-ish like a Spitfire, Hurricane
or P-51.

Being able to land blind forward is extremely
important and rarely, if ever discussed.  When
I was doing Pitts training, I found that getting
their feet up to speed could be worked at
incrementally, but being blind forward was a
huge obstacle for many people, who expected
to always be able to see everything in every
attitude.

Similar to this, is being able to fly acro on a
hazy day, with no defined horizon.  For some
people (eg from out west) it is simply crippling
when they pull vertical and look left, and just
see white.

However, when you live in the lee of the Great
Lakes for decades, flying in the murk is just
something that you get used to.  Or, you're not
going to fly very often.

[ScudRunner-d95]

I was on my first road trip looking for work many moons ago, I stopped by Villenueve and asked about a job instructing there.
The lady behind the counter said "oh im sorry we only hire pilots with tailwheel time"

"Great I have 300 hours of tailwheel time" I replied.

"Uh oh.... we don't have any openings at this time,  I can keep your resume on file" was her response.

I guess her standard PFO to noobs hit a road bump with me  ;D

[Liquid Charlie]

For the wanabees come bust your ass smashing freight for a few months in NWO at a particular operator and then you can have all the taildragger time you can take -- Oh ya -- bring the KY , 2 years supply to last for the  1st bond, After that your sphincter is sufficiently relaxed for the rest of you career.  :))