4 Tailwheels...

[Shiny Side Up]

... worn out this year. Managed to squeeze in one more before the year was out. I'll have to check, but this year I might actually have put on more tailwheel time than nosewheel time for a change. Not impressive for most, but not bad for an evil flight school instructor. 2013 will be down in the logbook as a good year.

What about everyone else?

[Colonel Sanders]

Good for you! I go through tailwheel tires & tubes
like candy. I think I've mentioned before that I keep
a built-up spare on the shelf, complete with inflated
tire & tube, wheel and bearings, so I can swap it in
minutes.

Oddly enough, people attack me when I suggest this.

Go figure.

PS Look at page 22 of this:

https://www.iac.org/files/magazines/Sa-2013-08.pdf

[Big Pistons Forever]

Zero hours tailwheel this year but I spent 6 weeks flying in Alaska, a place I had never been to. I got to see most of AK South of the Brooks Range and West of Anchorage. I even flew over Unalakleet, but no sign of Ariel Tweeto

[Beefitarian]

She was probably in LA.

I've only rode in a couple of conventional gear planes.

[Adam Oke]

Nice!

I did north of 400 hours this year. No tailwheel tires this year, but I did lose an entire tail fork assembly among other things. The bolt's sheared and the ol Air Tractor took a squat on the tail post. I'm glad it happened taxing out on the first load of the day! I usually have one tire go a year.

[iflyforpie]

Another year of zero tailwheel..... but I've got a nice tailwheel in my garage I'm just itching to get some hours on.... once it gets installed on an airplane.

[cgzro]

Zero nose dragger this year... Again . Two different Pitts and the Moth and Finch.. Oh unless you count a 747-400 full motion sim at LHR..thats quite a contrast but coincidently it too has the wheel doing the steering behind you... Fun year.

[New_PIC]

No tailwheel time, besides from imagination. I did manage to finish the PPL that I started almost 30 years ago and have made a good start on the night rating now too. Maybe next year I can find an opportunity to try a tail wheel.

[Colonel Sanders]

Maybe next year I can find an opportunity to try a tail wheel

Do it! The gold-bars here will tell you that stick & rudder
ability isn't important any more (even at SFO), but I disagree.

Two of my favorite tailwheel moments from 2013.

The following is what you do, when you have one runway
and the windsock is straight out across it. Most people
wouldn't fly. That would be boring. This isn't:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US9je8STwjo




The following is neat. 20 seconds from throttle to idle
on downwind at 1000 AGL, to touchdown. That's a
3000 fpm descent. Crank up the volume after the
power comes off to hear the afterfiring:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHE503RzueM




This isn't so much a tailwheel moment as it is a
2013 stick and rudder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtaFzFkohPU


A nice light positive G barrel roll. What you can do,
when you master stick & rudder skills. Even if they're
not needed any more, I am told.

[Lotro]

I missed flying the tailwheel this year. I remember fondly the 50 hours I spend in the J3 in 2012, what a great bird, but with 65hp I'm lucky I never flew into trees on climb out on a hot day

Still had a great year, I think I logged 50 hours and got a night rating, so I can't complain. I'll be flying a desk until April I think.

~Lotro

[Colonel Sanders]

with 65hp I'm lucky I never flew into trees on climb out on a hot day

As the now-retired John Mohr would tell you,
"Learn to fly the wing, not the engine"

John Mohr is a really, really bright guy. Maybe
even as bright as some of the straight and level
popnchips heroes here.

People attack me all the time when I tell them
that a powerful airplane is far easier to fly than
an underpowered one, because the tremendous
excess power can be used to compensate for
really bad piloting.

John flew a 220hp (W670) Stearman. I fly a 450hp
(R-985) Stearman. Which do you think is easier
to fly?

People who complain that their aircraft is too powerful
are like people who complain that their bank account
has too much money in it.

[Colonel Sanders]

got a night rating

Apologies for the thread-jack, but if you
want to stay alive, as a low-time PPL with
a fresh night rating:

1) Get on the attitude indicator. The transition
is what will kill you. Get on the attitude indicator
immediately after takeoff. As you lose a visual
horizon (under many circumstances), get on
the attitude indicator. Please keep the wings level.
I personally think night aerobatics is a hoot but
don't do that.

2) don't go night VFR flying with a dewpoint spread
less than 3 degrees. Take on far less wx than you
would during the day.

3) don't CFIT. Figure out what a safe altitude is for
every segment of your flight. Don't go someplace
unless it has functioning VASI/PAPI - and use them.
Do not descend below 500 AGL until you are on final.
Climb if you see red/red. Do not try to land on short
runways at night. Avoid the urge to PIO in the flare
and wipe your nosewheel off and kill the prop and engine.

Look at what two geniuses did when they simply tried
to land the most docile aircraft in the world at night, at
an unfamiliar (to them) airport:




Apologies for the thread-jack, but night VFR is
extremely dangerous. An accident is far more likely
to be fatal at night.

[Shiny Side Up]

Awesome video. Where's teh camera mounted in those shots?

Get on the attitude indicator
immediately after takeoff. As you lose a visual
horizon (under many circumstances), get on
the attitude indicator.

The second part of that is make sure you're going up. Its possible to be in a nose up attitude and not climbing. Keep that thing pinned to the wall if you need to, and make sure you got some air underneath when it all goes black - if you're doing a take off at night, don't be too worried about "being easy" on stuff. Word: hitting the trees is also hard on your engine.

As the now-retired John Mohr would tell you,
"Learn to fly the wing, not the engine"

Noted in the book that we flew an 85 hp Cub through the mountains this summer. Fun stuff.

Still had a great year, I think I logged 50 hours and got a night rating, so I can't complain.

For a private flyer, that's an excellent year! on aveage that works out to be 8 minutes of flying per day, every day of the year. If every pilot did that, there would be a much improved pilot populace out there. That's also 57 minutes per week, again a huge skill improvement if everyone did a 0.6 in an airplane once per week.

Isn't the average less than 30 hrs a year for private owner?

[Lotro]

Thanks for the encouraging words and sage advice.

Don't worry Colonel, I have no intention of doing much flying around at night. The rating was enough for me to realize that night flying has different dangers that need to be considered, oh, and it's cold.

Come to think of it, it's amazing how sobering ratings are for this low-time pilot, I remember the same feeling after getting my float rating. I need to come up with some night missions (out of the circuit) that aren't too dangerous to get some more experience, we'll see what happens in the spring.

I had heard "fly the wing" before and experienced it plenty of times in the cub. I loved flying that thing, but am pretty hesitant to get back in it with 65hp (I guess with one person it's pretty safe). In the meantime, I'm saving my pennies for a PA-11 or PA-18.

[PilotDAR]

Of my 161.3 hours total time this past year, 73.2 was tailwheel, all but 0.8 on my Teal, with the 0.8 test flying another Teal. Included in that was about 5 hours of night circuits in my Teal, which are now reasonable, with the large LED landing light I installed. Prior to that, night landings were simply terrifying, as the landing lights were so poor, you could hardly see a thing until the thump and bounce.

I doubt I'll fly it tomorrow, but I'll aim for New Years Day, I finally got my runway clear of that miserable 1/2 inch of ice over 10 inches of snow.....

[lownslow]

I had heard "fly the wing" before and experienced it plenty of times in the cub. I loved flying that thing, but am pretty hesitant to get back in it with 65hp

Try forty horses

I sure do miss that airplane, I think this past year I spent more time trying to start it than I spent flying the thing.

LnS.

[skydivepilot]

I logged a grand total of 1 hour tailwheel in 2013 with 3 landings. I'm hoping for more in 2014. Learning to fly tailwheel makes me realize how lazy one can be when flying tricycle gear.

[Lotro]

I had heard "fly the wing" before and experienced it plenty of times in the cub. I loved flying that thing, but am pretty hesitant to get back in it with 65hp

Try forty horses

I sure do miss that airplane, I think this past year I spent more time trying to start it than I spent flying the thing.

LnS.

I remember that plane! I'm so sad I never got a ride. What a beaut.

[lownslow]

If you're light (like, sub 150 pound light) I'd be happy to take you up sometime, but a I should warn you my schedule sucks.

LnS.

[Shiny Side Up]

I love when people who love airplanes get together and fly airplanes.

Highlight of 2013: put 4 new types in the logbook, plus 3 sort of new types. Ooh! Two new manufacturers too. Neat stuff.

[l_reason]

Not a bad year for tailwheel flying, 120 or so in my plane including 10 on skis and teaching 3 guys how to fly a tail dragger. Renewed my class 3 instructor rating, put 3 new types in the log and now looking forward to getting back on the skis for some winter flying fun.

I look forward to 2014, another 120 hours in my plane would be fine. I'll try to do a bit more recreational instruction and tailwheel checkouts if my job doesn't get in the way. I'd also like to get a float ticket in the spring just for fun.

[Scout44]

I fly recreationally, and only did 50 hours this year which may be an all-time low for me.

But I made good use of the time and did 20 tailwheel (a far cry from the 150-200 tail/year I logged in my best 5 years), plus I managed to get in a good float refresher in the summer in Orillia, and a multi refresher as my last flight of 2013. Also added a fair chunk of night P1 in that block too.

Looking forward to beating 2013's tallies in '14...

[Beefitarian]

Excellent work scout!

[Rookie50]

Tailwheel is definately on my list for 2014. Will be looking for a little instruction perhaps. The 182 and I are getting acquainted. 75 hours so far which makes maybe 90 hours TT this year. Next year will be more.

[tractor driver]

Hmmmm...... let's see..
Stinson 108-3, C-185, DHC-3T, and AT802. So, other than floats, about 90%. 1 worn out tail tire on the 802, 2 on the 185.