Looking for an experienced tail wheel instructor.

[Cat Driver]

I am looking for an experienced tail wheel instructor to finish a PPL in the Vancouver area on a privately owned airplane.

Anyone here interested?

[Whyknot88]

Cat driver, It seems Tailwheel instructors are hard to find. Are you doing any tailwheel conversion training for licensed pilots these days?

[Cat Driver]

I have not renewed my medical for several years and doubt if I ever will.

We are getting a Hughes 300 for the lodge and I will probably fly it a bit just for fun but I don't need a medical for that.

Why are there so few instructors for tail wheel airplanes?

There must be lots of them still flying in general aviation.

[waterdog]

If I remember correctly Steve, ( flight chops) did an episode flying with a club out in BC that was made up of Cubs. Contacting Steve through his YouTube channel or contacting the BC club might yield the fastest results. If you can't find the club let me know, it was featured in one of his episodes. Seemed like a good resource.

[7ECA]

Well, there was MP - but he moved to Thailand recently. Not to mention the fact that a number of the "old guard" on this site took a rather dim view of him, but I digress..

There was also Jodi who worked at Pro CZBB. Not sure what happened to her, she might still be flying around in neat aircraft and doing aerobatics, or she may be at the airlines by now.

[Cat Driver]

Maybe the best option would be to find a keen class 3 and just give him/her a tail wheel checkout and go from there.

[photofly]

Obviously hours aren't everything but how much "time" or other experience on tailwheel airplanes do you think an instructor should get before accepting students on one?

By the way, are there any pilot examiners who'd be prepared to administer the flight test in one?

[MattW]

What about Bob Salway

[Old Dog Flying]

Bob Salway is highly recommended by me...Very experienced instructor with many th
ousands of hours in taildraggers.

Barney

[Cat Driver]

Obviously hours aren't everything but how much "time" or other experience on tailwheel airplanes do you think an instructor should get before accepting students on one?

I have found that two hours of dual was sufficient to send most private pilot owners off on their own to fly their tail wheel airplanes when they bought one.

So most instructors should feel comfortable with a two hour check out and a few hours of getting comfortable in a new airplane.

The only real concern is learning how far you can let a student go when they are having trouble with yaw on the runway, and that will get more refined as you teach.

Tail wheel airplanes are really not that much difficult to fly than nose wheel airplanes.

[Cat Driver]

Where does Bob S. live?

[MattW]

He's in Abbotsford. He instructs at Boundary Bay.

[Cat Driver]

Thanks!!!!!

[MattW]

Obviously hours aren't everything but how much "time" or other experience on tailwheel airplanes do you think an instructor should get before accepting students on one?

By the way, are there any pilot examiners who'd be prepared to administer the flight test in one?

You'd have to check with him but I think Peter Schliek might.

[l_reason]

By the way, are there any pilot examiners who'd be prepared to administer the flight test in one?

About 10 years ago I called TC in YHM to book a group 3 instructor renewal flight test. I told the kind lady on the phone that I'd be using my own conventional gear airplane. She set a date two months away and that was that. I called back a couple weeks before my exam to ask if I could speak to examiner, I asked his weight and how long it has been since they had flown a tail dragger. I made him do a few circles on the taxiway to get used to the cable heel brakes. The flight was fine, on our way back he asked if I could show him a normal landing, I asked what type he preferred. 2 wheel, 3 point tail low two wheel. We did a couple of laps with him at the controls. He had clearly flown a tail wheel plane but would need some more time before I'd send him up in my plane solo. It was probably the most fun the guy had all year.

Sorry I can't help you Cat I'm in Ontario but I do qualify other then that.

[cgzro]

"how much "time" or other experience on tailwheel airplanes do you think an instructor should get before accepting students on one?"

They are not all the same. Some are trivial with almost no bad habits, for example the Decathlon/Citabria/Chipmunk are pleasant and easy while others are much more demanding and naturally need more time to master and hence to teach.

[Cat Driver]

I look at this issue from how I experienced learning to fly.

When I learned we only had tail wheel airplanes to learn on and my training was on the Cessna 140 and the Fleet Canuck and in that era the PPL had a minimum time for the PPL of thirty hours.

From my recollect the average time to solo was about the same as today and there were about the same percentage of students that went beyond the minimum time for various reasons.

So just taking the average time to solo in that era and the average today I guess my opinion is biased based as to the relative difficulty of instructing on tail wheel versus nose wheel.

In other words I do not think it is all that much more difficult on tail wheel airplanes, however I also understand there are a lot of instructors who find tail wheel airplanes to be some kind of black magic to master.

I guess it all depends on how you were taught.