Ground handling a tailwheel?

Jim K

Jim K

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How do you move a small tailwheel airplane? .... like an rv-14 for example....

Is it pretty much always done with a handle on the tailwheel? How about tug operations?

I move my Lance with a towbar on the nosewheel hooked to a golf cart. Works super slick. The RV will be much lighter, but is there an option to move it around like that with a tug? I assume there must be. I see warbirds getting tugged with a big v-shaped towbar connecting to the main gear. Anything like that for small TWs, or are they all so light no one bothers?
 
Tow bar on the tailwheel is the easiest. You can also push in either direction while steering from the tail. Generally easier to move than a nose gear aircraft of similar size.
 
My current RV came with a Chinese made tow bar that cradles the tail wheel. In that the prior owner designed and manufactured it in his Hong Kong apartment, where he spent his winters. Capable of being broken down to fit in checked luggage, and looks it. I use it by hand in and out of the hangar. The prior owner hooked it to a lawn tractor to tow to and from the fuel pump. On the road, I just push the tail around.

For an experienced engine rebuilder such as yourself, there are many DIY powered tow bar plans out there. I have the parts for a cordless drill powered one sitting on the shelf, waiting for the time I get fed up using my back with the Chinese one.
 
Depends on the weight and the type of tailwheel. My Fly Baby has a castering tailwheel, simple enough to pull it out of the hangar by the prop, or push it in with a hand on the horizontal tail and the rudder. ~800 pound empty weight.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Most tailwheel RV folks seem to use a standard Cessna (nosegear) towbar. It clips right to the bolt/nut on the tailwheel.

This one:

www.aircraftspruce.com

Deluxe Cessna Towbar | Aircraft Spruce ®

Deluxe Cessna Towbar The deluxe Cessna towbar is very popular and designed for those who demand the ultimate in convenience and durability. Spring loaded forks allow easy one handed engagement without getting on yo...
www.aircraftspruce.com www.aircraftspruce.com
 
kyleb said:
Most tailwheel RV folks seem to use a standard Cessna (nosegear) towbar. It clips right to the bolt/nut on the tailwheel.

This one:

www.aircraftspruce.com

Deluxe Cessna Towbar | Aircraft Spruce ®

Deluxe Cessna Towbar The deluxe Cessna towbar is very popular and designed for those who demand the ultimate in convenience and durability. Spring loaded forks allow easy one handed engagement without getting on yo...
www.aircraftspruce.com www.aircraftspruce.com
Click to expand...
I have this towbar along with a tail wheel whose axle is designed to work with it. I can also use a towbar attached to an ATV or truck with a 2” ball hitch, but I don’t like powered towing my fragile homebuilt airplane. I tell FBOs it’s hand tow only.

I do have a tug from Picker for the Cub. I would prefer an axle attachment. Also Picker is evidently out of business or at least off the web. But their products look like this: https://generalaviationnews.com/2014/05/06/new-line-of-towbars-from-picker-tugs-and-towbars/
 
Here’s the axle bolt I have: https://flyboyaccessories.com/products/tow-bar-bolt

It came as part of a complete tailwheel setup from them, including the pushrod and tie-down ring. Compared with the factory prototype, which mostly relies on braking to steer on the ground, my plane drives like a go kart.
 
My Decathlon weighs 1600# with tanks full. I don't own any kind of tug or tow bar, mostly just handle by hand. I did recently install a winch on the back wall of the hangar. The ground in front is soft and I kept falling down trying to pull the main gear over the lip of the hangar floor.
 
wanttaja said:
Depends on the weight and the type of tailwheel. My Fly Baby has a castering tailwheel, simple enough to pull it out of the hangar by the prop, or push it in with a hand on the horizontal tail and the rudder. ~800 pound empty weight.

Ron Wanttaja
Click to expand...

My tailwheel plane is a bit lighter than yours. Because I don't have a free castering tailwheel I lift the tail (~35 lbs.) and set it into a trash can dolly (good for 250 lbs.) and secure it with a bungee. My hangar and the ramp in front are pretty level and this works well when moving the plane around by the prop:

1746383106697.png
 
Of the taildraggers I've owned, four including the Parrakeet I'm currently flying were light enough that I just lifted the tail by the handle and moved it around. For the Starduster, which had a heavy tail, I had a homemade version of the Taildragger Dragger, for the Hatz, also pretty heavy, I used a modified Cessna towbar that fit over the axle nuts on the tailwheel. The towbar worked better than the taildragger dragger; the wheel tended to twist and slip out of it if I tried to turn it too abruptly.

1746392348077.jpeg

There's a longer towbar of unknown origin with a hitch ball coupler left in my hangar by a previous occupant, but I've never used it. One friend has one of those radio controlled caterpillar tracked tow dollies; they work well for taildraggers or nosedraggers but they're not cheap.
 
I used to have a Bogert towbar when I had a Scott 3200 tailwheel, now I just throw a rope around the leaf spring a la @Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe.
 
kyleb said:
Most tailwheel RV folks seem to use a standard Cessna (nosegear) towbar. It clips right to the bolt/nut on the tailwheel.

This one:

www.aircraftspruce.com

Deluxe Cessna Towbar | Aircraft Spruce ®

Deluxe Cessna Towbar The deluxe Cessna towbar is very popular and designed for those who demand the ultimate in convenience and durability. Spring loaded forks allow easy one handed engagement without getting on yo...
www.aircraftspruce.com www.aircraftspruce.com
Click to expand...
Okay, so good chance the towbar i already have will work with the cart if i need to tow up the the MX hangar or something. It has flippable ends.

Should be light enough to move it by hand most of the time anyway. I move the skyhawk without any trouble and the RV will be lighter yet.

Racerx said:
Talk about cart before the horse
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Fair. In my defense, I'm pretty much done with the tail kit, and the wing kit hasn't shipped yet, so I'm getting antsy.
 
My C170 has tail pull handles that pop out the fuselage sides just in front of the horizontal stabilizer. Works great solo, better with someone helping push on the wing strut. It’s super convenient.
 
I've never seen anyone use a towbar on a J3, but they're probably 1/2 the weight of an RV4 and I've also lived a pretty sheltered life.
 
Daleandee said:
My tailwheel plane is a bit lighter than yours. Because I don't have a free castering tailwheel I lift the tail (~35 lbs.) and set it into a trash can dolly (good for 250 lbs.) and secure it with a bungee. My hangar and the ramp in front are pretty level and this works well when moving the plane around by the prop:

View attachment 140697
Click to expand...
Built a similar dolly when I was flying the Fly Baby prototype, again without a castering tailwheel.
1746428997557.png
Was sharing the hangar with a Varieze and, eventually, a Long-EZ. Getting the Fly Baby in required some tricky maneuvering. This let me slide the tail sideways...

1746429226960.png

Ron Wanttaja
 
Something to be aware of: Taildraggers are a lot easier to maneuver in and around the hangar than nosedraggers. That's mostly a good thing, but the back edge of the sword has some sharp points to watch for. The main one is how fast and in what path the wingtips move when you are pushing the tail around. Of course, given that your day job involves pulling wide things around with a tractor, you'll probably have no issues maintaining situational awareness while ground handling the RV-14.
 
Nav8tor said:
I made this tug for moving my RV-8.
Click to expand...
Very nice. Is it wheelchair based? Do the motors have enough power for a bit of a slope? They appear to be geared to the wheels.
 
Flyxaos said:
Very nice. Is it wheelchair based? Do the motors have enough power for a bit of a slope? They appear to be geared to the wheelIt
Click to expand...

The motors/gear boxes are from an electric scooter. I bought them used off of Ebay. The tug has plenty of power. In fact I had to reprogram it to turn the power down a bit because it was too fast at full speed. I have a slope in front of my hangar and it handles it with no problem.

I wasn't my original design. I bought the plans and some of the custom cut steel parts from someone on the Vansairforce forum and I revised it slightly.
 
I would love to find a tug for my CAP-10. But the rudder is very deep, so none of the ones I have seen can deal with the distance between the tailwheel and the rear edge of the rudder

1747083041606.png
 
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