how long did it take you to get your tw rating?

I would have to go back and look, but I think I had about 3-4 hrs in a J-3. Back before TW endorsements were required.
 
Mine was 10 hours but for insurance. Sold plane (C140) right after that, it was not very practical for me.
 
For what it's worth, I was comfortable on grass in calm or light winds at three hours and we didn't really get into wheel landings. It was pretty much a "license to learn." But I wouldn't endorse anyone like that now.

It was a different era.
 
My tailwheel rating is going on 9-1/2 years. Time in a plane with the little bitty wheel at the back will definitely accelerate completion, but I moved away from my buddy who offered to let me use his plane once I finished my Instrument training that I started before he made the offer . . .
 
you never get singed off in something like a champ .50 years in and i sign myself off every flight. if you understand you will relies it is always know it is a work in progress .
 
It's no how many hours to get the endorsement but how many for you to be able to solo. There are lots of places that you can get an endorsement in 4 or 5 hours but there is no way they will cut you loose solo in the airplane. 10 hours is probably an average for places that let you rent the airplane solo. In answer to the original question, I have over 2000hrs tailwheel and still don't have an endorsement. Don
 
About ten hours for me.
 
I got my TW endorsement after 2 hours of ground instruction and about 6 hours of dual in a Super Decathlon. However, I received the instruction at John Wayne Airport in SoCal, and we had little or no wind, and what wind there was was blowing right down the runway, so I didn't feel like I was really prepared for all possible conditions.

After that I went to Dallas to get about 4 hours of transition training for my RV-8, but that training was in the right seat of an RV-7. Went pretty well but again we had very little wind and I still didn't feel like I had mastery of landings in all conditions.

After returning to Denver I tried to solo my RV-8 and had 3 landings in still air that were so bad that I listed the airplane for sale. Fortunately, winter arrived and gave me more time to think about it. When spring arrived I signed up for more dual in an Xtreme Decathlon at a local flying club. I struggled for the first couple of lessons but then things began to click. Although I had over 1,500 hours of flight time, I adopted the attitude that I was a beginner who was once again earning the right to solo. That shift in mental gears really helped me, and after about 10 or 12 more hours of dual in lots of challenging conditions I felt ready to solo in my RV-8 again.

I haven't had a bad landing since so the plane is no longer for sale!

Reflecting on the experience, I think there were three things that made the transition challenging for me. First, I felt a little complacent as a fairly high time, experienced pilot who never had trouble landing nosedraggers. Second, I had a surprisingly hard time adjusting to sitting on the center line rather than the left side; the difference in sight picture messed with my brain more than it should have. Third, I had to adjust to being much lighter on the controls of my RV than my Mooney. My Mooney is very heavy in the controls and when I translated this to the RV I was overcontrolling like crazy. Once I wrapped my brain around this concept then everything else fell into place.

My only regret now is that I didn't learn to fly TW 30 years ago. It really is a lot of fun.
 
colojo said:
...

I haven't had a bad landing since so the plane is no longer for sale!...
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What qualifies as a bad landing? It is nearly impossible to fly TW and not bounce one on occasion I have seen people with tons of hours in all sorts of TW planes have a "bad" TW landing or two.
 
DFH65 said:
What qualifies as a bad landing? It is nearly impossible to fly TW and not bounce one on occasion I have seen people with tons of hours in all sorts of TW planes have a "bad" TW landing or two.
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I've logged just over 100 landings in my RV, and while some have been better than others, I haven't had any violent bounces, loss of directional control or need to go around. I'm sure I'll bomb some in the future, but so far so good. The extra instruction really helped.
 
Marcair requires 10 hours, you can get the spin recovery at the same time, well worth it.
 
It took about three hours or so. Some of that was acro. Got the checkout. Still don't have or need the endorsement.
 
9 hours I think. 1 hour of that was landing in snow (~4") on tires in a J3, one of the coolest things I've done. Another hour was really bad wind shear at an airport on the leeward side of a hill in a J3. That was one of the biggest confidence builders ever. Fighting the entire time. 3 point, to wheel landing, back to 3 point, as the winds changed. Craziness.

At about 50 hours, I started to feel comfortable in decent crosswinds (10-15 mph). Most of that in a Citabria.
 
RoscoeT said:
The initial endorsement means more for some than others.
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True

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Probably about 11 hours of which 5.9 was a long XC. After that, I just picked a good day and soloed myself, no endorsement.
 
I did my initial TW training in a straight tail C-150 Texas Taildragger, 100hp, with an inoperative airspeed indicator. The strip, Goose Bay, is about 2000' with an approach over ocean water and a 60' sheer cliff near the threshold. Good times.
 
James331 said:
Meh, doesn't matter the taildragger.

If you build a good foundation, it's all the same.
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^^^This^^^ Cubs, Champs, T-Crafts, Great Lakes, Stearmans, Stinsons, they all fly the same.
Ya just gotta pay attention to the airplane's manners.
 
BillTIZ said:
Before solo? About 4-5 flights.

My glider flights were many many many years after my initial J-3 time.
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I was wondering how much glider time you had before starting in Taildragger airplanes and if you thought it helped. But that obviously wasn't the case. Do you think the taildragger time you had helped with learning gliders?
 
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Stewartb said:
I did my initial TW training in a straight tail C-150 Texas Taildragger, 100hp, with an inoperative airspeed indicator. The strip, Goose Bay, is about 2000' with an approach over ocean water and a 60' sheer cliff near the threshold. Good times.
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Sounds perfectly fine for training, 2000 is more then plenty for something like that, also sounds like some pretty scenery.


well minus flying a plane with a busted ASI, that just sounds like something I'd walk away from, aside from it being very illegal per the FARs, aside from it making the plane rather useless for most flying and performance checks, it's a really cheap thing to fix and I'd suspect the whole plane was crap if the guy was too cheap and/or stupid as to fly, train, or rent it in that state.
 
No airspeed in an unfamiliar airplane for initial tailwheel training made me learn to feel the airplane. That was a great experience. The length of the runway was never any issue. The unforgiving nature of the approach was nothing more than a visual distraction.
 
You really need to do some crosswind in a taildragger before you venture off on your own. Crosswind is when the problems occur.
 
New realization: when I land and it is going straight, keep it so and do not try to get back to the center of the runway. Straight is more important than centered.
 
tinerj said:
New realization: when I land and it is going straight, keep it so and do not try to get back to the center of the runway. Straight is more important than centered.
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I would hope you can do both simultaneously.

If not, to some extent you're out of control and just have to hope you don't run out of runway laterally. Then what?

I would not sign off a tailwheel endorsement for a student who could not stay on the centerline.
 
The endorsement means you might be safe under near perfectly calm conditions. At this point, A sane FBo would never rent you a tw unless he or she was daft. It takes quite a few hours to become adept at crosswinds, gusts, etc. I flew tail wheel for about 1000 hours before I flew a nose wheel. They were a snap. taildraggers ,other light ones like cub, champ , luscomb, etc. are quite easy. They are NOT the same as a stearman, 195, or a 180. Different and you must pay much more attention. They will nip you otherwise. None are " harder to land on hard surface" if you have some time in the aircraft. Just harder on the tires. Look at the stearman from the front. Narrow gear and it sits rather high. Wants to ground loop and will if you dope off. ( I would never fly an aircraft with a broken asi if I didn't have a lot of time in it) a lot!
 
the only one I got rid of quickly was the cub. Front seat is almost worthless and I drive my car from the front seat. Same with aircraft. The 85 champ or luscomb f model were really fun! Wife also disliked cub so I got rid of during the cub craze which still baffles me.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
The endorsement means you might be safe under near perfectly calm conditions. At this point, A sane FBo would never rent you a tw unless he or she was daft. It takes quite a few hours to become adept at crosswinds, gusts, etc. I flew tail wheel for about 1000 hours before I flew a nose wheel. They were a snap. taildraggers ,other light ones like cub, champ , luscomb, etc. are quite easy. They are NOT the same as a stearman, 195, or a 180. Different and you must pay much more attention. They will nip you otherwise. None are " harder to land on hard surface" if you have some time in the aircraft. Just harder on the tires. Look at the stearman from the front. Narrow gear and it sits rather high. Wants to ground loop and will if you dope off. ( I would never fly an aircraft with a broken asi if I didn't have a lot of time in it) a lot!
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If you're signing folks off who only "might" be OK, and only in near perfect conditions, you're basically pencil whipping endorsements from tailwheel rides.

As far as "light" tailwheels not being the same as a heavy one, again this probably is rooted in the same pizz poor instruction from the statement above, I learned to fly in a 7AC, I've flown everything from calairs to AG Cats to my 185, and tons in between, I've also instructed folks extensively from 0 time all the way up in taildraggers, it's all the same as long as you have good fundamentals, after that it's just getting familiar with the cockpit, control forces and throughs, and "where your legs are" for landing.
 
tinerj said:
New realization: when I land and it is going straight, keep it so and do not try to get back to the center of the runway. Straight is more important than centered.
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By straight, I meant straight down the runway, but not necessarily on the center line.

I believe my tw solo was at 8.5 hrs, but that can vary for others based on the weather.
 
James331 said:
If you're signing folks off who only "might" be OK, and only in near perfect conditions, you're basically pencil whipping endorsements from tailwheel rides.

As far as "light" tailwheels not being the same as a heavy one, again this probably is rooted in the same pizz poor instruction from the statement above, I learned to fly in a 7AC, I've flown everything from calairs to AG Cats to my 185, and tons in between, I've also instructed folks extensively from 0 time all the way up in taildraggers, it's all the same as long as you have good fundamentals, after that it's just getting familiar with the cockpit, control forces and throughs, and "where your legs are" for landing.
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That's horse s...t. I'm sure you've never been in a Cessna 195 in a cross wind or a stearman solo. . They are not the same ....for sure. You sure would not have flown mine with that attitude. Insurance company actuarials know better too. That's why they demand lots of instruction in both. I'm glad you didn't instruct me.
 
OK...


I will say that I still don't believe the FAA, or the general pilot population, would agree with your statement that a CFI should give a tw endorsement to a airman who only "might be safe under near perfectly calm conditions", or that's what a endorsement means as far as mastery of the aircraft.

I've landed all sorts of tailwheels in all sorts of winds, I've had a engine failure and not even scratched the paint on the tailwheel, all the students I instructed are working as professional pilots in tw aircraft and have seen to be doing just fine and were quite happy with me, and that's all I really care about.

No, I haven't flown a 195, or a stearman, however the stearman was a basic trainer for the military and my dad had one, never heard any horror stories about how tuff it was to handle.

It's just fundamentals, but if it makes you feel cool to say how "hard" the tw planes you have flown were to take off and land, don't let me rain on your parade.

I'm also curious why you didn't list the C180 again in your fire breathing tailwheel list, along side the stearman and 195??
 
James331 said:
It's just fundamentals, but if it makes you feel cool to say how "hard" the tw planes you have flown were to take off and land, don't let me rain on your parade.

QUOTE]

Isn't that what you're doing too? Bragging about your TW experience ad nauseam in this thread so the rest of us are impressed with your skill? :rolleyes:
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I was actually trying to get across quite the opposite (well minus that meme lol), proper foundation can be built in any tw plane and carries across to any other tw plane, a person who is not ready to honestly act as PIC, 2pt, 3pt, X winds, etc, shouldn't be signed off.

Only reason I brought up some of the stuff I flew is to demonstrate that a good foundation works across the tw board
 
luvflyin said:
I was wondering how much glider time you had before starting in Taildragger airplanes and if you thought it helped. But that obviously wasn't the case. Do you think the taildragger time you had helped with learning gliders?
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My J-3 time was in 1982 and 1983. No tailwheel time after that. I did not start flying gliders until 1997.
So no, I don't think the TW time mattered.

I did start flying tailwheel again in 2003, a few warm up hours in dual Super Cub, then into the single seat Pawnee.
 
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