Tailwheel Endorsement

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AcroGimp

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AcroGimp
So, after 22 years and ~390 hrs as a licensed pilot (COMM-ASEL/IFR) I am finally going to get my Tailwheel Endorsement. I have about 15 hrs in tailwheel planes but never pursued the endorsement but came across the right combination of plane, instructor and timing and decided to make it official.

Starting a week from today I will be flying with Dave Derby at Gillespie Field (KSEE) in his two Citabria's. One is a 7GCBC, carburetor, with toe brakes and flaps, and the other is a 7KCAB, injected with heel brakes (full inverted systems).

Because of my amputation, I had thought for years that I would not be able to fly taildraggers due to the lack of ankle on my right leg, but when I was taking acro training in '12 and '13 in Mojave in the Extra 300L I found that at least that taildragger was zero drama.

The fact that Dave has the two Citabria's is nice since it will give me time with both brake configurations.

Assuming I get checked out as expected I will take one of the Citabria's to the Warbirds West Air Musem Wounded Warrior event in June so I can fly some of the guys and show them that amputations are not always limiting.

Benefit of flying with Dave Derby is that he also owns a beautiful 1945 Stearman, and takes folks out for an hour in it after he signs them off for the TW Endorsement - another great plane about to be checked off the Aviator's Bucket List.

I'll post up my post-flight debrief observations for each training sortie here and on my blog in case they are useful to other amputees.

'Gimp
 
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Congrats! Flying the fabric tailwheels is some of the most fun flying out there.

I just put a Citabria on leaseback with a flight school with the hopes that me and a few other CFIs can share the tailwheel awesomeness....
 
Don't forget douglas bader who flew spitfires with no legs. I have a lot of time in a GCBC and it's a lot of fun. Gets off quick, especially with one person, easy to fly and has nice flaps and vis is excellent. Good luck! I also owned a 1942 Stearman , navy colors. If you master the citibria, the Stearman will be pretty easy except for cross winds where it gets dicey, but you'll figure it out. Go for it!
 
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Hello. Congratulations and have a great time!

I fly out of KMYF although live close to KSEE near Lake Murray. I am still a Student Pilot, but I plan on getting tail wheel and aerobatic lessons right away. My CFI has a Decathalon I'll most likely use for the aerobatics.

Anyway, I will probably start flying out of KSEE once I get my Private rating, maybe I'll see you out there. Again, congratulations!
 
Flight 1 - 5/25/2014

Flew 1.2 today, first official TW Endorsement flight.

Mount for the day N57517, a beautiful Blue and White Citabria 7GCBC (carbureted, toe brakes and flaps).

Instructor gave a very informative 20-minute overview of tailwheel physics, we discussed basic CRM/positive exchange of control and the like, did the preflight and headed out from KSEE.

Dave demonstrated on the first takeoff, and the view I must say is tremendous, great visibility and the view over the nose is, for a taildragger, fantastic (much better than even the front seat of the Extra 300L I was flying last year.

We did some basic airwork to shake the rust off, steep turns (very fun, you can really wind the Citabria up), slow flight, and stall series. The Citabria is a nice flyer, I really enjoyed the low speed work, requires much less pronounced unloading from stall more of a relaxation of pressure than a deliberate punch forward on the stick to break the stall, plane really wants to fly.

Made our way over to Brown Field (KSDM) for some pattern work, bounced the first wheel landing attempt (I got a little slow and we dropped in), then did 5 progressively smoother wheelies including some brake work with the tail still up. Took some getting used to to move to the brakes while still rolling at a good clip but I can see how the plane can get down and stopped quick even from a wheel landing with this technique.

Headed back over to Gillespie and did a full flap 3-pointer (demonstrated by Dave with me shadowing the controls), amazing short field performance if you want/need it.

Fly again on Tuesday and Thursday, gonna get this pounded out.

Had a great time and very pleased with my performance, nothing even remotely dangerous (~15 hrs in the Extra probably helped a bit).

Here is today's plane, even more fun than it looks!

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'Gimp
 
Get some spin experience while you're at it. Those airplanes will teach you all you want to know about skidding descending turns...

The comment about Douglas Bader flying a fast, powerful taildragger like the Spitfire with nothing more than artificial legs should convince most trike pilots that taildragger flying isn't something to be feared.

Dan
 
Or....read up on the WASPS. Women who flew every conceivable type of taildragger during WW2 from P-51s to B17s. Usually started in a cub, then a T6, then on to whatever. Many flew in very bad weather with very basic instruments. Excellent pilots. Many Russian women flew actual combat at this time. Very good at it.
 
Dan Thomas said:
Get some spin experience while you're at it. Those airplanes will teach you all you want to know about skidding descending turns...

The comment about Douglas Bader flying a fast, powerful taildragger like the Spitfire with nothing more than artificial legs should convince most trike pilots that taildragger flying isn't something to be feared.

Dan
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I was figuring on doing a little spin work, I have plenty of spin experience just not in the Citabria - the IAC Sportsman sequence usually has a precision spin in it, was 1 1/4 turn last year or year before.

I tried a couple forward slips since we were working without flaps today and it really can come down hill when cross controlled, very predictable - I really like how these fly.

'Gimp
 
Interesting that you did wheel landings first. I wonder if that makes it easier to learn them. I had trouble with them, but my instructor did not introduce them until after probably two dozen three pointers.

I think I met you in Porterville. Small world.
 
Lindberg said:
Interesting that you did wheel landings first. I wonder if that makes it easier to learn them. I had trouble with them, but my instructor did not introduce them until after probably two dozen three pointers.

I think I met you in Porterville. Small world.
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Very true! Usually one is instructed to be very proficient in 3 pointers before doing any wheel landings. Wheel landings can turn out very badly if the pilot is a newbie, like wind up in the wrong hangar, taking out boundary lights, ground looping, etc. especially Ill advised in a Stearman. Many more than a couple of dozen 3 pointers in all kinds of winds to be good at it.
 
We started with wheelies since I was already proficient in them from my time in the Extra 300L, ~60-70 of them in all kinds of winds at Mojave - instructor said they are tougher for most folks so if I wasn't too bad with them we'd dial them in quick and then do 3-pointers.

The Citabria does nice wheelies once you get speed and sight picture figured out - we'll do a few more on Tuesday with some flap added in then move to 3-pointers and sign-off hopefully by next weekend because I have family coming in for my Daughter's High School graduation and I won't be able to make time for training flights during the first half of June.

I was at Porterville Lindberg, do you go by another callsign? ARS XIII was awesome!

'Gimp
 
Lindberg said:
Interesting that you did wheel landings first. I wonder if that makes it easier to learn them. I had trouble with them, but my instructor did not introduce them until after probably two dozen three pointers.

I think I met you in Porterville. Small world.
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Different people seem to have different reactions to the various types of landings. I've had a few students that did really well with wheel landings first. A couple of others didn't do well.
 
AcroGimp said:
We started with wheelies since I was already proficient in them from my time in the Extra 300L, ~60-70 of them in all kinds of winds at Mojave - instructor said they are tougher for most folks so if I wasn't too bad with them we'd dial them in quick and then do 3-pointers.

The Citabria does nice wheelies once you get speed and sight picture figured out - we'll do a few more on Tuesday with some flap added in then move to 3-pointers and sign-off hopefully by next weekend because I have family coming in for my Daughter's High School graduation and I won't be able to make time for training flights during the first half of June.
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I never did get really comfortable with the wheel landings. It might just be my paranoia. I know they say you can't push the prop down, but I don't know how true that really is. Three pointers should be pretty trivial after wheel landing. Just like a full-stall landing in a nose dragger, you just don't let the nose down...

I was at Porterville Lindberg, do you go by another callsign? ARS XIII was awesome!
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No call sign. I was the GIB from Texas hanging out with Frog. It was a pretty damn good time.
 
Lindberg said:
I never did get really comfortable with the wheel landings. It might just be my paranoia. I know they say you can't push the prop down, but I don't know how true that really is.
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Physically impossible just using the stick- did wheel landing today with yoke full forward against the stop. Braking... will put you on your back quickly.
 
warthog1984 said:
Physically impossible just using the stick- did wheel landing today with yoke full forward against the stop. Braking... will put you on your back quickly.
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Not exactly true. Some aircraft, including the J-3 can be coaxed into a propstrike by an appropriately clumsy pilot. I know that from an experience with a student.

Ryan
 
warthog1984 said:
Physically impossible just using the stick- did wheel landing today with yoke full forward against the stop.
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What speed were you going? If you have any flying speed at all, you most certainly can get a prop strike doing that.
 
warthog1984 said:
From just after touchdown until stop, so at least 50-60kts. The 140 stayed level. Don't see how a J-3 would be any different unless you hit the brakes or started bouncing.
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You CAN do it at that speed and you don't need to hit the brakes for that to happen. It can happen with the stick / yoke.
 
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Lindberg said:
Three pointers should be pretty trivial after wheel landing.
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Not really. A good 3-pointer is harder to do than a good wheelie, since with the wheelie, your touchdown attitude and airspeed doesn't matter. That's why more people prefer wheelies, generally speaking - they're easier.

Greg Bockelman said:
What speed were you going? If you have any flying speed at all, you most certainly can get a prop strike doing that.
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Depends on the airplane of course. It can't be done in a Champ with two aboard.
 
Lindberg said:
I never did get really comfortable with the wheel landings. It might just be my paranoia. I know they say you can't push the prop down, but I don't know how true that really is. Three pointers should be pretty trivial after wheel landing. Just like a full-stall landing in a nose dragger, you just don't let the nose down...

No call sign. I was the GIB from Texas hanging out with Frog. It was a pretty damn good time.
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OK, yeah we talked at the dinner on Friday with Todd and 'Frog' and 'Yogie' I think, didn't realize you were from TX - that was a great time, I'm going back for sure.

After the 2nd wheelie on Sunday the instructor had me getting on the binders while the tail was still up - I can see where a panic stop would put us on the back which is why I was a bit nervous at first since my prosthetic has no ankle and I wasn't sure I could finesse the pedal enough but it was no sweat in actual practice.

I would dare say there are probably situations where any tailwheel plane can end up with a prop strike but my impression of the Citabria is that you would have to get pretty far out of shape before being at risk, at least with 2 aboard.

'Gimp
 
warthog1984 said:
Physically impossible just using the stick- did wheel landing today with yoke full forward against the stop. Braking... will put you on your back quickly.
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It can be done with a good hard stick forward at touchdown in a Citabria.
 
I have around 300 hours in a GCBC and one would have to be really incompetent to hit the prop while doing a wheel landing. A good three point landing, done smoothly IS harder than a wheel landing. It's all about hours and time in a given aircraft. Same with a mooney. If you are familiar with them, very hard to hit the prop on landing.
 
Well, in a totally unexpected fit of no-humility-required awesome stick and rudderness, I surprised myself and got the Tailwheel Endorsement today, after a total of 2.2 hrs of instruction. Did a couple easy wheelies, added in flaps and did a couple more wheelies, then switched to 3-pointers with an occasional 90 degree crosswind and it was cake - no drama. Dave signed me off with his compliments.

We will go back out on Thursday just to check out in the fully aerobatic/inverted capable plane with heel brakes.

The 3-pointers were super fun to do, once I got the sight picture and energy management down they were groovy.

Absolutely stoked!

'Gimp
 
Congrats on the endorsement! I've only flown a GCBC with toe brakes, so I don't know what the heel brakes are like in a Citabria. But in the Cub they're very different in the front and back seats, and I have more trouble working them from the back. I don't know if the Citabria is similar.
 
Flew the fully aerobatic 7KCAB for .5 today to get signed off on it - the heel brakes take some getting used to but this is a very, very nice flyer. It accelerates better, climbs better, and is a little lighter on the controls.

Interesting bit is that I found I was struggling with my left leg ('good' leg) for brake modulation, and that my right leg ('bad' leg) was no sweat. I chalk this up to the fact that I have to use my entire right leg for gas in the car as well as for rudder and brakes when flying so I am more accustomed to finessing it. No skids or flat spots but I did get a couple good squeals.

For any other below knee amputees out there, don't be afraid to try the tailwheels - I am actually PO'd that I let my fear keep me from trying this all this time - these little Citabrias are fun!

Best part is owner says I can use it for training and competition!

20140529_162719_zpsaz7zhirl.jpg


'Gimp
 
Warning, this is addictive.
You will like the 8KCAB even more.
And perhaps a Pitts even more (friend of mine with a similar leg flew a Pitts for many years).
 
RyanShort1 said:
Not exactly true. Some aircraft, including the J-3 can be coaxed into a propstrike by an appropriately clumsy pilot. I know that from an experience with a student.

Ryan
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Hi Ryan (since you mentioned a J-3), and others - question...

I'm looking into a tailwheel endorsement too. I'm a pretty new pilot. I did most of my training in an LSA (Evektor SportStar), with one spin recovery class in a Decathlon. I now have a little bit of experience in a 172.

A local school has a beautiful Piper J-3 Cub which just sings to me. That said, would it be better to learn to fly a TW in the J-3, or in a Decathlon? They also have a Super Decathlon and an Extra 300LP, but obviously, that's a little over the top.

Thoughts?

Thanks! Joe
 
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I owned a J3 for a short time. I never understood the attraction. A Citabria , decathlon, is so much more airplane and lots more fun.
 
register@teamandras.com said:
Hi Ryan (since you mentioned a J-3), and others - question...

I'm looking into a tailwheel endorsement too. I'm a pretty new pilot. I did most of my training in an LSA (Evektor SportStar), with one spin recovery class in a Decathlon. I now have a little bit of experience in a 172.

A local school has a beautiful Piper J-3 Cub which just sings to me. That said, would it be better to learn to fly a TW in the J-3, or in a Decathlon? They also have a Super Decathlon and an Extra 300LP, but obviously, that's a little over the top.

Thoughts?

Thanks! Joe
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Either is fine. The J-3, since you can't see out front in the 3-point attitude will likely teach you more about using your peripheral vision, but apart from that, I can't think of a significant advantage.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
I owned a J3 for a short time. I never understood the attraction. A Citabria , decathlon, is so much more airplane and lots more fun.
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To each their own. Many would disagree with you. They're very different airplanes.
 
RoscoeT said:
To each their own. Many would disagree with you. They're very different airplanes.
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I agree with Jimmy. Yes they are very different planes. But I agree that Citabrias and Decathlons are better airplanes.

Sacrilege, I know.

I will concede, however, that a Cub is slightly more fun to fly. Nothing beats low and slow with the door open.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
I agree with Jimmy. Yes they are very different planes. But I agree that Citabrias and Decathlons are better airplanes.

Sacrilege, I know.

I will concede, however, that a Cub is slightly more fun to fly. Nothing beats low and slow with the door open.
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Exactly! :yes:
 
I've owned a cub and three Taylorcrafts. The t crafts are much better flyers than the cub. Both are severely underpowered. A tcraft with an 85 is a lot more fun. I always drive my car from the front seat and I prefer aircraft same way. An F model Luscombe is better than either cub or t craft. Comparing a cub to a 150 Citabria or a decathlon is comparing a ford pinto to a porsche. A super cub is a whole different story. Great airplane. Another very nice one is the super cruiser. Nice!
 
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Why not fly with the Citabria door off and have the best of both worlds...
 
The best part of training in a Cub is, as Ryan mentioned, the lack of forward visibility. It forces one to use peripheral vision. Champs, Citabria, et al are too easy to see so when getting in something really blind, it is a shocker. From a comfort standpoint, virtually anything is more comfortable than a Cub.

Regarding the Bader comments, both the Spitfire and Hurricane had hand brake controls, not rudder pedal toe/heel brakes. Seeing as how Bader was an above the knee on one side and a below the knee on the other, this explains how he was able to do it.


Jim R
Collierville, TN

N7155H--1946 Piper J-3 Cub
N3368K--1946 Globe GC-1B Swift
 
Really nice solo flying today, I went up in the 7GCBC and did 3 wheelies and then 3 3-pointers before meeting a friend at his hangar and then flying over to the local EAA Chapter for lunch as a 2-ship before heading back out for some loose formation and sightseeing.

Here is the family portrait - blue and white is 7GCBC and red, white and blue is 7KCAB.

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Seriously digging these little Citabria's and really enjoying the challenge from tailwheel flying.

'Gimp
 
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N3368K said:
The best part of training in a Cub is, as Ryan mentioned, the lack of forward visibility. It forces one to use peripheral vision. Champs, Citabria, et al are too easy to see so when getting in something really blind, it is a shocker. From a comfort standpoint, virtually anything is more comfortable than a Cub.

Regarding the Bader comments, both the Spitfire and Hurricane had hand brake controls, not rudder pedal toe/heel brakes. Seeing as how Bader was an above the knee on one side and a below the knee on the other, this explains how he was able to do it.


Jim R
Collierville, TN

N7155H--1946 Piper J-3 Cub
N3368K--1946 Globe GC-1B Swift
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Douglas bader did not simply jump into a spitfire after his accident. He had to plead with those in charge to let him fly at all, then had to prove this in a trainer with an instructor. He then flew after the war for an oil company in large aircraft with foot brakes. So that does not explain it at all.
 
Looks like a lot of fun, glad it went well. I've always wonder how my amputations will perform in a tail wheel. Must be doable. I don't have any prior TW time tho.
 
bnt83 said:
Looks like a lot of fun, glad it went well. I've always wonder how my amputations will perform in a tail wheel. Must be doable. I don't have any prior TW time tho.
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Brian I say give it a shot, either you figure out how to make it work like you have for other planes so far (likely IMO) or you figure out it can't be done (unlikely).

I had spent years unsure whether or not I'd be able to make it work and let that keep me from trying but found it to be no big deal, literally a little over 2 dedicated hours - hopefully the same is true for you.

'Gimp
 
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