The A2A Simulations Community

Hello everyone!
Well I'm doing my first bit of training since my private license last September. I'm going to be learning tail draggers this week and I'm super excited! I'm going to get to train in a 1948 Cessna 140 in beautiful Sisters, Oregon. It should be a ball and I'm really hoping it will enhance my real world (and Accu-Sim ) flying skills. Pictures will be soon to follow!

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All the best - Flyboy4612
Private pilot/tail-dragger endorsed

Right ON! Dragging tail is so much fun.

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Learned to fly in 1949 in a C-140. Thought it was the only way to fly. A great airplane !

Well, I had the first lesson today. My instructor will not teach takeoffs and landings until he knows the student knows how to properly use coordination with the controls. He's a former airshow pilot so he knows his stuff. Well, things were very turbulent today. WAY turbulent. We started off on the runway and halfway through got blown onto the grass strip. After flying for about 30 minutes and getting some basic stuff done my stomach went very sour and we had to go back. The good news is that in the short time I flew he said that I've got the skill and there's no reason not to start working on pattern stuff to build up my turbulence tolerance. I've been only flying about once a month so it's not very strong right now. So far, it looks like this is going to be a blast.

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All the best - Flyboy4612
Private pilot/tail-dragger endorsed

Excellent! A few tips to keep in mind when flying tail draggers is: keep your feet moving constantly when taking off and landing and when landing, (and sometimes taxiing), bring that stick or yoke all the way back until you come to a complete stop; don't give up!

-Ted
Citabria/ Champ pilot

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Don't ground loop it!!! Too easy to do.

Best regards,
Robin.

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A2A/AccuSim. 'nuff said!

Hey everyone!
Well, I've got three lessons under my belt now. All I can said is rudder, rudder, rudder, rudder! My goodness do I have a new found respect for the rudder! My training is going very well. I've got a pretty good handle on the three point landing and takeoffs have come along nicely. I have to admit that my first few takeoffs were not exactly what I could call....good, lol. I've had a few moments of the plane getting way off centerline and thinking, "oooooh boy, this is bad!" But, that's what the instructor is there for! Those moments are getting fewer and fewer. Today I was learning to do wheel landings and a pretty cool one wheel landing approach for crosswinds. Wheel landings are making me look like a total rookie so far. I haven't mastered planting the wheels down so I've bobbed down the runway a number of times. My instrutor says it's all part of the learning process which is true (Too bad it has to bruise your ego a little bit in the process! ) All in all it has been a very humbling experience. I'm coming up on 100 hours of real world time and I've seen how easy it can be to think you're pretty good. This training has been a great reminder that there is always more to learn and to never become complacent.

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All the best - Flyboy4612
Private pilot/tail-dragger endorsed

Excellent stuff, sounds like you're having fun!

My club get in the odd dragger once in a while on lease, for members to use. I'd love to get rated for it. Always something new to learn, never stop.

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~ Make love to the sky, don't shag it.

I haven't done any tailwheel (yet) but I've heard from several that learning good crosswind techniques (especially the one wheel landing in a slip) in a nosewheel translates well to tailwheels and can help with your training.

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Congratulations on flying an airplane with the wheels correctly installed!
I remember my first few circuits in a taildragger, good thing I had a wide runway!!
You will get the hang of it soon enough, practice, practice, practice..........
I've now got over 200 hours tailwheel time and I am still learning, don't think that ever ends.
Good luck, and enjoy!

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A Pilot really doesn't know what his feet are for,until he/she flies a taildragger(one comment a instructor told me years ago).

Happy Flying,and good luck with the instruction

Mark S.

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Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress-Accusimed/Boeing 377 Stratocruiser-COTS/ Piper Cub-Accusimed
Windows Vista 32 Bit/Quad Core 2.4GHz/4GB Ram/Nvidia 8800GTX

Well, I've got one lesson to go to finish the course with my instructor and I've had a ball. My instructor has taught me more in the last 5 hours of flying than I learned in much of my primary training. He is a former airshow pilot (Brian Lansburgh) and used to fly the crazy/drunk pilot role at airshows as part of the Great American Flying Circus. Brian definitely puts me through my paces every lesson. For example...just today I performed a dead stick landing (prop fully stopped), practied crosswind landings on one wheel, and learned how to spin and recover in the C-140. I love performing spins in the 140. What a blast that was to point the nose up a bit, kick in left rudder, and watch the world turn upside down! I can finally keep her pointing straight down the runway on takeoffs. It took a while to get a hang of using large rudder movements at the beginning of the takeoff roll and then making them smaller and smaller as airspeed increased. Three point landings are a walk in the park now, I think they're pretty fun. Wheel landings are still proving to be a bit difficult. I'm struggling when it comes to planting the wheels on the runway. (I've boucned down the runway a time or two!) Since my first 94 hours have all been in planes with nosewheels, I have hundreds of landings where the stick has been brough back. I have to remind myself to push forward and keep that tail up.

With all of Brian's airshow experience he's spent a lot of time emphasizing the importance of coordination in turns. To help improve my skill he's been having me practice things like the portuguese roll, lazy eights, slaloms, and dutch rolls. My next lesson he is going to show me how to recover from an accidental spin as if you're in the pattern by making a left turn as if turning to base or final and skidding the turn. So, this course has been far more than just takeoff and landing. I feel immensly more confident in my skill with all the stuff Brian has put me through thus far. One more lesson to go! Oh, and that wheel on the tail has spoiled me with taxi procedures now. You can turn those babies on a dime!!

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All the best - Flyboy4612
Private pilot/tail-dragger endorsed

That's fantastic, just reading that makes me want to get airborne.

What's the tailwheel like on the 140 you've been flying, is it semi-connected to the rudder via extension springs/bungee?

Thank you for sharing this, it's encouraging.

John.

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~ Make love to the sky, don't shag it.

I started out in gliders, so first flight powered I had to calm it down a bit with rudder in the turns, remembering not to lead so much. But I think the instructor was pleasantly surprised to see someone using them during flight, instead of using them as footrests.

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~ Make love to the sky, don't shag it.

My first tail dragger was the AT-6 Texan....A friend had decided i needed to learn them as well, and had a blast flying that old bird....she is slow and for a low momo wing surprising forgiving....
Have a friend who has a Curtis hawk....Sadly he has been confined to a wheelchair now. And is unable to fly her....
I keep hoping he will let me take her up.....Its sad to see this beautiful old original bipe grounded.....The plane was handed down from his grandfather to his father to him....

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