Well, another milestone reached! I am the proud new owner of a tailwheel endorsement! It was more fun than I had expected, not nearly as difficult as I was led to believe, and the most fun that I've had with my clothes on in a long time 
I was training out of Poplar Grove Airport (C77), just NE of Rockford, IL. They have an 85hp J3 Cub and a Cessna 140 in their rental fleet and their tailwheel program includes flying in both of them from both grass and pavement.
We started off in the Cub. This is definitely a great plane to start tailwheel flying in. It is docile, has great rudder authority and the rudder response was pretty tight (press on a rudder pedal and the plane reacts). The wierdest thing that I had to get used to was the way the plane felt when in the 3-point attitude. The nose seemed to be pointing really high, but that is because I am sitting so much further behind the CG than when flying in my old Piper Warrior. Also, with no radio or electrical system, I kept feeling like I was forgetting to do something every time I took off (no radios, switches ortransponder to mess with). I was proficient in both 3-point and wheel landings (and turning a bounced wheel landing into a 3-point) within 3.5 hours. The next 1.5 hours were spent getting more comfortable with crosswinds and enjoying the view and feel of flying a plane with the door open and a control stick (first time for me).
Then, just when I thoughtI hadthis whole tailwheel thing licked,it was time totransition into the Cessna 140. Wow, what a different animal this thing is. The plane is a lot more "slick" in the air than the Cub, so airspeed control is a little more challenging. Then, there seems to be more of a delayed response from when you apply pressure to the rudder pedal to when the plane reacts, so over-control on the rudders was more of an issue. I never knew you could do S-turns on a takeoff roll before 3-point landings were easy enough, but this plane is a completely different animal than the Cub on wheel landings. I'm not sure if it is because of the spring-steel gear or the larger mass of the 140 (or both), but it seemed like it was going to take forever to get this plane to "stick" during a wheel landing. Then I realized that the nose will"rock" up and down a slight amount after the mains touch and I was confusing this with a bounce, which made me change my forward pressure on the yoke, which would cause the plane to bounce back in the air, which made me go around. After my butt learned the difference between this slight rocking and a real bounce, I was sticking every wheel landing.
I'm planning on staying current in both aircraft while I build my Pitts Model 12. The Cub will keep me comfortable flying a plane from the back seat and with a stick, and the 140 will keep me comfortable flying a plane with spring-steel gear. This should prepare me well for my eventual Pitts transition training before my first flight in the Model 12 (probably still 7-9 years away).
Best of all, now I can take my friends and family flying in a REAL airplane instead of a spam-can. No offense meant, I'm a recovering tricycle-gear pilot myself!!!
Take Care,
Ed
I was training out of Poplar Grove Airport (C77), just NE of Rockford, IL. They have an 85hp J3 Cub and a Cessna 140 in their rental fleet and their tailwheel program includes flying in both of them from both grass and pavement.
We started off in the Cub. This is definitely a great plane to start tailwheel flying in. It is docile, has great rudder authority and the rudder response was pretty tight (press on a rudder pedal and the plane reacts). The wierdest thing that I had to get used to was the way the plane felt when in the 3-point attitude. The nose seemed to be pointing really high, but that is because I am sitting so much further behind the CG than when flying in my old Piper Warrior. Also, with no radio or electrical system, I kept feeling like I was forgetting to do something every time I took off (no radios, switches ortransponder to mess with). I was proficient in both 3-point and wheel landings (and turning a bounced wheel landing into a 3-point) within 3.5 hours. The next 1.5 hours were spent getting more comfortable with crosswinds and enjoying the view and feel of flying a plane with the door open and a control stick (first time for me).
Then, just when I thoughtI hadthis whole tailwheel thing licked,it was time totransition into the Cessna 140. Wow, what a different animal this thing is. The plane is a lot more "slick" in the air than the Cub, so airspeed control is a little more challenging. Then, there seems to be more of a delayed response from when you apply pressure to the rudder pedal to when the plane reacts, so over-control on the rudders was more of an issue. I never knew you could do S-turns on a takeoff roll before
3-point landings were easy enough, but this plane is a completely different animal than the Cub on wheel landings. I'm not sure if it is because of the spring-steel gear or the larger mass of the 140 (or both), but it seemed like it was going to take forever to get this plane to "stick" during a wheel landing. Then I realized that the nose will"rock" up and down a slight amount after the mains touch and I was confusing this with a bounce, which made me change my forward pressure on the yoke, which would cause the plane to bounce back in the air, which made me go around. After my butt learned the difference between this slight rocking and a real bounce, I was sticking every wheel landing.I'm planning on staying current in both aircraft while I build my Pitts Model 12. The Cub will keep me comfortable flying a plane from the back seat and with a stick, and the 140 will keep me comfortable flying a plane with spring-steel gear. This should prepare me well for my eventual Pitts transition training before my first flight in the Model 12 (probably still 7-9 years away).
Best of all, now I can take my friends and family flying in a REAL airplane instead of a spam-can. No offense meant, I'm a recovering tricycle-gear pilot myself!!!
Take Care,
Ed
