Flight Training - September/October 2020 - 34

It's a good thing aviation didn't know
how supposedly dangerous training in
taildraggers is because, for the first 50 years
after the Wright brothers did their thing, virtually no one learned to fly in a tricycle-gear
airplane. Nosewheel trainers didn't become
commonplace until the late 1950s, and even
then it took a long time for the Piper J-3
Cub and Aeronca Champ to relinquish their
holds on training as Cessna 152s and Piper
Cherokees took over. Primary students in
tailwheel airplanes didn't know they were
doing the impossible because they had
nothing to compare it to. However, tailwheel
students develop skills and perceptions tricycle-gear students don't because nosewheel
airplanes don't need them as much.
THE UPSIDE

Tailwheel aircraft include classics such
as Piper Cubs as well as newer backcountry airplanes. Although they're popular
competitors in short-takeoff-and-landing competitions, they're rarely used for
primary instruction. When talking about
flying a taildragger, the discussion always
focuses on the differences in the way they
handle on the ground. If we're to believe
the wags out there, a tailwheel airplane is
so difficult to control that it will ground
loop the instant it is untied. This obviously
isn't true-and focusing on the hazards of
ground handling distracts from the many
other ways flying tailwheel airplanes is
beneficial to a student.
Modern trainers are designed specifically to be easy to fly and safe. In a
tailwheel airplane, the consequences of
lapses such as letting the turn coordinator
ball wander or touching down crooked are
noticeable right away. In effect, the tailwheel airplane does some of the instruction
all by itself. In a nosewheel airplane, where
the differences between right and wrong
are subtle, the CFI has to push himself to
teach the basics, because the airplane often
will accommodate imprecise flying. Yes,
nosewheel pilots will be safer if they're
taught to fly with precision. However, they
may not know the difference until they find
themselves in a demanding situation where
the basics really count.
Some of the benefits of doing primary
training in a tailwheel trainer:
Proper runway alignment on touchdown. If a tailwheel airplane is landed
with its longitudinal axis aligned with the
flight path and zero drift, there is no reason
34 FLIGHT TRAINING SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

for the airplane to turn either direction
(assuming no crosswind). So, the whole goal
of landing a tailwheel airplane is center of
gravity aligned with the flight path, no drift. If
either of those isn't part of the touch, the center of gravity will obey Isaac Newton's First
Law of Motion and regardless of where the
nose is pointed, it will travel in a straight line
and take the tailwheel with it. Land square
with no drift, no sweat. Land crooked or drifting, lots of sweat. When tailwheel-trained
pilots transition into other airplanes, tailwheel or nosewheel, they instinctively land in
a square/no-drift condition.
Basic coordination. Tailwheel trainers
almost always have more adverse yaw than
modern nosewheel aircraft. This is because
they are older designs, not because they sport
a tailwheel. For that reason, when flying the
approach, the pilot has to continually be aware
of what the ball is doing during power and
speed changes. This is especially true in the
flare on landing. When the angle of attack is
increasing and speed is falling off, in some
aircraft, adverse yaw increases noticeably.
This results in left/right nose movement with
the slightest of aileron displacements. So, if
maneuvering the aircraft over to centerline,
while low and slow or battling turbulence, the
right amount of rudder has to be part of the
control equation. The proper use of rudder
with aileron at all times becomes a subliminal
act for tailwheel pilots.
Visual perception. Because reuniting a
tailwheel airplane with the runway properly
aligned is so critical (alignment is important
on takeoff too), tailwheel pilots have visual
acuity hammered into them from day one.
The guiding mantra is "You can't fix what you
can't see," so tailwheel CFIs are constantly
making sure their students see exactly what
the airplane is doing at all times, especially
in the flare. In most tailwheel airplanes,
as the nose comes up during the flare, the
center of the runway disappears, forcing the
pilot's eyes to the sides of the runway. At
that point, her eyes should be controlling the
relationship of the nose to the horizon, the
centerline, and the runway edges. Her ability
to do that is what determines whether the
rollout on the runway will be straight and
calm or dramatic and crooked. The pilot is
hypercritical of everything that is happening
at that point and makes lots of small corrections before touchdown, so she doesn't
have to make them after touchdown. This
increased visual perception helps when flying
any airplane, not just taildraggers.

Flight Training - September/October 2020

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