Sport Pilot Talk

Bryan I agree, I had an avid before my chief and that was the squirliest thing I ever flew and had no tail wheel time when I bought it. It was a great learning experience. The chief seems like you don't even need the rudder compared to the avid!

Hambone wrote:Any other issues to consider?

The Citabria that I got most of my tail wheel trianing in has been wrecked and repaired half a dozen times. It is about the "crankiest" ground handling plane I've ever flown. Other tail wheel airplanes I'm experienced in are much better.

My suggestion is that one keeps the training aircraft in excellent condition and in particular, ensure that the rigging associated with ground handling is checked frequently. It'll save accidents and make better pilots. It's no fun to learn in an airplane that doesn't handle as it is supposed to, and one might ask what one really does learn if the specific airplane handles weird in a certain way. Not the kind of experience one wants to transfer to another machine.

Try the longer aluminum tailwheel spring on the Kitfox to replace the shorter original spring.

It will tame things considerably. The tail is too small because of highway size concerns and you run out of elevator with the tail still 6" in the air. I've taped the hinge gaps and covered all gaps at the vertical fin base also.

Depending on model We installed a trim tab on one and a bungee spring on the other. Trouble is full flaperon gives in effect full down trim.

Mains hit and the tail comes down. More angle of attack and it bounces up. Not enough down force on the the tail and away you go.

The maule is better if setup so the unlock event happens just before full deflection. Its a very fine line between unlocking too easy and you can't push it sideways to get in the hangar.

Also tip the Kitfox brake pedals slightly forward so you can push rudder without getting brake. usually I find them tipped backwards.

The MATCO's suck but make sure it got aircraft hydraulic fluid. They are properly bled and they have no dried fluid on the caliper. Check for glazing of the disk and pad also.

The owner of the Kitfox is on his own now, and happy. He flies the snot out of it and has no nervousness about landing it.

Check the Citabria gear alignment with the tail up and the mains on grease plates. Rig to factory specs or Zero toe and camber when loaded. Disassemble the 3200 scott and check for broken springs, worn plates and bearing condition. The little U shaped spring steel piece and dogs inside the steering arm wear and it unlocks all screwy.

Aircraft Spruce has all the parts in stock. I usually rebuild and replace all non cast parts and the center shaft.

Check the arch in the tailwheel spring for flattening, Check for a leather pad between the spring and tail post.

Install the correct American Champion steering springs.
Check the rudder pushrods and brake pedals for wear. Check elevator cable tensions and make sure you are getting all the up travel. Most have no bolt in the tail up elevator stop to get full travel.

That will tame it down a lot. It should be easy on the ground. Full up elevator 3 point will be slightly tailwheel first or more depending on if flaps are installed.

Toe in is great on grass but on pavement it tries to roll the airplane opposite of whatever wheel touches first. The prewar chiefs all have toe in . The post war are at zero. Difference was more paved runways.

If it still rolls around try rounder profile tires. Goodyear are rounder than McCreary.

Camber does not seem to matter a whole lot. A little camber so the wheel bottoms are tipped inward looks better. It does not look overgross that way.

Glad he got the Kitfox figured out. It's not bad once you get the right dance.

His is a Model III. There is no way to trim the yaw in flight. It just wanders all over the place. Needs a bigger rudder.

Sorry, Trim tabs I was talking about were for elevator trim. The II and III we had did not come with any elevator trim.


Try two small fixed trim tabs on opposite sides of the rudder both bent at about 30 degrees out from the rudder center. It would increase the centering of the rudder and stop the rudder float possibly. Tabs would be about 4" by 2" tape them on to try. Or a gurney flap bent at 90 degrees.

Check out the rudder on a PC-12 sometime for ideas. The Skipper has them on the elevator.

If you hold both feet centered on the kitfox rudder it does not wander too bad. but relax and one pedal sucks away. Especially with any yaw from moving a flaperon. Fin area is not too bad but the rudder floats.

I never did fly a later airplane with the bigger tail. Hopefully that fixed everything.

First off, let me confess that I really love taildraggers. (Actually, it's antique aircraft that I love, but most of them have conventional landing gears, so it comes with the territory). That said, only about 5% of my total hours are in tailwheel aircraft. This is partly because I've owned tricycle-gear aircraft for over 3 decades, and you tend mostly to fly what you own.

As for the KitFox, it's a delightful (if perhaps a bit squirreley) aircraft. Two years ago, I had open heart surgery, which essentially voided my medical certificate (though, thankfully, it was never revoked). A month post-op, my cardiologist said I was cleared to drive. At that point, I also became LSA-legal. That same weekend, a friend was kind enough to let me take his KitFox up.

I hadn't flown conventional gear in about a year, and had never flown a KitFox, so I was understandably nervous. My first landing turned out to be a perfect full-stall three-pointer. Just luck, it would seem -- the next two approaches ended in go-arounds. Number four was a halfway passable wheel landing. It took a few more tries before I could gain any kind of consistency.

Bottom line: if the approach doesn't look 100% correct, just go around. If things look good, go ahead and land -- and keep flying the plane until it's in the chocks!

I still love tailwheels. And, I still own a nosewheel.

Sadly they get a bad name due to accidents. Most are preventable with proper airplane setup to make it easier.

All groundloop accidents seem to get put into pilot error category but underlying there is more at work depending on who setup the airplane.

This is similar to a lot of SP accidents. Nobody really seems to want to look further at what caused the pilot to allow the airplane to get away from them.

Though sometimes somebody just screws up. It happens. Some days no matter what you do the airplane just wants to head for the bushes.

Back to the post beginning. I see no problem training in tailwheel if:
A. You have some grass available
B. You can get insurance or self insure
C. You have a mechanic who can properly maintain the type of airplane you want to use.
D. You pick a type that is easy to fly and control.
E. You can live with the useful load and performance.

To Charlie's list, I would add:

F. You want the respect and adulation of your fellow aviators.

I trained for my Sport ticket in a Cub J3, I was never totally comfortable in the landing enviroinment, and most times finding myself pulling the stick all the way back and letting the plane do the work. I now fly in a tricycle gear and I love the sightline and the landing process. (Remos) I feel much more in control when I get to the flare point, and love being able to see the whole runway in front of me. Thats also goes for takeoffs, in my small airport functioning mostly without radios, seeing everything helps with the confidence!

srhalter58 wrote:I trained for my Sport ticket in a Cub J3, <snip> most times finding myself pulling the stick all the way back and letting the plane do the work.

And that's exactly the way you're supposed to land a taildragger! (Unless you're doing a wheel landing, in which case you actually have to push the stick forward.)