How does one get certified to fly tailwheels?

[FutureCFIS]

I'm a new Sport Pilot looking to figure out how to get a tailwheel endorsement.

To my knowledge: 61.31(i) is what I need to do to be able to fly a tailwheel aircraft. But it doesnt mention anything about how to do it for Light Sport aircraft.

I mainly fly an Evektor Sportstar (tricycle gear) and the flight school I'm at has Citabrias available. Does this mean I can take lessons with a CFI (not Sport CFI) in the Citabria without a PPL, get an endorsement from them and then the endorsement will work for sport aircraft as well?

Or do I need to take the training in a tailwheel LSA?

[3Dreaming]

Yes, that is how it works. The endorsement applies to any pilot rating where you can operate as pilot in command. In fact it is required prior to a student pilot's solo if it is going to be in a tailwheel airplane. So yes, you can do it in the Citabria regardless of what rating you hold, even if you are not eligible to fly the airplane after the endorsement is received.

[Sling 2 Pilot]

I’m sure drseti and those more informed will chime in shortly. I will say, that getting the endorsement has changed dramatically over the years. Where once you would fly with a CFI, receive instruction then perform a number of takeoffs and landing to meet the requirements before getting the sign off. Maybe an afternoon or a long day. Nowadays, it’s become a drawn out affair with a commensurate price tag, that’s if you can even find a school or instructor with a tail wheel aircraft. Nothings really changed, but the price and complexity of the process, surrounding getting the the endorsement is, IMo ridiculous.

[3Dreaming]

I’m sure drseti and those more informed will chime in shortly. I will say, that getting the endorsement has changed dramatically over the years. Where once you would fly with a CFI, receive instruction then perform a number of takeoffs and landing to meet the requirements before getting the sign off. Maybe an afternoon or a long day. Nowadays, it’s become a drawn out affair with a commensurate price tag, that’s if you can even find a school or instructor with a tail wheel aircraft. Nothings really changed, but the price and complexity of the process, surrounding getting the the endorsement is, IMo ridiculous.

The requirement for the endorsement has been in place since April 15, 1991, and has been unchanged since that time. Prior to that there was no requirement, and any pilot could simply jump in a tailwheel airplane and go fly without any training. The number of accidents is what dictated the endorsement.

Having given several tailwheel endorsements over the years I can say that the majority of pilots will take more than an afternoon. Besides meeting all of the requirements for normal, crosswind take offs and landings, plus wheel landings, you have to be proficient in all of them. I have had one pilot who was proficient in a couple hours, but I have had one who was over 10 before they were proficient. I would say the average was around 5 hours, but that was in a simple Piper J3Cub with most of the landings on grass.

Then there is insurance. Most policies at a minimum will require at least 10 hours tailwheel before solo, and I have seen as high as 25.

[Sling 2 Pilot]

I’m sure drseti and those more informed will chime in shortly. I will say, that getting the endorsement has changed dramatically over the years. Where once you would fly with a CFI, receive instruction then perform a number of takeoffs and landing to meet the requirements before getting the sign off. Maybe an afternoon or a long day. Nowadays, it’s become a drawn out affair with a commensurate price tag, that’s if you can even find a school or instructor with a tail wheel aircraft. Nothings really changed, but the price and complexity of the process, surrounding getting the the endorsement is, IMo ridiculous.

The requirement for the endorsement has been in place since April 15, 1991, and has been unchanged since that time. Prior to that there was no requirement, and any pilot could simply jump in a tailwheel airplane and go fly without any training. The number of accidents is what dictated the endorsement.

Having given several tailwheel endorsements over the years I can say that the majority of pilots will take more than an afternoon. Besides meeting all of the requirements for normal, crosswind take offs and landings, plus wheel landings, you have to be proficient in all of them. I have had one pilot who was proficient in a couple hours, but I have had one who was over 10 before they were proficient. I would say the average was around 5 hours, but that was in a simple Piper J3Cub with most of the landings on grass.

Then there is insurance. Most policies at a minimum will require at least 10 hours tailwheel before solo, and I have seen as high as 25.

Yep, that’s me, 1966-67, J3 out at Zhann’s in Farmingdale LI. When I toyed with getting a SEAREY, they wanted me to get the tail wheel endorsement, as I was unable to prove I had the requisite experience prior to ‘91. Those early logbooks are nowhere to be found, poor me.

Several schools who gave the training all wanted in excess of $600, with no guarantee it couldn’t be slightly higher. Then there was the additional cash the insurance companies wanted. Sorry…I stayed with tri cycled gear and I’m happy with my decision.

[drseti]

As Sling 2 promised, I'll gladly chime in. Yes, tailwheel endorsement costs are high. The main driver is insurance.

When I bought my present taildragger, I didn't need the endorsement, as I had already flown conventional landing gear aircraft in the 60s and 70s. But I still bought myself 10 hours of dual, since the Bristell TDO was unlike what I had flown before.

That said, I will not give tailwheel endorsements in the TDO. If I did, my insurance premium would go up from $2500 to well over $10,000. I could only expect to give about 10 tailwheel endorsements a year, which means I'd have to charge an extra kilobuck per, just to cover the insurance!

[JimParker256]

Longer story made short: Find a local CFI who will agree to fly with you for the endorsement, and just buy the tailwheel plane you want and get the training in your own plane. Your insurer will likely mandate some minimum number of dual hours before you can solo it (mine wanted 10 hours of dual), but doing it this way will probably save you a lot of money!

The longer version: Four years ago, I was building a Bearhawk Patrol. Insurance for new tailwheel pilots was turning out to be quite high for that model, because there was a very small pool of completed airplanes (<20). My insurance broker suggested it would save me a LOT of money if I could obtain at least 100 hours of TW time before flying the Patrol...

Finding a school with a tailwheel trainer that offered sufficient useful load capacity to carry me and a CFI plus enough fuel for at least a "legal" hour of training flight proved challenging. I weigh about 270#, and the "typical" tailwheel CFI (mostly older guys who weight around 200#) means a payload of ±470 before accounting for 1.5 hours of avgas. All of the local outfits fly Decathlons as their tailwheel trainers. Those planes have a UL of around 450#, so we would have been over GW without any fuel on board. One guy said "No worries, it will handle that load easily." But for me, a CFI who was willing to bust the FARs even before we flew the first flight was someone I had no interest flying with... In any case, at $170-190 per hour, with a minimum of 5 hours (I was told 8-12 hrs was "typical"), it would have cost over $2,000 to get the endorsement, and since they don't allow solo rentals, obtaining that 100 hours would have cost me well over $20,000.

I wanted something to fly anyway (to stay current while building), so I decided to just purchase a relatively inexpensive tailwheel trainer, and use it to build tailwheel time until the Patrol was done. I found a 1965 Citabria 7ECA (wooden spars and O-200 engine) for $21K that was nearby. It was far and away the lightest Citabria I found, and thus had the highest UL (over 675 lbs). It wasn't "pretty" (fabric was old and faded, though still "safe" per my IA).

My local CFI (an EAA buddy) will instruct in your aircraft for a very reasonable rate: $35 for members of our local EAA chapter, and $45 for non-members. Six flights and 10.5 hours later, he signed my endorsement, and my insurance requirements were met. With avgas costing $3.60 per gallon at that time (!), and only burning 4.2 GPH during those training flights, the total cost for my tailwheel endorsement was well under $600... Actually, make that $700, because I bought my CFI a subscription to ForeFlight as a "Thank you."

I flew that Citabria for just over 100 hours over the next 20 months, then sold it for exactly what I had invested in it. Fun plane, and a great tailwheel trainer.