2003-06-Taildraggers_-Have-You-Flown-a-Ford-Lately_

THE VINTAGE INSTRUCTOR

Taildraggers Have you flown a Ford lately?

DOUG STEWART NAFI MASTER INSTRUCTOR

“W

ould you want to fly a Ford Tri-Motor, if you had the chance?” Sue Strehlow, NAFI program administrator, asked, gently nudging me in the ribs, while her eyes twinkled even more brightly than they normally do. My answer had something to do with what bears do in the proverbial woods.

It was opening day of AirVenture 2002, and I had just been made an offer I couldn’t refuse. The reason I instruct in taildraggers is because I love flying them so much. And now the opportunity to fly one of the 22

JUNE 2003

greatest taildraggers of all time had just become mine. Do they call this pig heaven?

At the appointed hour I boarded the shuttle van near the tower and rode out to runway 09. We waited in the van as that beautiful corrugated airplane (beauty is in the eye of the beholder) taxied off the runway and onto the grass. It was only as it got on the grass that the gear struts finally started to compress, and as the 3-foot-thick wing gave up the lift it was still generating.

After the wonderful rumble of three round Pratt & Whitney R985 450-hp engines quieted from

three to two, the passengers on the Ford airplane deplaned as we climbed out of the Ford van.

I was the first of our group to board, and I quickly went uphill to the cockpit. Sitting in the left front seat was Sean Elliott, not only president of NAFI but also EAA’s director of aircraft operations. He had been my ticket to the right front seat, which I now settled into. Hanging my elbow out the open window to my right (hey, this wasn’t too unlike my Super Cruiser), I was in awe as I took in the sights and smells of this historic airplane.

Once the remaining nine passengers were boarded, Sean fired up the right engine and called for taxi. We taxied to runway 09 and awaited takeoff clearance. Getting that, we pulled out onto the runway and applied takeoff power. It seemed that as soon as the throttles were all the way forward, Sean was pushing forward on the wheel (it is a wheel—a huge wooden steering wheel, also found on Ford Model Ts!) and the tail was up in the air. With a short takeoff roll of less than 700 feet, we were up in the air. This old bird just wanted to fly! I’m talking about the airplane, not me.

We climbed out towards Lake Winnebago, and Sean leveled off at 1,000 feet AGL. Accelerating to 90 mph indicated, he set the power and trimmed it up. Turning towards me, he said, “You’ve got it.”

I had not expected to be flying this rare beast, let alone with a cabin full of paying passengers. “If it drops a wing, don’t try to raise it with the aileron . . . use your feet!”

Sure enough, we hadn’t flown very far when the right wing started to drop. As instructed, I let the wheel be, and applied pressure to the left rudder pedal. The rudder pedals in this huge taildragger are humongous when compared to the small bars in my PA-12. And I quickly realized why. This was going to take a little more than some ankle deflection. In fact it took the strength of my entire leg to push hard enough on the rudder pedal to pick the wing up. And Sean had said, use my feet . . . hah, by the time we were lining up back on final, my thighs were starting to ache. (And I ride a bicycle regularly.) Take a look at Sean’s thighs; he could pass for an Olympic sprinter, and I think it’s all from his Tri-Motor time. Hmmm. Use your feet!

Which brings me to the point of this article. Which is what we learn when flying aircraft with the little wheel in the back. Conventional geared, tailwheel, taildragger . . .

call them what you will, flying these aircraft will redefine what flying is all about for most pilots.

We are going to have to use our feet when flying these airplanes.

Not only in the air, but more importantly, on the ground.

Conventional geared, tailwheel, taildragger . . . call them what you will, flying these aircraft will redefine what flying is all about for most pilots.

It is said that when “flying” a tailwheel airplane, you’re not done flying until the engine is shut down and the tiedown ropes are attached. The most important lessons to be learned when operating a taildragger are those lessons learned on the ground. Especially when the wind is blowing. A tailwheel airplane has its center of gravity located behind the main gear.

When conducting ground operations—most notably when rolling out during landing, but at all times, even when taxiing slowly— whenever there is any sideload, such as when there is a crosswind, this rearward CG will aid and abet that side force in trying to make the tail swap ends with the nose.

This is avoided by deft use of

our feet, applying opposite rudder to direction of swing, to keep the aircraft tracking straight. Once that tail starts swinging, it gets harder and harder to stop. If the pilot does not react quickly enough, the rudder will become ineffective, and they will need to use some brake as well. And if not quick enough with the brake, the pilot will get to experience a ground loop. If the groundspeed is on the fast side when this happens one can expect to damage the airframe, and perhaps the landing gear as well.

The other place we get to use our feet in most tailwheel aircraft is in coordinating our turns. The ailerons of most taildraggers are rather large.

Whenever they are deflected, the drag they create results in adverse yaw that is much greater than that experienced in most tri-gear aircraft. Therefore, whenever you roll into or out of a turn in a conventional geared airplane, you will experience one heck of a slip unless you coordinate the turn with sufficient rudder.

The reasons that people elect to fly taildraggers are numerous, but all are valid. For some it affords the ability to fly low and slow, allowing one to “smell the roses” so to speak. (Although, here in the dairy region of New England it isn’t always roses one smells.) For others it is the only type of aircraft that can be used to access rough surfaced and/or remote runways. Still, for others it brings their mentality back to an earlier age of aviation when flying was not about ATC and GPS, autopilots and glass cockpits, TFRs and FARs, but about stick and rudder skills and being totally connected in a visceral way to the aircraft being flown. And for all it will mean using your feet!

No matter what your reason . . . learning to fly a tailwheel airplane will certainly improve your skills in any airplane that you fly, taking you another step from being more than just a good pilot, to being a GREAT pilot.

Vintage Airplane

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