Tell me more. I was taught to throttle up with the yoke back, then bring the yoke to neutral as you begin to accelerate, then when an appropriate speed is reached, lift the tail, then continue to accelerate until flying speed is reached.
If memory serves me correctly, that's about what I did in the 120 I learned to fly in.
Unless you are in heavier grass and you want to get the tail up so the tailwheel isn’t picking up long bits of grass it seems to get off the ground faster if you don’t add any drag, and let the tail rise off the ground on its own. Once the tail is off the ground, you can push a little if you want, or not. I tend to unstick and keep it in ground effect to accelerate.
I don’t think there’s a one size fits all - if you’re in heavy grass you might want to go ahead and push forward sooner. I think too many people learn one way to do something and think it’s the only way to do it without understanding why they were taught it in the first place.
In the 120, if one had the original Grabyear brakes, yes.
I figured that the best time for the prop to throw debris into the tail would be in the first ten feet, while the rpms are still climbing and the plane is just starting to roll...
OP, Capt is right on that. I was so scared of my brakes when I bought mine I had a tough time on the pavement- till my cfi said next landing was his. He put the yoke in his lap and screatched each brake a time or two- and said “see- keep that yoke in your lap and you can use the brakes”.
The prop may throw some, but I think most of it comes from the wheels. A shorter ground run means less exposure in my opinion.
That's what I learned in. You can keep the tail up with the brakes until you come to a complete stop. Then it comes down with a bang.
I tend to use very gentle forward stick with minimal braking to keep the tail up. The risk to new pilots is not the dropping of the tail from keeping the tail up until nearly at a stop, but rather nosing the aircraft over with too much braking in the first place. There is a "heels on the floor" landing checklist item for a reason.That's what I learned in. You can keep the tail up with the brakes until you come to a complete stop. Then it comes down with a bang.
A little power when learning helps. With practice can be rolled on fine.
It doesn't take back stick to keep the tail down in the first ten feet, even with full forward stick the tail probably won't come up for a hundred feet or so unless brakes are used.
Not so much to keep the tail down as to keep the elevator up and out of the way, same as pulling out of a tiedown.
This is where question “why?” is helpful. If the main point is just to keep the elevator out of debris, perhaps a slightly aft yoke would be better than full aft, so you have the advantage of the elevator being a little more parallel to the ground, but not completely up? OTOH, leaving it neutral, gives the tail slightly more positive angle of attack, which may raise the tail sooner (less tailwheel friction) and get you off the ground sooner and take the elevator out of exposure to rocks and debris from the wheels faster.
I tried that a few times today. Probably got off a little sooner, but I didn't love it getting light and wanting to fly off on its own. Maybe it's a style thing like wheelies vs. 3 pointers and I just need to get comfortable with both.
Depending on the temps and engine installed, a 120/140 may fly off in a 3pt ok and keep flying, but it will be at a very low airspeed. Find it more stable to let the tail rise a little and get going a bit faster first. Easier to accelerate in ground effect if needed since the attitude reduction from liftoff is much less.
In principle learning in a tailwheel is the way to go. The skills you acquire will serve you throughout your flying career. I would recommend the 140 over a Cub as I think the days of learning in a tandem aircraft have passed, although I guess with good radios and intercoms it's not as bad as once perhaps. Also a Cub is more forgiving than the 140 in many ways. Personally don't much care for a stick either (sacrilegious I know) and most anything you fly bigger is more likely to have a yoke anyhow.
I learned in a 120. So, why not? Easy enough.
