Yes, Gryder calls out Lockheed for needlessly requiring locking the tailwheel for takeoff and landing. They just did not have the proper skills to safely fly their airplane.
Gryder calls out Beechcraft for needlessly requiring locking their tailwheel for takeoff and landing. They just do not have the proper skills to fly their airplane.
The general population of pilots flying Electra's or Beech 18's who just might not be as perfect tailwheel pilots as Gryder, should ignore the POH, and fly unlocked, as that is an un needed feature.
Those manufacturers may have found that the only way they could meet safe performance standards of the day with designs that were prone to ground loop, was adding a locking feature to the tailwheel, as many other designs have, before and after.
Gryder also pronounces that if the tailwheel had been locked, that would not have changed the outcome in this "event". The tailwheel was on the ground before the turn began, how could being locked fail to reduce the turning rate? They may have even remained on the runway, or ended in the shallow ditch.
This seems to me a perfect example of why we should NOT follow Gryders advice, especially if it is different from the POH.
My previous post on this thread, I considered that the strut rebuild on the right side may have compromised the right brake, and Gryder might have had no effect on the outcome, but the unlocked tailwheel issue changed my mind on that.
He is, of course, certain that he is still right, and a locked tailwheel would not have helped,oring the