Tailwheel Takeoff techniques

Tailwheel Takeoff Techique

  • The tail comes up as soon as possible

    Votes: 20 40.8%

  • The tail stays down until I'm flying

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • The tail comes up a little, but I don't force it up

    Votes: 23 46.9%

  • You can control this?? Who knew??!!

    Votes: 7 14.3%
  • Total voters
    49
dmccormack said:
The lowest speed on my ASI is 40 MPH. I've lifted off slow (not really sure of the airspeed but pretty slow) and it seems to wallow a bit. I'm fairly certain the J-3 and the Chiefs/Champs used the same NACA wing....
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Pre-war 65 series Chiefs use the Clark Y airfoil, same as the J-3. The 11-series Chiefs and 7-series Champs use the NACA 4412 airfoil...hence the extra blazing speed.

I'll lift the J-3 off in 3-pt. attitude. Only takes a few seconds to reach Vx. Does not feel "wallowy"...J-3's fly much nicer than Chiefs. :D
 
RoscoeT said:
Pre-war 65 series Chiefs use the Clark Y airfoil, same as the J-3. The 11-series Chiefs and 7-series Champs use the NACA 4412 airfoil...hence the extra blazing speed.

I'll lift the J-3 off in 3-pt. attitude. Only takes a few seconds to reach Vx. Does not feel "wallowy"...J-3's fly much nicer than Chiefs. :D
Click to expand...

Pre-War Chiefs fly much faster than post-war.

Of course everybody knows that... :rolleyes2:
 
dmccormack said:
And how many do you see with under-inflated or just plan bad nose gear struts?

:(
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Here are good ways to ruin the prop (and brakes): 1. Taxi with too much power, holding the speed down with brakes. This pulls the nose down and does a really nice job of vacuuming all the FOD off the taxiway. And burns out the brakes. 2. Don't hold the elevator up during the runup. This, too, lets the nose get closer and the propeller is able to suck up more junk. Works really well if the oleo and/or nose tire are flat. 3. Use lots of power, one brake, and no up-elevator to maneuver the airplane on the ramp. Again, the prop suffers more if the oleo or tire is flat.

I was taught early on to use all the controls, all the time. That's why I always taught my students to use up-elevator in the above conditions, unless the airplane had a really stiff nosegear where it would make no difference. I had an apprentice once move the elevator up and down in a 172 during runup and watched the prop tips from the side: the clearance varied as much as three inches, enough to make a considerable difference in the ability of the propeller's tip vortices to pick up junk. And I watched small, loose stones from as much as a foot or 15" behind the propeller disc move forward along the surface and under the prop, then get sucked up into the front of it. That vortex is big.

But inflating the nosegear strut to the max recommended extension has its drawbacks in a flight school, too. If some student is in the habit of landing fast (which means a really flat touchdown) he will wheelbarrow or porpoise the thing and maybe wreck it. The nosegear will contact too early and too firmly.

You can't make idiot-proof airplanes. Society just comes up with better idiots.

Dan
 
I posted earlier in this thread about my recent experience experimenting with keeping the tailwheel low and letting her fly off the ground. I did 8 take offs yesterday and tried this on about half of them. If you can keep the tailwheel just off the runway it works nicely.

It takes some practice to keep the tailwheel in that position. When I manage to keep the tailwheel in this position, she comes off much like a 150 flying itself off.
 
I wondered if you were at the airport yesterday, as I was in your neck of the woods. Saw a beautiful 170-B in Sherman.



MBDiagMan said:
I posted earlier in this thread about my recent experience experimenting with keeping the tailwheel low and letting her fly off the ground. I did 8 take offs yesterday and tried this on about half of them. If you can keep the tailwheel just off the runway it works nicely.

It takes some practice to keep the tailwheel in that position. When I manage to keep the tailwheel in this position, she comes off much like a 150 flying itself off.
Click to expand...
 
So I experimented again yesterday...

Winds were calm, air was cold (30 F) and clear.

The trim wheel is mounted in the headliner. It is marked "Takeoff" on the nose down side and Landing on the nose up, but neither is marked with a definite line as seen on most Cessnas.

I trimmed one crank shy of full nose down then slowly added power. I maintained centerline with rudder and kept hands off the yoke (don't try this at home, kids).

After about 100' the tail popped up on its own. In another 150' the mains started to get light. I let it lift off and it flew along in ground effect and then speed increased and it started to climb, but at 70 MPH (60 is Vy).

I uncranked trim and established 60 MPH climb.

I don't know how much more/ less this technique takes because the conditions were different (cold, dense air), but it works!

:)
 
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