About Airport

Only good pilots can fly taildragger airplanes, so next time you see a crop duster, don’t think that you are looking at a pilot down on his luck. You are watching a tail wheel plane doing what it does best, flying low after over rough ground that it is designed to land and take off on.

Old airplanes, dating from before World War II, and newer models for those who engage in crop dusting, ultralight flying, or aerobatics have the ‘conventional gear’, or the third wheel under the tail. There are also many small planes manufactured every year for those who prefer the complete engagement of flying this demanding type of craft.

The tail wheel, a slightly later innovation than the earliest tailskid, is called ‘conventional gear’, since this was the design of all planes before World War II, However, the need to train pilots quickly led to adopting the nose wheel design, which makes a plane much easier to handle. The older type plane is still preferred by those who wish to hone their skills, aerobatic pilots, and those who operate off rough and uncertain surfaces.

The problem with having the center of gravity behind the front wheels and the pilot is that the tail wants to take the lead, making the craft hard to maneuver on the ground, especially on take off and landing. In order to avoid wavering and the dreaded ‘groundloop’, when the pilot finds himself doing an unplanned turn of direction, the pilot must constantly make adjustments of the rudder to control the tail, while keeping track of his speed, the speed and direction of the wind, the length of the runway, and the peculiarities of the specific plane he is flying.

The skills needed for flying these planes are critical enough to require pilots to pass an exam in order to be endorsed for this type of flying. It requires much practice with a qualified instructor explaining the fine points of technique, usually from thirty to sixty approaches. The exam covers normal and crosswind take off and landing, two point landings (where only two wheels touch down initially), and the procedure for ‘going around’, or making another attempt when the first one is not correct.

Since 1991, extra endorsement is needed to be in charge of a tail wheeler, in passing a one-time examination of normal and crosswind landings and take offs, wheel landings (when only two of three wheels touch down), and go-around procedures. The last category is important, because the pilot must ‘go around again’ if he judges that the proposed landing is coming out wrong.

However, taildragger airplanes are fun, good for the ego (every good landing is due entirely to skill), and very good training in proactive use of the controls, judging weather conditions and the capabilities of the aircraft, and keeping your mind on the task at hand.

Looking for tailwheel training in Washington State or the Pacific Northwest? Yakima Aerosport is one of the few locations in the Yakima Valley to get your tailwheel endorsement.

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