New guy.

[bushwannabe]

Hey guys!

I have been reading and reading these posts on here and I am beginning to fear tailwheels. I just recently started flying a super cub pretty regularly. Anyways, with a 100*5000’ runway I’m pretty good. I just wondered if someone could list a few real no-no’s for cubs or tailwheels.

My goal: Have fun, be safe, and definitely improve my spot landings.

P.S. I am 22yr/old flight instructor…. Young and dumb is on my forehead.

Will

 

[Taledrger]

Will, there is nothing to FEAR. Respect yes, but it would appear you already possess that trait or you would not be asking questions.
Mastery of taildragers, et SuperCubs is a continuing endeavor.

 

[kase]

I think the Super Cub is the 2nd easiest plane to fly in the world. The 1st being a Maule. Only advise I can offer new guys is use caution with the wind.

 

[bushwannabe]

Kase,

I have limited myself to 10k x-winds... this after I tried a 17k last week.

 

[Lance]

You mean "throw caution to the wind"

 

[ag-pilot]

taildraggers

If possible get off the pavement to pratice your crosswind landings. You will be amazed at how much tamer most taildraggers are on grass or dirt.
Dave

 

[Clay Hammond]

Welcome Matt. Where are you located?

 

[Tom]

Single most important thing that I learned is to keep the stick all of the way back once you get the tail down. Don't let it go forward until two days after you have it in the hangar.....

 

[Steve Pierce]

Never give up and power will get you out of most anything. If you don't like it go around.

 

[bushwannabe]

OK, so the next question is do you add power or keep extra speed for a wheel landing?

 

[Steve Pierce]

I fly a tad faster and with a little nose down trim for a wheelie.

 

[kase]

When my dad taught me to fly he had lots of advice.

1. Do as I say, dont do as I do.
2. Knock that shit off.
3. You keep that up and your gonna buy the farm.
4. Dont do that again.

 

[Roger Peterson]

When I started in a Cub, I found out it took 12 seconds to say the Lords Prayer if the pressure was really on.

 

[Taledrger]

Use the same technique to do a wheel landing as you would to make the nicest landing ever in a 172. Meaning, ease it on the mains as softly as possible using what ever pitch and power you need. That's not the hard part. Transitioning to a 3 point is where it gets different and where it can get away. When the nosewheel hits in a nosedrager it will straighten out in a taildrager it will want to try and swap ends.
Get a good instructor to show you the nuances.

 

[Cub junkie]

When my dad taught me to fly he had lots of advice.

1. Do as I say, dont do as I do.
2. Knock that !&$# off.
3. You keep that up and your gonna buy the farm.
4. Dont do that again.

Thats scary Kase, your Dad and my Dad used the same training tatics. Almost verbatim. I miss my Dad.Kevin

 

[PA-18]

Find a guy that you know has been in one alot,going places you'd like to go then ask him. Learn from real experience.

Becareful and dont try anything that a real live person cant demo for you. Good Luck!! You can scare the !@&% out of yourself listening sombody TELL you how to do it.

 

[skukum12]

Practice your approaches and landings. Practice until you are sick of them, then do it more. Keep the rust knocked off. Don't just jump in and think you'll make that next hairy landing without recent practice. Get proficient in the Cub you'll fly most, learn that plane.

 

[Brian Fox]

If you have the chance, go to some of the Super Cub fly-ins and have some of these folks give you some instruction. I can't imagine that there would be a better place or people to learn from

Brian

 

[skagwaypilot]

Never think that you 'know it all'.
A few weeks ago, I was landing in a gusting crosswind from the left. The gap between hangars alongside the runway accelerated the crosswind effect. And for reasons I still have not figured out (other that having my mind in neutral) I chose full flaps. A gust hit just about touchdown. As I tried to put in full left aileron, I found that stick travel was blocked by my leg which, in turn, was blocked by the flap handle.
I tried to convince the onlookers that it wasn't a ground loop. I just turned off the runway faster than I normally do.
I learned later that newer cubs (mine is a '54 L-21B) have a shorter stick. Perhaps this is why the length of the stick was reduced.

 

[Speedo]

"Add power or extra speed for wheel landings?"

If the plane's attitude is appropriate for a wheel landing the speed and power will be where they need to be. Through experimentation you will find the slowest speed you can fly and still maintain the right attitude for a wheel landing, but you shouldn't be concentrating on the ASI to determine the speed. Instead, you should set up on final in what feels like the right attitude and make incremental changes to the pitch and power. If you're rusty you'll have some oscillations, but quickly things will settle down.

 

[behindpropellers]

Hey guys!

I have been reading and reading these posts on here and I am beginning to fear tailwheels. I just recently started flying a super cub pretty regularly. Anyways, with a 100*5000’ runway I’m pretty good. I just wondered if someone could list a few real no-no’s for cubs or tailwheels.

My goal: Have fun, be safe, and definitely improve my spot landings.

P.S. I am 22yr/old flight instructor…. Young and dumb is on my forehead.

Will

I always just land on one wheel with a wing low and tail low attitude when fighting the x-wind. Keeps me going straight and allows the plane to slow down some before both mains touch. Of course, this may all be wrong, as I only have about 100 hours of tailwheel time. Never had a problem in the x-wind though.

Tim

 

[scubber]

Dad taught us kids to fly the S.C. out of our 800 ft. farm strip in the 60's. His rule that still works to this day on landings; "Your only concern is keep it straight no matter what . . before touch down . . during & after. 2ndly, keep it straight. And if things go to " HELL in a handbasket", spread it out it a straight line! You know . . . even when you think your at the "spread stage" . . things usually get better by following Rule #1. Larry C.

 

[JP]

1. Stick back all the way all the time on the ground. Put it right in the crook of your arm and keep it there.
2. Good approach, usually a good landing. Slow it down. Start pulling back as you come through treetop height.
3. Power can be your friend
4. Big bounce, stick forward for a wheel landing; little bounce, hold attitude and let her settle; tad touch of power in both situations if desired
5. Stick to the outside of turn when on ground (i.e. left rudder, right stick and vice versa) to use those big old ailerons to help you around a turn
6. Use the brakes sparingly if ever
7. Grass is your very best friend in the world. Try to fly on and off it as much as possible.
8. The darn thing is far more manueverable than you think.
9. Fly it from start to stop
10. There is always more to learn...and a lot of it is right here on Supercub.org

...and enjoy yourself because that is what flying Cubs is all about.

 

[Bill Rusk]

Welcome

Go to amazon.com and buy two books.

Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langeweische

The Compleat Taildragger Pilot by Harvey S. Plourde

Read em ......over and over. Believe.

Then get Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators.

Read and Believe. You will then be well on the road to your goals.

Congratulations and welcome to Supercub.org

Bill

 

[JetA]

1. Stick back all the way all the time on the ground. Put it right in the crook of your arm and keep it there.


Unless your on skis in ankle deep over-flow with a brisk tailwind. Almost learnt that the hard way. Trying to get to some good tracks to take off, I backed off the power to keep from cookin' the motor....yeow. Figured it out just in time.

 

[Christina Young]

1. Stick back all the way all the time on the ground. Put it right in the crook of your arm and keep it there.
4. Big bounce, stick forward for a wheel landing; little bounce, hold attitude and let her settle; tad touch of power in both situations if desired
6. Use the brakes sparingly if ever

From what I learned at both Andover and in Alaska, I can think of lots and lots of scenarios where these "rules" simply don't apply. First time I ever heard #4, if I have a big bounce I either add power and/or turn it into a 3-pointer or tail-low, or go around.

 

[JP]

That's correct--they are guidelines only and all rules are made to be broken, modified and mollified (that's Rule 11) per any given scenario. The only principal, per se, is try and use your best judgment and common sense combined with the guidelines. that you know and like...

Rule 4 comes from the Compleat Taildragger Pilot. Just another way to salvage a bounce, that's all--convert it to a wheel landing by pushing the stick forward. I read about it, cocked an eyebrow, then tried and have used it ever since for that, ahem, rare occasion when I boing into the stratosphere.... :lol:

As for Rule 6, brakes are great, brakes are fun, but when they cease to work you are gonna be bummed.

 

[Bill Rusk]

Guidelines.....hows that?

I see a lot of taildraggers taxi by from my back porch and I see lots of tails bouncing around cause guys don't have the stick back. You loose steering effectiveness when the tail is not firmly planted and it is harder on the structure to have things flopping around back there. Stick all the way back will work about 90% of the time, takes a pretty strong t/w before it becomes necessary to go stick fwd. Skis and floats have their own rules.....oops, I mean guidelines.

Bill

 

[cubflier]

Will

Since you are a CFI you are much further along that most young bucks out there doing low time tail dragging.

As far as advancing your skills as a tail dragger I would concentrate on learning how to use all the controls effectively in takeoffs, flight and especially landing.

This includes the use of brakes. I view the brakes as a significant tool in the control of the cub on the ground and would recommend you "slowly" learn to use them to their maximum effectiveness. I'm sure you know the difficulty with teaching a student mastery of the brake system since it's the one input you cannot reverse if a student over controls. Apply too much brake and your plane is now a costly roto-tiller so ease into this. But I assure you that if you learn to master the brakes in a cub you will make a much better pilot than the "don't touch the brake peddle" pilot. There are certainly two schools of thought on this and which school you adopt may depend on the type of flying you do. Keep in mind that one of the most popular mods on bush worthy cubs are high pressure brake systems.

As for taxiing with the stick back, this is fine at beginning but at some point I would learn how to lighten the tail as I taxi. This will help on soft or rough ground. It saves wear on the tail of the airframe especially when turning 180 degrees in real rough ground. I watched a friend bend his fuselage leaving all the weight on his tail as he turned around.

Finally, practice lots of cycles (take offs and landings). Don't ever fly to some elses ability just to keep up. Fly your own game and be safe.

Jerry

 

[JP]

Some great observations, bottom line is that there is no end to the scenarios that one can encounter and deploy in Cub flying.

Brakes are a good example--there is a world of difference between the brake techniquie one uses in a stock J-3/PA-11 with expander brakes and a 180 hp Supercub, that's for sure.

Jerry says it best re the brakes. Same for the tail. We like the tail on the ground in average situations and use it as a basic standard for beginners.
Down the road they will get to different scenarios, like Jerry notes, where the tail is best wagged a bit....

We are a blessed bunch to have so much variety when we fly. And I think that's why so many of us do it. It's a long, long way from a standard operations manual (Bill--"see damn rules") when you are out and about in a Cub.