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Tail Wheel

P

paul mosher

I am currently building a 7 and haven't committed to the type of landing gear yet.
I would like to have a taildragger, but in my 1,000 hours of flying I have never landed a conventional gear aircraft.
Has anyone been in this position and built a TD anyway? Do you regret doing so?
I would hate to bend a brand new airplane during landing, but I do think the TD looks nicer, and I have no plans to use my RV on anything but hard surface runways.
Does anyone offer transition training in a RV? I live in SW Florida.
 
When I was contemplating building my RV, I had a experienced friend tell me. If you can't learn to land a TW RV, you probably can't learn to land a Nose wheel one properly either.

so I had ~150hr TT and <10 TW when I chose -7.
 
What Brian said. I converted my 9A to a 9 after 330 hours and have not looked back. Wish I had gone with the TW to start, but I also had essentially no TW time and was reluctant to both build an airplane AND learn to fly TW. As many have said, it's a non-issue, just a different type of flying.

Pierre is in Georgia and I think he still does transition training. Or find someone with a decathlon, citabria, etc. that can do it locally for you. Not that much different going to an RV.

My two cents.

Greg
 
Same story with me. Before building the RV6 flew mostly Cherokees. No tailwheel time. Before doing my test flights in the RV6 did tailwheel checkout in a local Super Decathlon, and then flew RV6 with Mike Seager. Found that the RV6 was very easy to handle. It does require a bit of extra care at times but I am glad I did the tailwheel version.

Keith Williams
Milan, IL
 
You're in luck!

I don't have a TD or -6.

Jan Bussell is near you in Orlando and has both a -6 and a -6A

863 467 9354
cell 561 628 2105....and a great guy!

Best,
 
Tailwheel

Until a few months before I completed my RV7 I never sat in a tailwheel plane or even had a ride in an RV. All my time was in a Cherokee, Mooney and Bonanza. Glad I went with the tailwheel.
 
Think back

At one point you couldn't even fly an airplane, but you set out to achieve that goal and here you are. Now you want to enjoy flying a tailwheel airplane. There is a new goal to achieve. I expect that you will someday regret it if you don't make the effort now.
 
I wouldn't let your lack of TD time stop you. I will start building a TD RV next month and I have never flown a TD aircraft. I've never flown an RV either. Come to think of it, I don't even have my license yet. :D
 
When I started my -7 kit I had 0 tailwheel time. Got an endorsement and 30 or so hours in a handful of airplanes (Maule, Citabria, RV-6), got some transition training, and started flying my -7. I have never for one second regretted it.

Build what you want. If you spend 2,000+ hours building an airplane that you don't want to avoid spending 50-100 hours to get proficient in the airplane that you DO want then you probably won't be happy. BTW I had less than 200 hours total time when I started my kit too, so you are already ahead of me.
 
This should help

paul mosher said:
I am currently building a 7 and haven't committed to the type of landing gear yet.
I would like to have a taildragger, but in my 1,000 hours of flying I have never landed a conventional gear aircraft.
Has anyone been in this position and built a TD anyway? Do you regret doing so?
I would hate to bend a brand new airplane during landing, but I do think the TD looks nicer, and I have no plans to use my RV on anything but hard surface runways.
Does anyone offer transition training in a RV? I live in SW Florida.
Click to expand...

This poll and thread has lots of good point. http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=83434&highlight=Poll
 
It's not that hard to find tailwheel time while you're building, and you'll want some transition training before you hop into your new plane anyway. I'd say build the plane you want, and learn to fly it. You won't be disappointed.
 
Had no tailwheel time when I decided to build a RV-9. I had been undecided but when there was a spate of nosewheel flips in the summer of 2005, right when I had to order the fuselage kit, I settled on the taildragger. (This was before Van's re-engineered the nosewheel design, so my reasons may not be relevant to your thinking now.)

Last November I did tailwheel (and currency/proficiency) training in a Stinson 108, and then did transition training with Mike Seager in early December in the RV-7. Both convinced me that I had made the right decision. Also, and FWIW, ground handling of the RV was MUCH more benign than that of the Stinson. Definitely nothing to be afraid of.

Good luck with your decision.
 
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TD

I'm another happy RV 7 builder. I have no TD time nor have I flown in any RV. The first time I ever sat in any RV is few weeks ago when I put my TD RV on its wheels. I think its going to be a blast learning something new.
 
No tailwheel time either

FWIW....was going to build a 9a and then decided to go taildragger because of the possibility of landing rougher fields and the challenge of learning something new. I've always wanted to learn conventional gear. Now is my chance..
 
Hold on everyone!!!

Paul was going to buy all my 7A gear. It sounds like you're convincing him out of it.

That's ok Paul. YOU decide what YOU want to build & fly.

As others have suggested, you might want to consider contacting Jan Bussell as he has a 6 & 6A and is located close by in Okeechobee.
I did my transition 7A training with him & was also going to get my TW endorsement until I found someone locally to fly in my converted 7A to 7.


I start the conversion after SNF
 
I flew Cessnas and a Cherokee nosedragger for 900 hours and nearly a decade before getting a TW endorsement and learning to fly an RV taildragger. True, it was almost like learning how to fly all over again, especially the light and sensitive controls of the RVs (not so much the tailwheel part) since I had to learn not to over-control the RVs, but now I can never go back to a brand C or P spamcan.
 
Zero TW Builder too

400hrs in Cessnas and Cherokees here. I'm in the middle of my -7 build and sitting on the big Zilch in TW time too. RV's just seemed more attractive angled up on the ground to me so it was a purely emotional decision at first.

I just reached out yesterday to local FBO here in Seattle area to get my endorsement this summer and build TW time ahead of finishing... someday.
 
I had zero TW time when I started building my -7...got my endorsement last summer and have about 25 hrs now...sooooo glad I went this route. I really enjoy the challenge of flying a TW aircraft...its all in your state of mind...
 
point-counter point

Jane, you ignorant sl.. oh wait that was a different show and different time.

what I should have said was: While I built and fly a Taildragger to go into some dirt/grass strips around here. 100% of my flying has been on pavement, so a -7A would have been perfectly acceptable. Might change this year as I hope to make it to Johnson Creek, Cavanaugh and places in between. but I do like my Taildragger.
 
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