Tail wheel size to prevent ground looping
#1
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Join Date: Jul 2002
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Tail wheel size to prevent ground looping
Will a larger tail wheel desensitize the ground handling on airplanes like cubs to help with the aircraft from being squirrly/ ground looping on take offs?
#4
Reduced control inputs will reduce ground looping.
If possible, limit your tail wheel steering, in comparison to rudder movement..
#8
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You can also set up a dual rate for the rudder. I have it on all my planes. I have a take off rate and a flight rate. I taxi out on flight rates and when I am ready for take off, I switch it to take off rate which is a great deal less than the flight rates. It really helps on the ground loops. Good Luck, Dave
#11
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I have to disagree to a certain extent. Dual rates and/or expo will help with over-controlling but Tom Crump has the best solution which is to limit the tail wheel movement relative to the rudder. Whether or not you can do that will depend on how the plane and how the tail wheel is connected. At low speeds, the tail wheel has more authority (per degree of movement) than the rudder does. If the tail wheel moves the same degree as the rudder, when the tail lifts you no longer have enough rudder stick input to hold the same heading as when the tail wheel was down, hence the usual quick yaw to the left. Ideally, you want them to be equal so that there is not a discontinuity in control when the tail wheel lifts. You can compensate somewhat by holding the tailwheel down as long as possible on the take off run or gunning the engine to get the tailwheel up immediately and only control the take off run with rudder. Neither is a great solution.
#12
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A tail wheel is used for directional control when it is in contact with the ground. It will never prevent a ground loop that is what the rudder is for. Learning to fly a tail- dragger is a work of art and it involves a combination of; rudder, elevator and throttle. A ground loop follows if you can't manage all three controls at once. Ask me how I know and my answer will be I have been there.
#16
Join Date: Nov 2005
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Id probably suggest slowly advancing the throttle on take off, as well as holding back pressure on the stick while taxiing and the start of a take off before it reaches flying speed of course. Expo on rudder as suggested before is a good idea. I fly a lot of taildraggers and all different kinds, ive never had to mess with how far the wheel travels, thats more of a nose wheel thing. Mind you if a plane is too nose heavy, or the front wheels are too far back, that can be issues all on its own. The closer your wheels are to the COG the more likely you are to have the problem.
#20
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after many years of trial and error I have found that proper set up of the main gear is crucial to good ground handling. I try to set my mains centered to the leading edge of the wing with slight toe-in, and I always use a spring between the tiller arm of the tail wheel and the attachment point of the rudder to 'soften' tail wheel authority (and reduce wear on the rudder servo). For what it's worth.
#21
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The further aft the CG is from the ground contact point of the main gear...the more likely to ground loop. Move The wheels back or the CG forward (nose heavy. Also narrow, tall (high vertical CG) gear make ground handling worse.
#22
You can also set up a dual rate for the rudder. I have it on all my planes. I have a take off rate and a flight rate. I taxi out on flight rates and when I am ready for take off, I switch it to take off rate which is a great deal less than the flight rates. It really helps on the ground loops. Good Luck, Dave
#24
My Feedback: (1)
Actually to get back, directly to the original question, the tail wheel size does not have an effect on ground looping. The set up of the main gear does mainly. The tailwheel only has an effect on control when it is touching the ground. It becomes light, very quick as soon as the stab begins to create lift. Think of WW 1 models with just a skid. Granted, many WW1 models are tricky on the ground, but it is not because of the skid. If this is some type of sport aerobatic model, ground looping will have more to do with technique, than set up I believe.
If ground looping is an issue for you, there are other areas where you need to focus to solve your problem.
If ground looping is an issue for you, there are other areas where you need to focus to solve your problem.
Last edited by vertical grimmace; 10-24-2014 at 03:56 PM.