I had the same plane, and it was my first taildragger as well. Sorry to have to say this, but IMHO that plane is the WORST taildragger trainer you can get. Or it's the best, because if you can fly it well, you can fly any taildrgger well. I had one of our really experienced guys maiden it for me, and he ground looped it numerous times before we got it flying. The two of us at my local field who have them have both sold them because of the ground handling.

Sorry. Didn't mean to be so negative right off the bat. The plane is beautifull in the air, a great flier, and a good first sport plane after a trainer. Other than the ground handling.

Here's what we found out. First, setup. I found that expo in the rudder didn't help at all. I also had the plane set up for as much rudder throw as I could get. You also want to get as much alieron as you can get, beleive me, it's not touchy at all in roll, so the more the better. I never used low rates on the alierons. 1/16 isn't much at all for the alierons, I would look for more like 3/8 up and down, more if you can get it.

OK, takeoff. Don't be stingy with the throttle! I know, they say come up easy on the throttle, keep the tail straight, etc etc. What worked for us was to go to 3/4 or so throttle immedieately. You want the tail off the ground ASAP. Don't bother with trying to hold down elevator, etc, when you get lined up, release the elevator, nail the throttle, and stand on the rudder. I've made some VERY scary takeoffs, but have also made a couple very nice takeoffs, so the plane can be mastered, but it's not easy. BTW, I fly off asphalt, I never flew mine off grass. I think some of the touchy ground handling is due to the cheezy tailwheel assy.

I flew mine with an AX .46, and can state from experience that it will drag that plane in the air when you think it's too slow to fly, so if worse comes to worse and you're heading for the runway edges, nail the throttle and drag that puppy up. I tore the landing gear out trying to abort a takeoff. So:

More throttle
lots of rudder
Tail off ground asap


I'm assuming that your CG is as stated in the manual, right? And your engine is developing full power, I.E. you're not trying to break it in flying it very sloppy rich, and you do have adequate cooling area in your cowl?

Andy