My view of this issue is that taildraggers are better. Trikes have many issues that can be a problem: the rudder/nosewheel servo takes a lot of abuse twice the number of linkages on the servo; nosewheels tend to rotate off center (even when you put a flat spot on the strut); early fatigue of the firewall (which is where the majority of nosewheels are attached to); on take-off, nosewheels create more drag (i.e. getting themselves off the grass -even with big wheels), in the air they create a lot of parastic drag. Some folks complain that with a taildragger, you have to hold up elevator when taxiing - yes very true, but you still want to hold a little up elevator with a trik. Takeoffs are harder with a TD - well not really, normally a TD will accelarate faster to take off speed. Ground handling, if the TD is set-up correctly, it will have better manuverability than a trik. Even on take-off, most TDs will track just a straight as a trik. Lastly, most (not all) planes beyond trainers are designed to be taildraggers . Drawbacks - if a TD is not set up correctly, yes they tend to nose over , but usually that's from incorrect taxi procdures or the wheels are not forward enough. Landings are basically the same on both, touchdown on the mains first. But I personally think that the benefits outweigh any drawbacks.