It's been my experience that if a tail dragger wants to ground loop, you better straighten out the landing gear. What usually happens is that after a couple of less than perfect landings the gear starts to spread. When this happens the toe-in on the wheels becomes toe-out. Thus the hard to keep her straight syndrome. Next time it happens, stand back and take a good look at your gear.

First of all make sure you bend your gear back into shape so that they don't look like a duck on ice. Then, if you have wire gear, just remove the wheels, put a crescent wrench on the axle and torque the wire until the end of the axle is about one degree forward of plumb. If you have an aluminum gear it's easier to put the wrench on the gear just above the axle and pull the gear leg in to get your one degree of toe-in. Ever try driving a car with the toe-in off on the front steering? Believe me, it drives just as bad as that airplane that wants to ground loop.

With this simple fix you will once again have a plane that is oh so easy to takeoff.

Bob Cox
SPA 374
Miami, FL