Should i convert to tail dragger, The ground handling is horrible with the trike gear, I would also need to know what all is needed for me to convert. Such as pull rods landing gear axles etc

IMHO...ground handling is tougher with a taildragger.....

which airplane?

apsolutely tail draggers are harder . takesoffs are a lot easier with the trikes.

Maybe I'm lost here, but in another thread you say that the only thing you've ever flown is a taildragger.????????

ok, The plane is a superstar, It's just my instructor has an LT-25, And the ground handling is great with it, And the landings are much more smoother. I think it might just be cause he knows how to fly his plane best though. Do rubber wheels help anything or not?

Wait 2slow, What thread? My mistake...

2slow, Yes i did, I was lost for a minute there. I had just flown with my instructors plane, LT-25 taildragger. But, Today i finially got my beauty in the air and It was fine. When it was in the air!

cool, I got it now.
I have both rubber and foam wheels, and I really can't tell much difference in handeling, and I fly off of grass. rubber wheels are much heavier than their foam counterparts. On asphalt, foam will wear out much quicker than rubber, but again, you're exchanging wear for weight.

Believe it or not... the biggest reason new folks have trouble with ground handling is that on a trike, the nose-wheel is often bouncing (slightly) while you are taxiing so the nose steering is not effective-- sooooo >>

Make sure you get in the habit of applying down elevator while taxiing the trike as the airflow over the elev. will keep the nose wheel on the ground- On a tail-dragger one would use "up" elev. to keep the tail wheel on the ground at all times--- makes a pretty big difference especially on a bumpy runway-

The trike IS easier and should handle better than a taildragger tho-

Hope this helps!

Later-
james

This is frequently caused not by the fact it is tricycle gear but is caused ninet imes out of ten due to poor set up with the linkage. Most people set their steering with far to much throw which will always result in takeoff excursions back and forth. If you can do a 180 degree slow taxi turn in say 10 foot then your steering is to quick for training purposes. Usually folks mistakenly set their nose wheel with just as much throw as the rudder and that ain.t gonna work. Move the pushrod at the strut horn as far out as possible and at the servo move the pushrod as close as possible to the center. Don,t try to match it up with the rudder.

You have a good airplane for heavens sake don,t start making mods. You got what two flights now, you are not going to accelerate the learning process by making unneccessary mods.

Jb is right, get used to what you have and have fun.[8D]

* I'm the instructor *

Chad, you wont need to change to a conventional gear system, we just need to improve and tweak your current trike system. We need to take a look at the main gear being bowed-out so much, and the turn ratio between the rudder and the nose wheel. Like in the post above, we will modify the linkage so that there is much less travel for the nose wheel. We simply didnt have enough time to do it on Friday. Sunday, weather permitting, we will spend some time getting the bird tweaked just the way it should be. Also, we REALLY need to look at whats going on with the low end on that .40 LA. Guys, this thing will perform great on the ground and transition from idle to full power just fine. But when its airborne, as soon as we transition from about 50% power to anything lower, thats it for the engine. It just dies. On Friday, even after some low end tweaking, it died four times! I think my dead-stick landing luck is about to run out!

Anyways, Chad don't worry about converting. We just need to fiddle with it a bit.

-David.

JB and Rainman are correct. On my radio I have a separate dual rate switch for Rudder. I have it on high rate for Taxi to/from runway and "in flight" but for take off and landing I use low rate to avoid wild handling. I have only 20% throw for low rate if that gives you an idea. Ground handling is the main reason that "real" airplanes went to tricycle gear, much easier for AVERAGE pilots to control and saved a lot of prop damage. [:@]

I don't know about you guys but for me tail draggers or trikes are all the same. Same in taking of or landing for me. Just watch the plane and make it do what you want or need it to.

For me, tail draggers need to be "MANAGED" a little more during initial T.O. roll unti rudder becomes effective. After that they are just another plane until rollout. Then you need to get the tail down to make the wheel effective. Basic flying skills.

RCRAINMAN,
I have the same engine, a OS .40 LA and my first 8 (yes 8) landing were all deadstick. I got sot frustrated with that motor I almost gave up on it. Finally had to put about a gallon of fuel through it and idle it up way high before it would even think of idling down while in the air. OS has definately turned me off with this motor, I'm a TT guy now for sure... neither of those engines has ever given me a problem. good luck with the OS, let us know how it goes...

Ok, Thanks for all the replies guys. Thanks David I was just kinda thinking about it.