Well, I have begun work on my second glow airplane, Hangar 9's .40 Super Stick, and I have to decide which landing gear configuration to use. Since this is my second plane, which is the best setup to use? I'm hoping that you guys can help me decide.

Thanks,

Mark

I may Be a beginner but i have already found out that the harder of the two is the tail dragger, i have three planes myself and all three are tail draggers, one is a superchipmunk with a O.S. FS-91, a dragon lady also with a O.S. FS-91, and one big trainer that i am trying to find out the make of as i type this it has a ASP 120 two stroke, the ground charcteritics of a tail dragger is harder to control on take off and landing, i have heard that sig makes a good type of "trainer" that is a tail dragger, the question is are you comfortable enought to solo with a tail dragger after getting used to whatever you have preveiously flown.

I find that neither one is harder than the other. Different to taxi cause you taxi the tail dragger with up elevator. Landings are the same.
So i'll answer your question with a question. What is it that you really want to fly. A warbird? perhaps a large bomber? or a 3 D aerobatic job Whatever is your fantasy plane fly that type, ie warbird get a tail dragger. etc
Oh by the way if you havent got a fantasy airplane. fly the opposite of what you have now. It'll make you a better stick (pilot)

It depends on where you fly it.

I think nose wheel are easier to land.

If your field is a bit rough, id use nose wheel. If you have a sealed strip and the prevailing wind is X-wind, the taildragger will be harder to taxi, more likely to weathercock into wind. id use nosewheel.

If neither of those are a consideration, id set it up opposite to what your first plane is, just for something different.

Taildraggers have two methods of landing, 3 pointer - stall it on, or wheel it on landing. it can keep you amused for hours just trying to perfect each method. Nose wheel have the one method, mains first.

Cheers

Why can't you do a 3-pointer with a trike? Just takes practice. Personally, I like to land on the mains, then continue to taxi down the runway while keeping the nose wheel up and then take-off again for another touch and go. Great fun!

I find a trike gear easier on ground handling. Some tail wheel planes simply do not like to turn on windy days until the tail wheel lifts. I guess it's all just a matter of personal preference. I have both and enjoy both.

I have never experienced a more easy to take off and land taildragger than the super stick. A long tail moment and large vertical stab make it a piece of cake on the ground. Don't be scared of taildraggers. Once off the ground, they fly the same.
I have found that lite foam landing wheels tame the ground handling of a taildragger somewhat. Their higher rolling resistance is like automatic wheel brakes as inertial forces of a turn load one wheel and unload the other, creating a stabilizing feedback to the system.

Neither is easier or harder, just different. If you practice and learn to control the plane on the ground, both are easy to take off and land. I started with the typical tricycle-gear trainer, and quickly changed to taildraggers after I soloed.

Dr.1

DR1Driver is completely correct. Neither one is harder than the other, just different. I see people all the time here on RCU (and in real life) get wrapped around the axle because they are afraid of a taildragger. They aren't any harder than a trike, just a little bit different. Build whatever you like the look of.

Ken

I like both but I have been flying for a few (since 1992) years. Trike is much more forgiving to land. You can practically slam them on the deck and come in as hot as you want. Nose first, mains first doesn't matter it (engine)just might stall when you slam it nose first. That is why trainers are always a trike set-up. On grass or a rough strip I prefer a tail dragger as they seem to get up in the air a little quicker. The landings on touch down are what needs to be mastered. To a new pilot you most likely get the "tail Dragger bounce" on landing. It is just holding the elavator flair a little too long with a little too much airspeed on touchdown. Consequently, you get airborn again after touchdown. The bad part of that is that tail draggers will have a tendency to yaw to one side on the verge of a stall once the mains touch down and the speed is bleed off. This will turn into the nicked wing tip landing. I have seen the most experienced pilots have this issue. To say to a somewhat beginner that a tail dragger is just as easy as a trike is just not true. If you keep the wings level you can land a trike as fast, slow(without a stall) and as hard as you want practically and have it look like an OK landing. The envelope for a good tail dragger landing is much smaller. Bounce and yaw too much and you could ruin a wing.

I have been flying for a few (since 1992) years. Trike is much more forgiving to land. You can practically slam them on the deck and come in as hot as you want. Nose first, mains first doesn't matter it (engine)just might stall when you slam it nose first.

<snip>

And you still haven't learned to land?

Dr.1

Re: "If your field is a bit rough, id use nose wheel." < have to disagree here. I prefer tail draggers on our grass field which looks great but ends up with varmit holes over night which makes the field rather rough even after they have been filled in. Nose gear can keep getting wrenched out of position. My tail draggers have never had a problem.

I'll disagree with both of you, respectfully. In general, I think trikes are easier to keep going straight on takeoff than tail draggers. Also, with many (most?) tail draggers there's a need to hold up elevator during the taxi and initial part of the takeoff run. Keeping to keep a tail dragger straight and gradually letting off the elevator as it picks up speed make a taildragger a bit more complicated.
I agree that the challenges of a tail dragger are often overstated. Most aren't difficult, although some are notorious for having bad habits (Cubs for example).

Very true, as long as you've got big enough wheels. I remember having one of my planes (tail dragger) get stuck and nose over last year. When I went out to get it I discovered the cause, a pile of deer poop! [X(]

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.

Two types of tail dragger gear configurations, one in which the gears are mounted in the wings, the other where the landing gear is mounted on the fuselage ( 4*s, Extras, etc., etc. ). For relatively rough grass fields it`s been my experience that fuselage mounted gears are MUCH more forgiving than wing mounted when it comes to noseovers. Where I fly, I`d rather occasionally re-align the nose gear on my Avistar than pop a gear on my PT-19.

Having flown both now...its not that big of a deal.

I will continue to buy planes in both configurations, as I tend to like scale planes. If its a trike in real life, its a trike in a model...

I think landing was funner with the taildragger because you could go drastically different.

I flew someone else's ultrastick (i maiden mine this weekend ) and landed with the crow flaps engaged...you can literrally put the tailwheel down first and drag it and just ease the mains down after a few attempts...and (although i didnt fly it) do the almost vertical approach landings witht he crow out...and still only roll out about 10 feet....was soo cool to watch...

Was also fun to see how many times i could get the mains down on touch and goes and "drive" on them down the runway before taking back off...

I still have funin landings with the nexstar too...doing 1 wheel touch and goes is a personal favorite...but ive only done that (intentionally) once...

Taildraggers look better.

Well, thanks for all the information on both the positives and negatives of each setup. I have another question that regarding this subject. Some of you mentioned that I should go with the config of the airplane that I eventually want to fly. Well, hopefully, next year I will be ready to enter my first IMAC competition, Basic class of course. I saw a show about a year ago and it sorta inspired me So here’s my question… do all tail-draggers exhibit the tendency to bounce on landings? And if so, what is the best way for a beginner to compensate for this problem….


Thanks,

Mark

Yes there is something that can be done. Practice landings. It's just that simple. Yes, some planes will have more of a tendency to bounce than others will, but even those can be landed smoothly by a good pilot. I've watched pilots that could do the most incredible things in the air with an airplane that couldn't make a decent landing to save their life. To me, the landing is one of the most impressive looking maneuvers when it's done correctly. If you don't want to bounce on landings then you need to practice landing, and practice in all types of weather. Go up and do nothing but touch and goes for entire tanks of fuel. Before long you'll find yourself making the most beautiful landings that you've ever seen.

Hope this helps

Ken

Like RCKen says, but on the first bounce, blip the throttle once. A second time if necessary.

I am one of the many who asked repeatedly on this forum whether I was ready for a TD...how hard will it be...help me with TD landings etc...

I found that Ken is right, it's not harder on a paved runway, just different. It's actually easier to land for me because .......well, it just SEEMS easier. Trikes are far more maneuverable on the ground because they drive like a car, but beyond that a TD is no harder at all. I should never have been worried about it in the first place.

Great, now that I have said that my TD's will become a bear to land...just my luck.

Like was said, there is no substitute for skill on landings...

But there are some things that can help...different landing gear, different wheels...etc...

But all that is really for making an almost perfect landing just a little closer...

There are alot of guys i've seen fly that have been flying for years and still dont know how to land. They know how to get the plane on the ground, but they dont know how to land....

Tail draggers from my experience don't bounce any more than trike gears. I used to bounce my LT40 trike trainer until I learned to add in a little up elevator just before it touches down and hold it until the speed on the runway has bled off. I found this also works well with td planes on landing. The only trick is to know when to start pulling back on the right stick and how much. Each plane is a bit different and it just takes some landings to find out what works for the plane that you are flying.

ptmac3


Quote.
Why can't you do a 3-pointer with a trike? Just takes practice. Personally, I like to land on the mains, then continue to taxi down the runway while keeping the nose wheel up and then take-off again for another touch and go. Great fun!

Totally agree, there is absolutely no reason for not 3 pointing a MODEL trike aircraft if you so wish to, they are generally light with strong gear. But it is not the correct method.

It would genrally require a higher touch down speed, especially if your model didnt have flaps.

Cheers and happy 3 pointers.

You want to fly IMAC? No-Brainer get a Tail-Dragger, are they any harder to land? IMO not in the least. I actually like they way they land better than my Trikes. Are they more bouncing on landings? Like Ken said, Only if bounce them which is the same for a Trike. If I screw up my approach & don't flair at the right time I'll bounce my Trainers just as I would my Tail- Draggers. My Drgon Lady practily lands herself as smoothe as ya please allmost everytime. If not it was pilot error on my part. Even the Cap would just gease right in if I flew it in a little hot until I got it within a foot of the deck & chopped the throtlle with a touch of up levator as it slowed down it would just set it itslef right down on the runway. The only difference I have found is in the ground handling, not any harder just different. While agree with Chuck on the up elevator during taxi on runway & thought I agreed on a little up elevator during take off till I built up little speed then let the elevator go back to neutral until ready to lift off, I no longer do that. My original Instructor who has just recently been able to return to flying is a long time Warbird flier & regular participant at the Castle Airforce Base yearly "Rally of the Giants" (strictly Military pattern flying) told me not to do that. once lined up on the run way & ready to take off he told me not to hold the elevator as i built up speed because for one it is not necessary and secondly it can cause the plane to try to lift off & fly while still at to low of an airspeed causing it to lift off too early & stall. I ried it his way & he was right. I'm sure Chuck's way is just as effective with proper timing & experience, but for us rookies I like Charlie's way better. It was one less thing for me to have coordinate & I haven't nosed one over yet.

All in all I think we tend to make the transition from Trike to Tail-Drgger a much bigger deal than it is. They are just as easy to land if not more so than a Trike IMO & I've only been flying for about a year now. Haven't forgotten how to crash yet though.[&:]