RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

IF it makes you feel any better, it gets easy before you think it will. Just a few takeoffs and you won't be worrying about a thing. Something new will come along for you to worry about, like Cuban 8s, etc.

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

Yes, that's true. Like landing the plane. Last week I made my third tail-dragger take off. No problems- except that well into the flight, the engine quit and I ended up making a poor dead stick landing which caused some minor damage. But at least my take off was OK :)

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

After last Saturday's flying session, I was about ready to sell my Spacewalker. I thought I had some small control over it from the Sunday before, but that Sat..... whew. Plus it was rather gusty over teh trees and the SW moves around quite a bit in the wind. The wind was very nearly straight down the runway, just quartering it slightly, and I was having a hell of a time getting that plane off. I was really ready to hang it up in the hobby shop and see what I could get for it. Sun was almost not going to bring it to field, but said what teh heck. After one incident with wheel coming off on takeoff and several ground loops, I was convinced. I was waiting to taxi back untill another plane cleared the gap in the barricades, the pilot was a new guy out at the field. He had seen what was going on, and stopped to give me a few words of advice. Same stuff I had heard before, but for some reason or other the way he put it was more coherent and it made more sense.
I did find that my landing gear was toed out again. I re-adjusted, refueled, and out I went. I got off the ground, that time, first time. Not really pretty but not nerve-racking either. I actually managed a touch and go, and it sure did pump me up. All thoughts of selling gone.

My long-winded point is, getting discouraged happens. Human nature. But sometiems if you just take a break, stand back, review the basics, it all falls in place. I got three more flights (or was it four) out of the SW Sunday, and the last couple take-offs were pretty straight and true. Almsot like I knew what I was doing.....


andy

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

The sign of a great instructor is he makes you think you figured it out. It funny you were able to takeoff after the new guy explaned it to you. I'm glad YOU figured it out and I hope you enjoy this wonderful hobby.

Terry

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

My Falcon 56 could be built as a tail dragger, and I'm fairly certain most trainer kits can be modified to put the mains forward of the CG and reinforce the tail, but don't take my word for it. If your interested in a tail wheel trainer but can't find one you like, do your research, you might find something. I know a guy who took a trike gear full scale and made it a tail dragger. weird though because it has a yoke. Real expensive product.

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

I've been holding up elevator on my 4*60 while taxiing- as was suggested in a previous post somewhere on RCU. It does give me more control since there is more down-force on the tailwheel. But, I've got to remember to neutralize the elevator before increasing the throttle too much! I had another "surprise takeoff" today [X(]. Very un-nerving.

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

i think it's great having surprise takeoffs. you get off the ground with out all the worrying and stress of doing it right. i've gotten used to the wind being too much to fly in for my experience (well almost), so i went out to the field and just did some high speed taxi practice and wasn't even trying to take off and actually managed to a couple times regardless. like you said, probably too much elevator. just less stress from trying to do it correctly. the place i fly at is more or less a bunch of corn fields with very over sized roads in like an industrial area with not alot of stuff around, so high speed taxi is very easy and open to do. doesn't realy matter if you take off unintentionally, if you know how to get the thing back on the ground and have a tank or so to burn off while you're up there. I LOVE IT!!!!:D the trainer i have if anyone is looking for a tail dragger trainer is an IBIS .40 made by laser lock. got it from towerhobbies, was very easy to build (covering the compound curve for a back bone was a pain) and flies great for a trainer. may acually be getting over my take off jitters. guess we'll find out this weekend when i go back out and try to do it right. deffinately going to try the full power and let go thing also. be like a catapult on a carrier. SWEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!![>:]

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

Oh, i also adjusted the rudder exponential to about -40%. maybe that helped me more than i think. :D can't wait till this weekend, though the weather crack heads are saying it is supposed to rain. it never rains here in the summer.[sm=punching.gif] i hate the weatherman...

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

I thought I would add more about takeoffs on the Fantasy. The old piano wire gear was toed out a little. I had taken a lot of it out on the vise but it always had that little bit left in the gear. I have a couple of spares and changed to a new set the other night. They look almost perfectly aligned. I forgot about that yesterday when flying the Fantasy and it felt like another plane altogether on takeoffs. It tracks straight now and I don't need nearly as much right rudder when advancing the throttle on takeoff runs. Using properly aligned wheels makes a huge difference. Thought I would add this to the thread as it is hard to believe such a small amount of toe would make such a big difference in handling.

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

Just a bit of toe-in is fine, too.

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

If the gear was toe out, and if possible, you can take it off and mount it the other way around, which will make it toe-in. I've seen a couple of planes where the builder put the gear on backwards, resulting in bad ground handling.

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

So there we are folks, taildraggers are more fun!
Get the toe in right, let her go and throw caution to the wind, ( wings wasn't so far out in post 19 after all , - except for the closed eyes bit ).
That's what I found anyway, - may not work for everybody, but I do think that if you are decisive and not overly cautious about taking off a taildragger it becomes natural pretty quickly.

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

Had a great couple of take-offs on Wednesday! Both first time and no ground loops.

I have a new approach that really did seem to work. Basically, use very little power and let the thing go the length of the runway. I think I've been overpowering it a bit before now. The way I see it is to let the plane get up to the speed of the engine - coz it's so easy to whizz the engine up to big revs when the plane's hardly moving, and that's when ground loops happen - IMHO! Totally different to a car (obviously!) where the engine is connected to the wheels.

Once the wheels are off the ground, then you can be a bit more generous with the power.

Anyway, let's see if I can repeat this minor miracle next week :D

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

The slow approach is a good one, just using enough power to get rolling, then slowly, very slowly increasing power. However, I would avoid leaving the ground before you've worked up to a reasonable power level, enough to climb under normal conditions anyway. Given the fact that most models these days are way over powered, you really don't need full throttle to climb out, that's for sure. You really just need enough power to sustain a good rate of climb with out getting close to a stall.

Personally, while I know the full power and pray method works for some guys, I really worry about that approach. It will work for lightly loaded planes with lots of power, but it's horrible practice for planes with a heavier wingloading. The biggest danger is leaping in to the air on just the engine, with out enough airspeed. The resulting stall and wing drop can lead to a nasty cartwheel.

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

KIRK,
I think I get away with it because my Spacewalker is incredibly " floaty", although the FP40 isn't very powerful.
Also, the little bit of down elevator just after becoming airborne stops it from stalling while it gains speed. - It was all trial and error I'm afraid!

RE: HELP LEARNING TO TAKE OFF WITH TAILDRAGGER???
 

I've been flying a long time and one of the hardest things to do is take a plane off slowly IMHO. Because you are always behind the plane. Meaning that you are reacting to what the plane is doing and what the ground is causing the plane to do. You want to stay in front of the plane meaning you want to fly the plane and not react to the plane. I know to a newbie this is not a easy thing to do. But this is what you should be trying to do. If you give enough throttle within a few feet the tail will be flying then you are in control and the plane is reacting to you and not the ground. Tail draggers are a lot of fun. But remember that when the tail comes off the ground YOU are flying the plane not the other way around. I hope this makes sense to you it, has worked for my students. Practice, practice, practice then practice some more.

Let us know how things go.

Terry