afra

I'm thinking of converting my Midwest Aerostar into a tail dragger.

The rudder is not accessible from the bottom due to the horz stab being in the way. In order to help steer the tail wheel I would guess I need to hook the tailwheel into the rudder somehow. I could just mount a tail wheel and leave it caster style or I could mount a simple skid to the rear underside of the plane.

I fly off a grass field and was thinking a skid would be good enough.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Scott.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

you were thinking right. A tailskid will do fine.

vinnie

My Feedback: (1)

Scott, I notched the center of the elevator at the hinge line on my Avistar, then ran the wire thru the hole and attached it to the rudder bottom. A castoring wheel or skid will work but not as well.

karben

You can get by with a skid but my luck with casters hasn't been good.. If you go with a caster type (free turning) I make the wire long where the wheel is behind the wire mounted pivot point .. I hope that makes sense.. The wheel seems to obey better than if you just have a short wire coming down from the pivot.... I personally only fly on grass and I can sure understand wanting to change to a tail dragger.. Tricycle gears and grass equal short lived firewalls unless you slick em in..

TomCrump

A friend of mine made his Tiger into a tail dragger. He didn't use anything. It's a rudder dragger! I've given him grief about it for a couple of years, but the darn thing is still flying. He's had no problems. I've flown it, and there's plenty of control while taxying and taking off. Simple, but effective.

afra

Thanks for the responses all -

I am going to use the simple skid method and not mess with the tail wheel at all.

Scott.

Rodney

A skid works very well and a lot more maintenace free.