Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes 150/150 Tail Dragger

And Gary, you haven't said but what is the wife's reaction to the new airplane? Have you taken her up yet? You got to give the boss a ride. Nice looking bird.

Nice plane Gary... You mentioned some issues with the insurance. I guess you have to pay a premium until you have enough hours with a taildragger. Do you know what the insurance company considers "enough" hours for insurance to go back to normal?
Congrats again...

I didn't talk to the wife much at all during the whole process. She's not too happy about it. It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, right???

Anyway, she saw it for the first time this evening. She said, "It's smaller than our other one. Why?"

Oh crap, a negative comment. Then we went out to dinner. Then she said she liked the color and paint scheme better on this one than the last. Whew...Dinner bailed me out. Of course, we went to 'No Frills Bar and Grill'...a really great hole in the wall. She hasn't tried to get up into it, yet. She might not like it much. That's fine, I'll have it more to myself!!!

I will have all of my required solo time flown off before I get my 10 hours dual. Insurance is a pain. I don't really know how much is enough to get the lower rate. At this point, I really don't care. My friends that are CFI's/ATP's with bookoo hours in tailwheel airplanes (one owns a Christen Eagle, 90 hp Super Cub, and a Stearman, and the other one owns a Cessna 185 and a Pitts) are both out of town. One is flying a Citation X and the other is in Spain flying a Falcon 900ER. They'll be back the first part of December and I'll catch up on the hours 'til then.

I practiced touch and go's this afternoon for a while before Konrad and I flew over to O'Brien for some grass field action. Grass field make a hero of tail dragger rookies. Then back to Arlington where we made a real nice landing and rolled another 50 yards to the first turnoff. I love that STOL kit. I'm definitely spoiled.

We should be able to get Konrad's plane out of annual on Tuesday. We got the stuck stud on the #2 cylinder out today without having to pull the jug. So, parts ordering in the morning followed by lotsa work Tuesday and we'll fly that thing on Tuesday afternoon.

On mine, I had a stuck carb heat cable, a fouled plug, and I decided to replace the induction filter today. It was looking like crap. I'll have to replace the carb heat control cable attaching hardware either Monday or Tuesday. The fun of ownership has already begun. And I'm lovin' every minute of it...

I'm still keeping up with it. Sometimes I feel like I'm able to get a little ahead. Then, the next landing teaches me something new. As Larry told me, it'll keep me honest.

I don't regret anything so far. However, my learning curve is almost straight up...

Gary - Great looking plane. You'll enjoy the extra performance. Congrats!

Yeah, yeah, OK, I'm NOT the greatest photographer. It's all "otto's" fault I plead battery warning; I only got two before they died. Yep. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

I was hoping it would catch that ear to ear grin . . . I 'bout thought it was permanent.

Gary,

The only thing you really have to remember with a taildragger (and I sure you've probably been told this already by your instructor) is that the landing is never over till you are parked and the engine is off. They say that with any aircraft, but its even more critical with a taildragger...

Its really easy to land, then on the roll through "relax a little"(as you pat yourself on the back for a good landing), only to find all of a sudden its just bit you on the "backside" and all starting to go pear shapped very quickly - guess how I know, go on, guess .

But, having said all that, ask any of the others and they will tell you that after a while, it won't feel like you are peddling quite so hard any more, and your take-off's and landings will get that way that you'll see the "Centre Line" dissapearing almost straight under the nose cowl every time, and the edge of the runway will remain at steady distance on either side of the plane

It won't happen over night, but it will happpen....

I didnt' want to wait on the instructors and when I flew with Larry, the seller, he told me to make smaller corrections and try not to ever get behind the curve. As I've been practicing touch and goes, I'm finding that I can keep it on the center line with decreasing effort. However, after one particularly nice one, I looked down just for an instant to move the trim back to the take-off position (I wasn't much faster than taxi speed) and when I looked back up, I was veering left. Not bad, but it was enough to get my attention.

I'll practice as much as I can. I'll have to get really good so when I decide to replace the flap tracks, probably in a couple of months, I'll have the skills to not fly for a week and be able to get right back in the saddle without tearing things up.

I'm particularly interested in perfecting the wheel landings. I'm extremely intrigued at the technical finesse required and how beautiful a nice wheel landing looks from the side. Guys here at Arlington wheel land all their taildraggers most landings and I'm amazed at how consistent they really are.

Perhaps wheel landings could get it's own thread or something. But, for now, they're all three pointers (okay, attempted three pointers) and I'll gain confidence in the plane and in my reactions to the tail swings.

So far, no really close calls.

Later,

Gary, is that OK with your insurance co.? I haven't had any recent experience with tailwheel insurance, except it costs me extra, but when I was giving dual to non-tailwheel guys they said they had to have their required dual before solo to be covered.

It's none of my business, but if you are going bare assed you know that most TW accidents occur with low TW time pilots.

Geo.

I love bein' "in the know"! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Congratulations Gary! She's a beauty! Does she have a name yet? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Very nice Bird Dog. Hope to see it at Clinton 06!!!

Harry Wiebe
C-GPSU