How to fly the T-Bird II Taildragger
By Phillip C. Esch
The first thing I do to start the training session with the student is to let the student slow taxi the plane up and down the runway a few times until they can taxi the plane straight with the tail down with maximum speed of 15-20mph. The next step is to increase power to get the tail up at about 30 mph which requires full power, yoke fully forward and then pull back power enough to keep the tail up and fast taxi on the mains with the eventual goal to keep the plane straight with rudder. This exercise also teaches the student to handle the plane in transition between losing rudder authority and tail wheel contact. As the plane slows down the rudder begins to lose ground control authority. With the yoke fully pushed forward, the natural transition time between rudder control and tail wheel contact is around 5-8sec.
The idea is to learn to land on the mains first and then to determine when the tail can be brought down at a slow enough speed without the plane still flying. Actually, I will train students not to pull back on the yoke and allow the tail to settle on it's own by virtue of decreasing airspeed. This will give the student a lot of meaningful rudder exercise as the plane transitions from rudder to tail wheel. If the student gets too far behind the transition, the instructor's job is too intercede with rudder and not allow the plane to get too far behind and veer off the runway usually to the right due to engine torque. There have been a few times when I have used the ailerons to slightly tip the wing to the left to pivot on the left main wheel to keep the plane on the runway. This technique is also used to bring the plane to a sudden stop by actually inducing a ground loop. This technique should be practiced with an experienced instructor first before attempting this on your own.
Many like to 3 point the landings. Even though this is good on fair weather days, if you either find yourself in a good crosswind(I find crabbing is more manageable than slipping) or on rough fields, landing on the main wheels first maintains a better forward thrust to keep the plane stable. Also the tail wheel assembly won't receive quite a beating if you can settle the tail wheel down at speeds of less than 30 mph on the 2 place. On short strips of 500 feet, you have to land right at stall (45 mph) with a progressive nose up stall as you get 2 to 3 feet from the runway surface. You will feel the yoke back pressure get "heavy" as you lose airspeed. Be patient and let the plane settle with some throttle at about 3000 -3500rpm. As soon as the mains touch (or just before), push forward on the yoke to prevent the plane from "skipping" or bouncing. On the ground, slowly pull back power to taxi speed. As the plane slows to less than 30mph, pull the yoke back all the way to firmly plant the tail on the ground. You can slow the plane down quickly before you run out of runway on short field landings by pulling yoke/stick fully aft to get the tailwheel down ASAP.
A practice short field approach model would be to start from 250 feet agl at about 600 feet back from the beginning of the real runway. To practice short field landings, I will pick a point at about 300 feet back from the beginning of the runway as the virtual runway start. Consequently, I will begin my rollout at the virtual runway start point when I'm about 50 feet agl. This means you will lose 200 feet in 300 feet of ground distance, a glide slope of something a little more than 1:1. By the time I get to the actual runway, I will be as close as 2-3 feet off of the surface. This means your glide slope will transition to a shallower approach. This will require that you to hang on to some power, somwhere arouund 4000-4500rpm. As you approach the 2-3 foot point, pull back power to about 3500rpm and increase back pressure on the yoke as the nose up attitude will begin your stall. As the plane slows, the yoke back pressure should feel increasingly "heavier" as you bare more back pressure on the yoke. Again, be patient with the plane and allow the plane to settle in naturally. As you estimate the eventual touchdown or before, push the yoke forward. You are now on your mains. As the plane slows, relax on the yoke and then pull back on the yoke to get the tail wheel down in the safest but shortest time possible between the rudder and tail wheel transition. As I say though, if you can handle the natural 5-8sec transition, you will be able to handle any shorter transition from rudder to tail wheel very easily. One should practice this on long runways first and pick your virtual start on the runway and mark your eventual touch down and see if you can get the plane down as close to the actual runway start as possible. The T-Bird II taildragger can land and takeoff on fields as short as 500ft.
For long field langings, practice flying the plane as low to the runway surface as possible without touching giving yourself ample runway lead time to power up to go around again and again. See if you can fly the plane 2 feet off the surface with a consistent speed of 50-55mph. Practice feeling the sink rates and ballon rates and see if you can correct quickly enough with increased throttle on "sinks" with and/or yoke back pressure. Push yoke forward on "balloons" with less throttle. If you do touch on the mains push forward on the yoke and use it to your advantage to stay on the mains as if it were practicing a fast taxi. Its good to know what this feels like. If you balloon too high, 10 feet or more you can either add power and go around or if you have enough runway, push the plane down to the 2-3 foot mark again while flying uniformly off the runway surface.
This exercise will also help you to recover if you happen to bounce on a landing only to add power and bring the plane level to try your landing again further down the runway. I recommend that you not try to recover a bounce by "riding it along". Believe me, when you bounce and you find yourself "freezing" at the controls, allowing the yoke do whatever it may or even worse pull back on the yoke with no added power, you are guaranteed eventual landing strut replacement. When you bounce just think throttle and either go around or recover for another landing down the runway. You can actually wheel land the plane by virtually flying/"greasing" the plane to the ground at 50-55 mph. If you ever find yourself in heavy winds this will keep the plane from slowing down too soon and losing ground control.
I train students with the idea that repetition is the main learning tool. I believe in consistent positive experience even if it means to recover the student "prematurely" (by some opinions). To so-call "learn from mistakes" at that moment in time is not only unrealistic but produces a regression in learning. Things are moving so quickly in "time compression", that to identify an error by the student is impossible. The better way is to identify the situation and the method of recovery as I debrief the student after the flight session. Again repetiton is the key. It's not to say that I won't allow the student certain moments of "falling through". I verbally talk the student through the flight constantly, teaching him/her to self-talk when they fly solo. I will encourage the student to talk aloud to me and eventually to themselves even on the most common of precedures such as reading out approach airspeed, altitude, identifying wind conditions etc. I find that pilots who talk themselves through as if they were their own instructor, keep themselves psychologically in tact especially in an emergency or high intense situations.
I remind students to keep monitoring the airplane, not the outside conditions, in times when turbulence can be rather disconcerting to the student (and instructor). This teaches the student what control movements are meaningful as a necessary response to keeping the plane stable/safe/strong such as identifying when the nose is too high in a turn. I have had students become intimidated by the "flapping of the flag" on the ground before takeoff only to say that after they got down that it wasn't that bad after all. I warn against not so much wind, even though there is such a thing as too much wind(max wind speed rule is staying 5 mph below half of stall speed) but more dangerously, wind gusts. If wind gusts are exceeding 5 mph of the wind speed, I stay down.
The single seater is a lot of fun to fly. On takeoff, I allow the tail to come up by virtue of forward airspeed and a modest forward push on the yoke. Once the tail is up, it's not much more time than the plane is bouyant. When you feel the bouyant point, just pressure back on the yoke slightly and allow the plane to fly to gain airspeed. Once at 50mph, climb at 40mph to get your best angle of climb. Best rate of climb would be 45 mph. Of course this may vary depending on the load you're carrying; pilot weight etc. I weigh 200 lbs and the figures above work for me given a calm day. As for landing, I like to touch down at 30-35mph to minimize chances for bounce. However, if you practice grease landings at higher speeds, just taxi on the mains as you slowly bring back power and apply the techniques discribed above.
When I make steep turns greater than 40-45 degrees, I will hedge for more throttle to keep the plane at 50-60mph or even 65mph with nose level depending on the air. Only on descending turns, will I reduce throttle for the same speeds. Ascending turns should be made with throttle as the main control for altitude, not yoke. If you get into turbulence that is rocking you about, give up the climb for the moment by lowering nose. Hedge nose up with yoke and throttle when the plane stablizes again. When you get into variable winds, increase your stall speed by 5mph. If 35 was OK in still air for landings, increase your safety margin by 5 mph in crosswinds. I have flown successfully in 20-25mph winds as long as there were very little gusts or none at all.
It is always incumbent upon the pilot in command to keep monitoring outside the cabin for other air traffic especially while in flight patterns. And speaking of flight patterns, it is an accepted rule to establish at least a base leg from a 45 degree angle as you approach any ultralight/light sport aircraft field or airstrip even if your approach from a distance is on final. The standard pattern altitude for small ultralight/sport airstrips is 300-500ft AGL(above ground level). Downwind/base pattern legs are spaced 300-500ft from the runway establishing a high approach landing from pattern altitude. Watch the T-Bird landing video clip on this page.
